The Birchbark House

Omakayas, a seven-year-old Native American girl of the Ojibwa tribe, lives through the joys of summer and the perils of winter on an island in Lake Superior in 1847. This is the first installment in an essential nine-book series by Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist Louise Erdrich, chronicling one hundred years in the life of one Ojibwe family. The book has been given a fresh new look as a National Book Award finalist and includes charming interior black-and-white artwork done by the author. She was named Omakayas, or Little Frog, because her first step was a hop. Omakayas 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 Omakayas to discover her calling. By turns moving and humorous, this novel is a breathtaking tour de force by a gifted writer. The beloved and essential Birchbark House series by Louise Erdrich includes The Birchbark House, The Game of Silence, The Porcupine Year, Chickadee, and Makoons.