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The Birchbark House

by Louise Erdrich Publisher: HARPERCOLLINS

Family life on an island in Lake Superior

Regular price $12.56 USD
Regular price $20.94 USD Sale price $12.56 USD
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Paperback New English

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Awards & Recognition

  • Award recognition

    National Book Award finalist

    The metadata describes The Birchbark House as a National Book Award finalist; it does not specify the award year...

AlbakiReads Editorial

Family life on an island in Lake Superior

Omakakiins—called Little Frog for the hop she took as her first step—lives with her family on an island in Lake Superior. Their everyday life is shaped by family and community traditions, even as more white people encroach on their land. A visitor arrives one winter night carrying an invisible enemy, disrupting the household’s familiar rhythms and setting change in motion. The novel centers an Ojibwe family and Omakakiins’s experience within it, combining domestic life with the pressures confronting the community. As the opening book in a series tracing a century in one family’s life, it also introduces a broader family story that continues across later volumes.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Children ages 9–12 interested in stories centered on family and community life.
  • Readers seeking fiction featuring an Ojibwe family and Native American subject matter.
  • Readers interested in beginning a multi-book family series.

Themes

Ojibwe family and communityEncroachment on Indigenous landDisruption and changeFamily traditions

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

A fresh new look for this National Book Award finalist by Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Louise Erdrich! This is the first installment in an essential nine-book series chronicling one hundred years in the life of one Ojibwe family and includes charming interior black-and-white artwork done by the author.

She was named Omakakiins, or Little Frog, because her first step was a hop.

Omakakiins and her family live on an island in Lake Superior. Though there are growing numbers of white people encroaching on their land, life continues much as it always has.

But the satisfying rhythms of their life are shattered when a visitor comes to their lodge one winter night, bringing with him an invisible enemy that will change things forever--but that will eventually lead Omakakiins to discover her calling.

By turns moving and humorous, this novel is a breathtaking tour de force by a gifted writer.

The beloved and celebrated Birchbark House series by Louise Erdrich includes The Birchbark House, The Game of Silence, The Porcupine Year, Chickadee, and Makoons, with more titles to come.

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Customer reviews

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AlbakiReads
Malaika Taylor

I highly recommend to for anyone looking for inner clarity

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Thomas DiMassa

Great service and fast service

Great shopping experience! The book arrived quickly, was well packaged, and matched the description perfectly. I would definitely shop with you again

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Olivia

Smooth.