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This was a sweet sad little story. My son had to read this for his 5th grade class, and he wanted me to read it, too. Omakayas is an Ojibwe girl growing up on an island in the Great Lakes. It follows a year of her life through the seasons, with good times and struggles throughout the year.

This is definitely informative. And I think it's great as a kids book. Louise is a great storyteller.

#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

January Reviews (last one!)

After bailing on my first pick for #authoramonth , this one was a winner. We follow 8 year-old Omakayas and her family over four seasons. There is happiness and love, but also sadness and grief. I though the audio narrator did an excellent job.

This was lovely and sweet and also sad and brutal. Loved the way Erdrich wrote about this family/community, the immersion in the natural world/Upper Midwest seasons, and the way the book showed everyday life intersecting with the horrors of that historical moment. Happy to have fit in another #AuthorAMonth book (maybe time for one more?).

I read two Erdrich books this month for #AuthorAMonth & attempted a third. I‘m glad I tried an author I haven‘t read before. Overall, they weren‘t really for me.

🎧 1-22-23 || This was my read for #AuthorAMonth and I really liked it. I think it would be a good companion piece or alternate to Little House on the Prairie. Sensitive readers should be aware that It does have some traumatic events.
I‘ve also read The Sentence by Erdrich and really like her writing.

A year in the life of an 8-YO Native American girl, we experience her happy childhood and the terror a stranger brings to town that changes her life forever. What stood out the most for me was the narrator who I initially thought over-emoted but who was clearly perfect for the job. She narrated all of the characters‘ voices so well, including the Native American language. It was impressive. #authoramonth @Soubhiville TW: see ⬇️

10/225 First book completed for #AuthorAMonth for January. Although this is written as a children‘s book I enjoyed this a lot and would be interested to continue with the series. @Soubhiville

This short video talks a little bit about the book, it‘s setting and how names were given. https://youtu.be/HnJcQTbf_8Q

Book 10 completed for #JumpStart2023 @Clwojick @LizPixie

I would 💯 recommend this story of a young Anishinaabe girl and her family to elementary aged readers, but something about it lacked the spark I was hoping for as a first time adult reader. #AuthorAMonth #Pantone2023 #SummerSong @Soubhiville @Clwojick

Starting the first book in The Birchbark House Series by #AuthorAMonth Author Louise Erdrich. @Soubhiville

In the U.K. this is available free to download if you are a member of Audible. May be worth checking elsewhere.

#JumpStart2023 @Clwojick @LizPixie

Finished my first #AuthorAMonth read. A strong indigenous voice tells this MG story.

Next up is The Sentence.

I‘m kicking off #authoramonth with this audiobook

@Soubhiville

I‘m reposting this for #authoramonth. I have books for almost every author.

I hope to start the tagged book this week. @Soubhiville

I‘m planning my 2023 challenges. First up is for #authoramonth. I only will need to buy or borrow books for two of the authors. I think this is a great list this year and I think I‘m going to find some new authors I will love. @Soubhiville

Published in 1999, this book is about a family that lived on land, and white people keep encroaching on their life. She has an older sister and an annoying younger brother and there was also a baby. They built a new birchbark house every fall. A visitor came to their lodge in winter and brought an enemy with him.

Genre:
Novel, Fiction, Children's literature

Awards:
Phoenix

I now understand why this book is so beloved. ❤️
Enjoyed it thoroughly.

I can‘t say enough good about Erdrich lately, and this YA novel solidified my feelings about her as a writer again. Her protagonist, a young Chippewa girl, describes traditional culture beautifully while giving readers a deeper sense of what devastation has occurred in this country in regard to treatment of indigenous peoples.

A perfect middle grade book which made me feel immersed in nature and living in the outdoors. What an important book - giving a voice and narrative to indigenous ways of life that were nearly eradicated by colonisation. This would be a very good book just for detailing that life - but it is so much more - Omakayas is such an engaging character, her adventures and sorrows pull you completely inside her world and her heart. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Such a lovely start and her bookstore is wonderful!!!

Another wonderful middle grade book! This is the story of a year in the life of Omakayas, an 8-year old Ojibwa girl. It is mostly about the women - Omakayas, her sister, her Mother, her Grandmother, her Aunties - and how they care for their family and their community. It is interesting, funny and enlightening. A very good book. #100YEARS100BOOKS #BookSpinBingo #7 #BFC21 #MGMarch

The Birchbark series is now complete and right at home here on my indigenous author‘s shelf. Sadly, the invisible bookends didn‘t work for me, so this glass water bottle is serving as a bookend at the moment. Clearly I just need more books by indigenous authors to fill in this cube. 😂🤣😂
#shelfie #LouiseErdrich #TheBirchbarkHouse #TheGameOfSilence #ThePorcupineYear #Chickadee #Makoons #TheRoundHouse

Books 1-3 and 5. Book 4 comes tomorrow.
#LouiseErdrich #TheBirchbarkHouse #TheGameOfSilence #ThePorcupineYear #Makoons #TheBirchbarkHouseSeries

This is the book that I would use as a companion to, or instead of, Little House. Little Frog faces so much loss in her short life, but still manages to rise above depression with the help of her family and an old, harsh woman. #BBRC - by Native American @LibrarianRyan @Sarahreadstoomuch #SeriesRead2021 @TheSpineView

11-14 Jan 2021 (audiobook)
This was lovely. Told from the perspective of a Native American girl, it offered an alternative view to the Little House books which Beatrix had read last year. It did take the girls a little while to get interested, but both enjoyed.

Like many young girls, Omakayas lives with her family, argues with her siblings, does chores she dislikes, and cares for her baby brother. But when tragedy strikes, she reveals a strength she didn't know she had and gains wisdom through her pain. This is a lovely story filled with life lessons and heartache. It feels a little like the Little House books.

6 pts for #TeamHarkness for a non-theme book.
@StayCurious #scarathlon2020

This is such a sweet story. It‘s a full year in the life of a young girl who is stronger than she knows and has a secret past you completely forget about until the very end. She has an older sister and two younger brothers. Her favourite is her baby brother. She wants to be a healer more than anything. 👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻

Weekend reads... Loved Birchbark House the most.

I am posting one book per day from my extensive collection. No description. No explanation. Some will be old. Some will be new. Don't judge me. I have a lot of books. Join the fun if you want.

#tbrpile
Original idea of- @StaceyKondla @cortg

Courtesy tags for @Trashcanman @Catherine_Willoughby

A 19th c Ojibwa girl‘s childhood: practically a classic (1999) & often suggested as an alternative to Little House on the Prairie. I‘ve intended to read this for ages & I‘m glad I found it on #Hoopla. Narrator Nicolle Littrell‘s exaggerated voice moderations for the characters isn‘t my favourite style, but it works well for kids, plus the writing itself is appealing. 4 stars for the #audiobook; 5 stars for print. #ownvoices #Indigenous #kidlit

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.

I started this in March, my first audiobook, and finally finished it last night. It‘s only 5:23. It‘s just hard for me to focus on an audiobook, and as my kiddo‘s primary caregiver I feel uncomfortable plugged in and unable to hear what‘s going on around me.

None of which has anything to do with the book, which was very good.

And it completed the final space on my social distancing bingo card!

So, after a swing and a miss, this is my first audiobook (free from stories.audible). I spent all day in the kitchen making pierogi and tried some #audiocooking, with mixed results. The food is good! But I‘m learning audiobooks, iPad, and AirPods all at the same time. There‘s a learning curve here. 😆 I think it‘ll be good in the long run, though.

In all the uncertainty and anxiety that so many of us are experiencing this week, I hope today‘s new episode of my podcast — in which I have an especially thoughtful, honest conversation with Uli from Subway Book Review — can whisk you away to another time and place and offer you important food for thought. In it, we discuss Louise Erdrich‘s The Birchbark House, the importance of indigenous stories, and white discomfort. 🐻 Link to listen in bio!

C and I have been reading THE BIRCHBARK HOUSE by Louise Erdrich together. She's 10, but I think there's something special about read-alouds at any age. I first heard about this book from Dr. Debbie Reese, and honestly, I feel cheated that it was never introduced to me as a kid. The language is so beautifully descriptive, the story is rich and sweet and even humorous at times. It's perfect. ❤ #nativeauthors #historicalfiction #kidlit #unschooling

Good middle grade historical fiction.

Finished this one up last night before bed. I‘m pretty sure this is a reread, but I must have been a young teen and I remembered no details. I love the parallels with the Little House books from an indigenous perspective Laura Ingalls Wilder never made space for in her books. I would have loved it in 3rd grade when I was so interested in pioneers and early 1800s America, and I‘ll definitely be able to recommend it to those readers. #24in48 #kidlit

“You were sent here so you could save others.”

I don‘t think I would enjoy this book. Historical fiction is kind of boring for me so I wouldn‘t pick up this book to read.

Historical Fiction
This historical fiction is similar to Little House on the Prairie. Taken place in 1840‘s about the Ojibway family living on Lake Superior.

You were sent here so you could save the others.

I think that I definitely would have enjoyed this as a kid. This could come in handy for some topics that may be discussed in social studies lessons.

This book definitely has a Little House on the Prairie vibe that some kids may really enjoy. It‘s also a series! This is told from Native people‘s point of view so that could give kids insight.

#diversemiddlegrade

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ My final read for the first quarter of #book2019 Thanks to the #mgbuddyread my reading of diverse middle grade books really took off and I was happy to read this book about the life of a Ojibawa girl and her daily family life.