The Birchbark House

by Louise Erdrich

Book Overview

[In this] story of a young Ojibwa girl, Omakayas, living on an island in Lake Superior around 1847, Louise Erdrich is reversing the narrative perspective used in most children's stories about nineteenth-century Native Americans. Instead of looking out at 'them' as dangers or curiosities, Erdrich, drawing on her family's history, wants to tell about 'us', from the inside. The Birchbark House establishes its own ground, in the vicinity of Laura Ingalls...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0786814543
• ISBN13: 9780786814541
• Release Date: June 2002
• Publisher: Hyperion Books for Children
• Length: 244 Pages
• Weight: 0.59 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 8.9"
• Age Range: 8 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 3 to 7

Customer Reviews

A different kind of little house in the big woods

A great tale. Author Louise Erdrich, a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwa, has written a story of 1847 Ojibwa life. The book is truly a labor of love, including such amazing elements as a detailed map of the area in which her story takes place, a glossary of terms, and multiple sources considered during the writing of this tale. Even more, the book is a compact series of small vignettes of standard Ojibwa life, crushing stereotypes and myths with sure swift prose. Erdrich has written a story that has truly created its own separate niche.Omakayas (or Little Frog) lives in a sturdy birchbark house in a land doomed one day to become Wisconsin. With her family we see her step through the paces of day to day existence. The book encompasses a single year in Omakayas's life; one filled with as much terror and despair as love and hope. Helping her family to battle smallpox, find food in a desperate winter, and deal with the small details imperative to survival, we watch Omakayas grow from an uncertain young girl to a competent, if still learning, young woman. The book is almost an answer to the Laura Ingels Wilder tales. Truth be told, the two titles have much in common. Both deal implicitly with Native American/white settler relations. Both look at the details of daily life, realistically describing everything from food preparation to parties. Even the illustrations of the book (drawn by author Erdrich herself) bear a great resemblance to the Garth Williams' pics we remember so well from the Little House books. But Erdrich has the benefit of hindsight and (let's face it) superior knowledge concerning the ways of both the whites and the Ojibwa. Her writing expertly allows her to create interesting variegated personalities that trump the one-dimensional stick figure Indians Wilder relied on so heavily. These characters have a harsh, but really great life. There's the buffoon, Albert LaPautre (half French) who continually claims to have had meaningful visions and dreams. There's Old Tallow, a powerful woman of her own means, surrounded by a pack of wolf-dogs and wearing coats woven from a variety of different furs. And then there's Omakayas herself, dreaming true visions and meeting true woodland creatures, even going so far as to train a crow of her own. The books ends with this sentence, "Omakayas tucked her hands behind her head, lay back, closed her eyes, and smiled as the song of the white-throated sparrow sank again and again through the air like a shining needle, and sewed up her broken heart". It's an ending that contains a lot of hope for the future. Erdrich does not dwell on the fate that may lay in store for Omakayas and her beloved family. We know what will happen. It's enough to see them happy at this moment alone. "The Birchbark House" is a courageous creation, one that I'm certain will please even the most merciless of Erdrich's critics. Full of well rounded characters, a gripping plot, and wonderful tangent

Children enjoyed this book

I read this book aloud to my daughter's 3rd-4th grade class. Thirty or so children (ages 8, 9 & 10) listened attentively for 30 minutes near the end of each day for several weeks. If a child had been absent, other students would update him or her. Their teacher took over one day when I couldn't be there and read the chapter when the family is stricken with small pox. The next day a group of girls met me in the hall to tell me how sad it was when Omakayas' little brother died. Another time, the entire group burst out laughing at a comical event. The pictures were beautiful, but I chose not to show them while I read. I enjoyed having the Ojibwe words interspersed throughout the text. I had to slowly sound words out, and I believe that learning them together helped the students and me connect.

THE BEST BOOK EVER!

This is an excellent book! I loved it! The Birchbark House is about a girl's life. That girl's name is Omayakas. Omayakas suffers a very hard life. She has a little brother who suffers a terrible disease called smallpox. This book had me thinking a lot about life and death and thankfulness. I mean if you really want something such as Pokemon supplies, stuffed animals, toys, think of the people that are less fortunate and put aside that thing that you want!

An alternative to the "Little House" books

A beautiful book. Parallel in many ways to Wilder's series, this tells the other side in a moving way. We follow a year in the life of an 8-year-old Ojibway girl, including a tragic smallpox epidemic, a meeting with a bear family, and finding out her true heritage.