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The Hungry Year #1
Hungry Year
2002 OLA Silverbirch Award Nominee Twelve-year-old Kate has always had to be more responsible than other girls her age. Since her mother_s death and her family's flight to Canada, Kate's father has relied on her to keep house and look after her younger twin brothers. In a new place with poor shelter and no help, Kate must grow up even faster. It is 1787. After poor crops, with little food to spare, the winter is terribly harsh. Kate_s father is forced farther and farther from their makeshift cabin to hunt for food. Then one day, he simply doesn_t return. Can Kate fend off danger and protect her brothers? Can these three children survive the Hungry Year when thousands of others will die? Desperate, Kate prays for help. It finally comes from a most unlikely source - but is it in time?
Hardcover
First published January 1, 2001
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66 people want to read
About the author
Connie Brummel Crook
16 books7 followersConnie Brummel Crook is a historian, former teacher and the author of more than a dozen historical books for children that often focus on the history of Upper Canada. Connie lives in Peterborough, Ontario.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
June 8, 2020
Yes, Connie Brummel Crook's The Hungry Year is solid historical fiction based on actual reality, based on the fact that the winter of 1787 was incredibly harsh and actually often even disastrously so for many of the so-called United Empire Loyalists who had fled from the United States to what is now Canada, and with regard to The Hungry Year specifically to what is today the province of Ontario (and the author really and truly does an excellent job showing and presenting the ravages of a harsh, snow and ice-filled winter and that many of the Loyalists were simply unprepared for life in the backwoods, for life in the bush, especially since according to the excellent historical note at the back of The Hungry Year, the combination of a summer drought and then a long and harshly frigid winter had for one prevented an adequate harvest season and for two also made winter fishing almost impossible as most of the lakes and rivers were encased in a heavy coating of ice, not to mention that the provisions granted by the British government were both meagre and no longer being regularly handed out).
The Hungry Year succeeds on multiple levels. It is a human interest story that shows true courage under severely trying circumstances (and fortunately also without ever veering into the realm of the unbelievable and fantastical, as even that episode where Bobcat, where the family cat basically starts hunting rabbits for Kate and her two brothers to keep them all from starving is based on actual reality, is based on a true story Connie Brummel Crook came upon during her research), it is a tale which glowingly but also once again never with either exaggeration or hints of negativity acknowledges the often untold and under-appreciated support and help the Loyalists received from especially the Mohawk (and how Kate's original and primary fear of her Mohawk benefactors, even though they had indeed saved both her and her brothers' lives, as well as also helping her father after his hunting mishap, is realistically depicted by the author but is also and right from square one so to speak, while portrayed with humanity and understanding, also clearly presented as being totally and utterly misguided and in error). And of course, The Hungry Year also portrays and celebrates the determination and strength of pioneer women (and that for many families, if the mother died, her daughter(s), even if they were too young and unprepared for this were more often than not suddenly thrust into the roles of primary care givers, with difficult chores, with adult responsibilities and of course also often accompanied by harsh criticisms if they were not automatically and immediately up to the challenge, with for example Kate valiantly struggling to adequately care for her two brothers and to take the role of her deceased mother but always feeling inadequate and criticised by her father, who seems to mostly have mostly negative things to say).
Now I do appreciate how during the course of The Hungry Year Kate's personality and character do indeed develop and much mature so that by the end of the novel, she has both absolute trust in the Mohawk and actually considers Gajijáwi a treasured friend and companion, not to mention that Kate is also increasingly able to understand and consider that much of her father's gruffness and harshness is actually due to unresolved grief (and once the father also understands this and calms down a trifle, becoming less inherently critical, and even daring to praise his daughter with regard to how well and lovingly she took care of her brothers during his absence, the ending of The Hungry Year is very much sugar-coated and perhaps even a bit too good to be true, but nevertheless realistic enough and very much sweetly and tenderly satisfying). Four stars, and highly recommended, but I do feel that I must leave the caveat that The Hungry Year is a story of United Empire Loyalists escaping from the newly founded United States of America into what is now Canada and that this might I guess pique and feel potentially inappropriate to and for very nationalistic and patriotic American readers (although the story definitely is NOT in any way political, and really first and foremost a tender family type of tale of perseverance and survival).
The Hungry Year succeeds on multiple levels. It is a human interest story that shows true courage under severely trying circumstances (and fortunately also without ever veering into the realm of the unbelievable and fantastical, as even that episode where Bobcat, where the family cat basically starts hunting rabbits for Kate and her two brothers to keep them all from starving is based on actual reality, is based on a true story Connie Brummel Crook came upon during her research), it is a tale which glowingly but also once again never with either exaggeration or hints of negativity acknowledges the often untold and under-appreciated support and help the Loyalists received from especially the Mohawk (and how Kate's original and primary fear of her Mohawk benefactors, even though they had indeed saved both her and her brothers' lives, as well as also helping her father after his hunting mishap, is realistically depicted by the author but is also and right from square one so to speak, while portrayed with humanity and understanding, also clearly presented as being totally and utterly misguided and in error). And of course, The Hungry Year also portrays and celebrates the determination and strength of pioneer women (and that for many families, if the mother died, her daughter(s), even if they were too young and unprepared for this were more often than not suddenly thrust into the roles of primary care givers, with difficult chores, with adult responsibilities and of course also often accompanied by harsh criticisms if they were not automatically and immediately up to the challenge, with for example Kate valiantly struggling to adequately care for her two brothers and to take the role of her deceased mother but always feeling inadequate and criticised by her father, who seems to mostly have mostly negative things to say).
Now I do appreciate how during the course of The Hungry Year Kate's personality and character do indeed develop and much mature so that by the end of the novel, she has both absolute trust in the Mohawk and actually considers Gajijáwi a treasured friend and companion, not to mention that Kate is also increasingly able to understand and consider that much of her father's gruffness and harshness is actually due to unresolved grief (and once the father also understands this and calms down a trifle, becoming less inherently critical, and even daring to praise his daughter with regard to how well and lovingly she took care of her brothers during his absence, the ending of The Hungry Year is very much sugar-coated and perhaps even a bit too good to be true, but nevertheless realistic enough and very much sweetly and tenderly satisfying). Four stars, and highly recommended, but I do feel that I must leave the caveat that The Hungry Year is a story of United Empire Loyalists escaping from the newly founded United States of America into what is now Canada and that this might I guess pique and feel potentially inappropriate to and for very nationalistic and patriotic American readers (although the story definitely is NOT in any way political, and really first and foremost a tender family type of tale of perseverance and survival).
October 25, 2016
Read Aloud 8 yrs+
Independent Reader 10 yrs+ (This book is appropriate for a younger advanced reader)
Worldview - Universally Acceptable
Setting:
Location - Upper Canada
Time Period - 1787
Review
This is a nice, wholesome story about a loyalist family and their struggle to survive in Upper Canada.
After the death of her mother, 12-year-old Kate is responsible for the house and the raising her four-year-old twin brothers. Following the Revolutionary war the family must flee to Upper Canada. They receive a piece of land for their loyalty to the crown during the war, but the crude new house their father builds is nothing like the comfortable home they left behind.
In the dead of winter, supplies run low and their father must leave them to find more food. When one week turns into two, then three, the children must find a way to survive on their own through the raging winter as the food and wood in the isolated cabin runs out.
When it seems all hope is lost, help comes in the form of a mangy cat and a kind Mohawk family.
Teacher Application
The Mohawk people are members of the Iroquois confederacy. This book is ideal to help balance the many books that demonize the Iroquois people in Canadian history. The Iroquois were British allies and trade rivals with the Algonquin, who were allied with the French. During the time of New France there was a great deal of animosity between the two people groups. Although this rivalry predated the arrival of the Europeans, it was amplified through the fur trade and was encouraged as the tensions between the French and English escalated into full war. Many of the Algonquin and Iroquois tribes had similar lifestyles, both living in palisaded longhouse villages, both slash and burn farmers who relied on the three sisters, corn, squash and beans. Both people groups had similar male/female rolls in society and honor codes. By the time this book is set the British have full control of Canada and the loyalist Iroquois have settled in Canada on reservations following the American war for Independence. The Huron are all but wiped out from both warfare and disease. This book implies that the Mohawk people are happy with their treatment following the American Revolution. They had little choice but to accept the broken promises and increasingly smaller packets of land forced upon them by the British government.
There is a historical note at the back of the book. It focuses on which characters are based on real people, but as the entire story is a historical fiction and the primary characters are entirely fictional this is of little value. It is worth noting however that this winter was called the hungry year because so many people starved. The crops had failed and the loyalists were often shortchanged on the supplies they were to receive. Many had no idea how to survive on the land they had been given.
Parental Warning
N/A
Independent Reader 10 yrs+ (This book is appropriate for a younger advanced reader)
Worldview - Universally Acceptable
Setting:
Location - Upper Canada
Time Period - 1787
Review
This is a nice, wholesome story about a loyalist family and their struggle to survive in Upper Canada.
After the death of her mother, 12-year-old Kate is responsible for the house and the raising her four-year-old twin brothers. Following the Revolutionary war the family must flee to Upper Canada. They receive a piece of land for their loyalty to the crown during the war, but the crude new house their father builds is nothing like the comfortable home they left behind.
In the dead of winter, supplies run low and their father must leave them to find more food. When one week turns into two, then three, the children must find a way to survive on their own through the raging winter as the food and wood in the isolated cabin runs out.
When it seems all hope is lost, help comes in the form of a mangy cat and a kind Mohawk family.
Teacher Application
The Mohawk people are members of the Iroquois confederacy. This book is ideal to help balance the many books that demonize the Iroquois people in Canadian history. The Iroquois were British allies and trade rivals with the Algonquin, who were allied with the French. During the time of New France there was a great deal of animosity between the two people groups. Although this rivalry predated the arrival of the Europeans, it was amplified through the fur trade and was encouraged as the tensions between the French and English escalated into full war. Many of the Algonquin and Iroquois tribes had similar lifestyles, both living in palisaded longhouse villages, both slash and burn farmers who relied on the three sisters, corn, squash and beans. Both people groups had similar male/female rolls in society and honor codes. By the time this book is set the British have full control of Canada and the loyalist Iroquois have settled in Canada on reservations following the American war for Independence. The Huron are all but wiped out from both warfare and disease. This book implies that the Mohawk people are happy with their treatment following the American Revolution. They had little choice but to accept the broken promises and increasingly smaller packets of land forced upon them by the British government.
There is a historical note at the back of the book. It focuses on which characters are based on real people, but as the entire story is a historical fiction and the primary characters are entirely fictional this is of little value. It is worth noting however that this winter was called the hungry year because so many people starved. The crops had failed and the loyalists were often shortchanged on the supplies they were to receive. Many had no idea how to survive on the land they had been given.
Parental Warning
N/A
March 1, 2010
Kate's mother died four years ago in childbirth, and just recently, her grandmother died as well. Then the family was forced to flee their comfortable Albany home for the wilderness of Canada, for in 1787, Loyalists were no longer welcome in the newly independent United States. Although she is just twelve years old, all the responsibility of keeping house and caring for the four-year-old twins, Ryan and Alex, falls to Kate. The new home their father builds for them in Canada is a far cry from the one they left behind. When their food runs low in the middle of winter, their father is forced to leave for a week to try and find supplies, leaving Kate alone with her brothers. How will they survive, isolated in the cold and lonely wilderness in a tiny makeshift cabin, when their food runs out? I highly recommend this book to readers who enjoy middle grade historical fiction such as the Dear America or Dear Canada series. It brings to life the struggles of Canada's early pioneers.
May 18, 2014
Life is difficult so far, for Kate, the twins, and their father, especially when their mother and grandmother had died. Now, they have to find a new land and build a house. Luckily, the Shaw family were able to help them. Struck by the hungry year, father goes out try to search food, leaving Kate and the twins alone in the house. Will Kate be able to feed the twins, to protect them, and to survive?
I picked up this book because I wanted to challenge myself to read Historical Fiction books. I found out that it's pretty interesting and I like how the author puts historical notes at the end of the book. Also, I can know what had happened in the past.
I finished this book because I like how the author wrote this story. I like the part where there was a banging sound on the door, a bear suddenly "jumped down from above", and slowly faced the twins. Kate got so scared and she passed out (page 136).
I would recommend this book to Anita Z. because this book is kind of like the other books, Life As We Knew it, The Dead and the Gone, and This World we live in. They are almost the same because they both are trying to survive with little food, but the only difference is that The Last Survivors books (Life As We Knew it, etc.), are more intense and has more sadness to it.
I picked up this book because I wanted to challenge myself to read Historical Fiction books. I found out that it's pretty interesting and I like how the author puts historical notes at the end of the book. Also, I can know what had happened in the past.
I finished this book because I like how the author wrote this story. I like the part where there was a banging sound on the door, a bear suddenly "jumped down from above", and slowly faced the twins. Kate got so scared and she passed out (page 136).
I would recommend this book to Anita Z. because this book is kind of like the other books, Life As We Knew it, The Dead and the Gone, and This World we live in. They are almost the same because they both are trying to survive with little food, but the only difference is that The Last Survivors books (Life As We Knew it, etc.), are more intense and has more sadness to it.
December 6, 2011
I choose this book for my mother-daughter book group for January 2012. I thought it was perfect for this time of year as while we are feasting and eating too many chocolates, its nice to go back and be reminded of the founding Canadians and whay they went through in the harsh Canadian winters.
Kate and her family are loyalists coming from Albany to settle in Northern Ontario. Kate is only 12 but since her mother died four years ago, she has taken the role of mother to her two young brothers. Her father tends to forget she is still only a child and expects her to take charge of the house. This does not change despite the fact that they are starving and cold. When he goes out on a hunt to find food, he leaves Kate alone with the boys and no food.
This story is about growing up too fast and about the hardships that early Canadians faced. It is also about tolerance of different races as shown by Kate's friendship with the Mohawks who save her life when her father hadn't returned.
Still unsure what craft to do with this!
Kate and her family are loyalists coming from Albany to settle in Northern Ontario. Kate is only 12 but since her mother died four years ago, she has taken the role of mother to her two young brothers. Her father tends to forget she is still only a child and expects her to take charge of the house. This does not change despite the fact that they are starving and cold. When he goes out on a hunt to find food, he leaves Kate alone with the boys and no food.
This story is about growing up too fast and about the hardships that early Canadians faced. It is also about tolerance of different races as shown by Kate's friendship with the Mohawks who save her life when her father hadn't returned.
Still unsure what craft to do with this!
November 28, 2013
The Hungry Year is about a 12-year-old Kate, her twin brothers (Alex and Ryan) and her Father, and how they survive Canada's winter. Her Father is gone to get new supplies, he hasn't been home in the last month. Bobcat (her pet cat) went out hunting for food every single day. Will her Father come back? How will she survive the winter without Father?
August 21, 2008
I think I've read this book over 19 times, I love it!It starts off a bit boring but other than that, this is a must read!
January 7, 2018
Kate is the bravest, most resourceful 12 year old! Her will to survive and save her family is inspirational 💘
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January 27, 2019Read through Silver Birch 2002
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews