Chickadee

Birchbark House #4

by Louise Erdrich

Winner of the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction, Chickadee is the first novel of a new arc in the critically acclaimed Birchbark House series by New York Times bestselling author Louise Erdrich.

Twin brothers Chickadee and Makoons have done everything together since they were born—until the unthinkable happens and the brothers are separated.

Desperate to reunite, both Chickadee and his family must travel across new territories, forge unlikely friendships, and experience both unexpected moments of unbearable heartache as well as pure happiness. And through it all, Chickadee has the strength of his namesake, the chickadee, to carry him on.

Chickadee continues the story of one Ojibwe family's journey through one hundred years in America. School Library Journal, in a starred review, proclaimed, "Readers will be more than happy to welcome little Chickadee into their hearts."

The paperback edition includes additional material, such as an interview with the author and activities.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Middle Grade, Native American, Historical, Childrens, Indigenous

196 pages, Hardcover

First published August 13, 2012

About the author

Karen Louise Erdrich is a American author of novels, poetry, and children's books. Her father is German American and mother is half Ojibwe and half French American. She is an enrolled member of the Anishinaabe nation (also known as Chippewa). She is widely acclaimed as one of the most significant Native writers of the second wave of what critic Kenneth Lincoln has called the Native American Renaissance.

For more information, please see http://www.answers.com/topic/louise-e...

From a book description:

Author Biography:

Louise Erdrich is one of the most gifted, prolific, and challenging of contemporary Native American novelists. Born in 1954 in Little Falls, Minnesota, she grew up mostly in Wahpeton, North Dakota, where her parents taught at Bureau of Indian Affairs schools. Her fiction reflects aspects of her mixed heritage: German through her father, and French and Ojibwa through her mother. She worked at various jobs, such as hoeing sugar beets, farm work, waitressing, short order cooking, lifeguarding, and construction work, before becoming a writer. She attended the Johns Hopkins creative writing program and received fellowships at the McDowell Colony and the Yaddo Colony. After she was named writer-in-residence at Dartmouth, she married professor Michael Dorris and raised several children, some of them adopted. She and Michael became a picture-book husband-and-wife writing team, though they wrote only one truly collaborative novel, The Crown of Columbus (1991).

The Antelope Wife was published in 1998, not long after her separation from Michael and his subsequent suicide. Some reviewers believed they saw in The Antelope Wife the anguish Erdrich must have felt as her marriage crumbled, but she has stated that she is unconscious of having mirrored any real-life events.

She is the author of four previous bestselling andaward-winning novels, including Love Medicine; The Beet Queen; Tracks; and The Bingo Palace. She also has written two collections of poetry, Jacklight, and Baptism of Desire. Her fiction has been honored by the National Book Critics Circle (1984) and The Los Angeles Times (1985), and has been translated into fourteen languages.

Several of her short stories have been selected for O. Henry awards and for inclusion in the annual Best American Short Story anthologies. The Blue Jay's Dance, a memoir of motherhood, was her first nonfiction work, and her children's book, Grandmother's Pigeon, has been published by Hyperion Press. She lives in Minnesota with her children, who help her run a small independent bookstore called The Birchbark.

Reviews

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Should probably be three stars, because I didn't like this book at all at first; I thought it was a jumble up until the main thrust of the plot starts, when Chickadee is kidnapped. Neither the plot threads, the setting, nor the characters kept me engaged. The writing felt overly expository. But then, once the story starts! The book reads very quickly, too quickly; I wanted to keep reading it for hours, and can't wait for the next book in the series.

This isn't the lovely, complete book The Porcupine Year is, but it's still very good. I think I would have liked another book transitioning between Omakayas as a young girl and as a mother with children almost as old as she was in the last book, but I might feel okay about it if I was reading the series in order. The series is now dropping its parallel structure with Laura Ingalls Wilder, since this book is primarily about the children and not about Omakayas as an adult (so I don't get why one interview asked if it was meant as a parallel with Little Town on the Prairie).

The series is delightfully lighthanded about its Telling The Rest of the Story mission. It is, foremost, a story; does not try to instigate white guilt; does not leave the reader feeling overwhelmingly sad and angry. And I think that is OKAY.

[Debbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

With immense satisfaction and a deep sigh, I read the last words in Louise Erdrich's Chickadee and then gazed at the cover. Chickadee is the fourth book in her Birchbark House series, launched in 1999.

My copy arrived yesterday afternoon and I immediately began reading--but not racing--through Chickadee, because it is written with such beauty, power, and elegance that I knew I'd reach the end and wish I could go on, reading about Omakayas and her eight-year-old twin boys, Chickadee and Makoons.

There was delight as Erdrich reintroduced Omakayas and Old Tallow, and when she introduced a man in a black robe, I felt a knot in my belly as I wondered how Erdrich would tell her young readers about missionaries.

The sadness I felt reading about smallpox in Birchbark House gripped me, too, as did the anger at those who called us savage and pagan.

Resilience, though, and the strength of family and community is woven throughout Chickadee. I'll provide a more in-depth analysis later. For now, I want to bask in the words and stories that Louise Erdrich gives to us Chickadee and throughout the Birchbark House series.

[That Weaver Lady · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another beautiful book in a beautiful series.

I thought it would make me sad to leave the story of Omakayas as a young girl, thus making this book harder to read. I should not have worried. The story of her son Chickadee, and his action-packed (yet historically true) cross-Minnesota adventure was new and exciting while managing to maintain the same sense of sweetness and family that existed in the first three books. I miss Old Tallow, but grown-up Two Strike nicely fills her place in the family.

I especially love grown-up Quill and laughed out loud when Chickadee assumed he got his name from being a warrior. (Side note: I miss the porcupine!)

I continue to be enchanted by these books and grateful that they exist to provide another Native voice to the narrative of early America in children's lit.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

2020 read aloud with W age 6.

[Mimi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Omakayas' story continues, only now she is the married mother of 8-year old twins who are just as mischievous as she and her brother were at that age. Unfortunately, their happy family is torn apart when two men kidnap Chickadee, leaving his twin and the rest of the family heartbroken. The extended family gathers forces in their effort to locate and rescue Chickadee. Meanwhile, Chickadee finds untapped courage, using his wits to escape the brothers, determined to find his way back to his family. Chickadee is faster paced than the previous novels in this series and presents many different types of dangers and hazards to both Chickadee and to his family as they struggle to find one another.

[LibraryCin · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

This is the 4th in Erdrich’s children’s series. It started with Omakayas as a child during the mid-1800s, but in this one Omakayas is a mother of two 8-year old twin boys, Chickadee and Makoons. They get into a bit of trouble, and for revenge, two large scary men kidnap Chickadee during the night and take him to their cabin to have him as their servant. While Chickadee’s family searches for him, Chickadee has to figure out how to survive and try to get back to them.

I liked this. Chickadee ended up having multiple “adventures” as he tried to find his way back to his family. I liked that there was Metis culture and traditions brought into this one, as well. As with all the books in the series, there are some nice illustrations.

[Chelsea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Winner of the 2013 Scott O’Dell award for historical fiction, Chickadee tells the story of twin brothers who are separated when one brother is kidnapped by some unsavory men seeking revenge for a trick. The stories of both boys’ experiences are told with great detail and alternates between the different stories. Full of Ojibwe terms, this book also provides a beautiful view of what life might have been like for this particular Native American tribe in the late 1800s. This book would be ideal for late elementary/early middle school, and provides another view of the US than what is typically told.

[Fatema Johera Ahmed · Rating 5 out of 5]

A story of getting lost and returning home. The story picks up from a couple of years down the line in the Birchbark series as Omakayas now has twin boys, Chickadee and Makoons. The titular character is kidnapped by two brothers to be their servant and so begins his adventure as he seeks to find his way home. Omakayas’s family continue to live away from their traditional lands and a few colonial outsiders appear in narrative in the form of the church figures who nearly imprison Chickadee a second time over in the name of civilisation. We see the continued role of the traditional stories in the way Chickadee deals with the challenges he meets in his journey back to his family.

[Nia Gregory]

I think for the most part this is a good book, I really like the plot of the story, the life, how the problem started, the problem, the adventure, the side problems, and the happy ending. This story is very detailed and it makes a perfect picture in your head. I would recommend reading this book.

[Georgina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heartbreaking at times but well balanced by wonder and humor. Sorry to have finished this series! Really enjoyed learning about Anishinabe culture and loved the characters.

[Debjo · Rating 4 out of 5]

A gem!

[Alison · Rating 5 out of 5]

This may be a young adult or primary series, but I’m so glad to be reading it.

[HEichEL · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book skips years ahead.
Easy read & super engaging. Love this family!

[Clara Lester · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very sad

[Sarah Monzon · Rating 4 out of 5]

My son is really loving this series. It reminds me a bit of Little House on the Prarie series but with a First Nations family instead of white settlers. A lot less problematic racism too!

[Nate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chickadee is written by Louise Erdrich, a New York Times Bestselling Author, and I could see exactly why that she has that prestigious award. This book ranks in the top 3 of what I have read thus far in class. It is hard to pinpoint exactly what was so enjoyable about the story, but I will try! Chickadee and his twin brother Makoon are best of friends with loving parents as well as loyal family. Chickadee gets taken one day and all of a sudden... BAM! The race is on to find young Chickadee and the emotions both positive and negative through the storyline provide for something that I was unable to put down.The fun nature of the two kids goofing around with a relative leads to the taking by two big brothers, Batiste and Babiche, who although are the villains of sorts, provide good quality entertainment in their own right! Chickadee shows fearlessness, sadness, frightened, and curious, but the whole time keeps hope that he will meet his family again. Will he make it? That is for the reader to find out, but I know that readers ages 6th or 7th grade and down should pick up this book because of the quality of writing and engaging storytelling by Louise Erdrich. I also picked up a copy of the book titled Makoons, which is of the same series and one that I will certainly be reading in the near future!

[Alisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had no idea Louise Erdrich wrote children's fiction! I was certainly surprised when I picked up Chickadee at the library and discovered not an adult novel, but a charming chapter book about an Ojibwe boy named Chickadee. Not only is the story a winner, the black and white illustrations are a delight.

Chickadee is set in roughly the same time period as Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House books, and there are some notable similarities. Both children are about 8 or 9 years old. Both live in The Big Woods and later must adapt to a new home environment. Both Chickadee and Little Half Pint enjoy the entire process of creating sugar from maple syrup. While LIW's adventures are homey and tame, Chickadee is kidnapped, escapes, journeys to find his home, and communes with the animals--yet there is never a sense of real danger, just the right amount of suspense to keep young readers engaged.

Chickadee is the fourth book in Erdrich's Birchbark House series. Earlier books focus more on Chickadee's mother, Omakayas. Whereas Wilder's books seem to appeal far more to girls, Erdrich's series will engage both boys and girls, giving them different heroes to focus on and much information and lore about the Ojibwes. If I had a young child in my life, I suspect we'd be curling up together each evening to enjoy Erdrich's children's books.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

The books of Louise Erdrich always make me feel as though I am soaking comfortably in a warm bath, easing my troubles away. As with all her titles, this fourth one that continues the Birchbark House series did not disappoint me. Although she chooses her words carefully, slowly building her characters and revealing her book's plot, she does so deftly and sensitively, drawing readers into the family's inner circle, and making us laugh, weep, and hold our breaths to see what will happen. The story centers around Chickadee and Makoons, the twin sons of Omakayas. When two thuggish, slow-witted brothers kidnap Chickadee, he endures several hardships and even a brief encounter with missionaries before finally returning home with his uncle Quill. While he's going through trials, his Ojibwe family tries to find him, and his brother Makoons becomes desperately ill. The author never lets readers forget the family ties that bind, and the joy with which each family member is celebrated. I continued to enjoy the complicated ferocity and fierce familial love of Two Strike.

[Jefferson · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Small things have great power”

The first three books in Louise Erdrich’s The Birchbark House series take Omakayas from seven years old in 1847 to twelve in 1852 and her family from the Island of the Golden-Breasted Woodpecker in Wisconsin to the magical forested islands and lakes of Minnesota. The fourth book, Chickadee (2012), jumps forward fourteen years to 1866, when Omakayas is married to Animikiins (first known as Angry Boy) and the mother of eight-year-old twin boys, Chickadee and Makoons (Little Bear), and the foster mother of Zozie, the daughter of her cousin and childhood rival Two Strike. The story depicts what happens to the loving, closely-knit family and the inseparable twins when Chickadee is kidnapped by a buffoonish and muscular pair of mail-delivery brothers Babiche and Batiste and taken far away. The novel proceeds in multiple point of view strands, one depicting Chickadee on his own, the others the different family members searching for him or waiting for him to return.

There is much humor in the novel. Chickadee’s misperception of Catholic Sisters, Mother, and Father as a strange family is cute, as is his observation of the two brothers Babiche and Batiste who love each other as much as Chickadee and Makoons love each other and are comical rather than hateful:
“Your fist is hard,” said Batiste. “And as large as your own head.”
“Har, har, har,” laughed Babiche. “You are very funny, my brother.”

Chickadee is an authentic boy, as when he regrets his name: “Why couldn’t he have a protector like the bear or the lynx or the caribou or the eagle? Why was he singled out by such an insignificant little bird? He had a sudden thought that appalled him--he would be a grown man and still be called Chickadee! What kind of name was that for a grown warrior? He groaned.”

Luckily, he has a wise great-grandmother, Nokomis, who tells him about his namesake:
“He is a teacher. The chickadee shows the Anishinabeg how to live. For instance, he never stores his food all in one place. . . . The chickadee takes good care of his family. The mother and the father stay with their babies as they fly out into the world. They stick together, like the Anishnabeg. . . . The Chickadee is always cheerful even in adversity. He is brave and has great purpose, great meaning. You are lucky to have your name.”

The moments of Chickadee’s culture shock, whether seeing for the first time the prairie (“Where were the trees? Where were the hills? And again, where were the trees?”) and a city (“This mouth, this city, was wide and insatiable. It would never be satisfied, thought Chickadee dizzily, until everything was gone”), or hearing for the first time violins (“the crying music that sometimes skipped and sometimes wailed”) are fine.

And the twins’ love for each other is poignant: “Chickadee and Makoons curled together under one fluffy rabbit-skin blanket. Warm and full, lulled by the grown-ups’ voices, they fell into a charmed sleep and dreamed, as they always did, together.” So it is all the more painful when they’re separated, and when one brother is eating he tries to imagine what the other is eating, and when one brother is falling asleep with a painful chest he says the name of the other.

There are moments of vivid life in the novel, as when “Animikiins drew his knife and sliced out the moose’s tongue and liver. He brought both into the shelter, heaped snow against the opening, and ate a bloody, raw, satisfying meal before he dozed off to sleep.”

However, apart from some vivid details about the Metis community (mixed race Indian-whites who enjoy fiddle music, singing, and dancing and colorful clothes and go on long buffalo hunting trips in ear piercingly noisy wagons made completely out of wood), and a neat explanation of why the Ojibwe don’t point at people or things, the level of absorbing and authentic detail illustrating how Ojibwa lived in the mid-19th century, developing the characters, and making the previous three novels in the series so outstanding, is lower here.

Another noticeable lack is Bizheens, Omakayas’ beloved adopted baby brother who plays a neat role in the second and third books. In The Porcupine Year (2008) Omakayas thinks, “He was the best thing that had ever happened to her, ever . . . this little brother who adored her no matter what she did.” So where is he now? Her other family members from the previous books are present: grandmother Nokomis, mother Yellow Kettle, father Deydey, big sister Angeline and her husband Fishtail, younger brother Pinch/Quill, and cousin Two-Strike. So what happened to Bizheens, who should be about sixteen by now? Did Erdrich want to focus on the twins and so removed Bizheens from the family and the series without bothering to write an explanation? How dissatisfying!

The novel is the shortest in the series so far, and is a less is more work, so much so that there isn’t enough of it, too few characters making their presence felt, so that, for example, I forget about Yellow Kettle till she says something suddenly out of the blue, so that I want more of the ever fierce loner Two Strike (I love the scene where she lets Omakayas hug her after promising to retrieve Chickadee), and more of Nokomis, Deydey, and Angeline.

And I wished for more Omakayas! After developing her so much as the appealing protagonist in the first three books, with her hearing voices of spirits telling her what to use for medicine, being in tune with bears, having a crow pet, being a natural healer, and having dreams that help save Deydey’s life as well as a vision of her future life, in this fourth book she’s just a loving and worried mother with too few compelling traits and point of view passages.

But much of my disappointment in the fourth book is due to the excellence of the first three in the series, and readers who liked them should like this one (though readers new to the series should begin with the wonderful first book, The Birchbark House).

[GraceAnne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have taught this series since The Birchbark House along with Little House on the Prairie in my Female Voices in Historical Narratives class. Erdrich's language is so fresh and direct, the stories so engaging, we have come to love this family and feel their many travails. This one's focus is on Omykayas' twin sons, and how the family moves from the forests to the plains. I was especially taken - again, as in all the other books - with her clear depiction of the spirit world and its place in the lives of her characters.

[Stacy Countee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Twin brothers named Omakayas and Chickadee grew up doing everything together since birth. However, everything takes a turn for the worse when Chickadee gets kidnapped by missionaries because of a bad prank. The story follows Chickadee as he grow and matures over time. In order for Chickadee to not become a servant, he must escape. It is interesting to see how he provides a life for himself in his quest to find his way back home.

This story is well written and teaches about survival and family. The reading level for this book is eight and up and students will love the action of the story. Teachers can ask discussion questions such as, what actions caused the kidnapping of Chickadee? Also, who is to blame?

[Crizzle · Rating 5 out of 5]

“We should fix what we break in this world for the ones who come next, our children.”

This is the fourth book in the Birchbark series and my 11-year-old and I were shocked to find out that it jumps over a decade into the future. Omakayas is now a grown woman in 1866, married and a mother of twin boys, who this and the next book will be about. We were disappointed not to have had at least one book of Omakayas transitioning into her adult life (as the Little House books follow Laura). Of course the book has the same heart, and we were laughing aloud just like before. No real huge thing to make us sob, but such tender moments as usual, especially the ending, which brought a lump to my throat. I hope that schools across Minnesota are using this series!

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh, this was my least favorite book of the series, which is probably why it took me 8 days to read it compare to tearing through the other ones much more quickly. This book jumps ahead many years to follow the next generation in this family, twins Chickadee and Makoons. It seems that this fourth book was to follow Chickadee, and the fifth book follows Makoons. As always I appreciate how you get a sense of place -- but this book felt more childish with a kidnapping and the Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum like "bad guys" (who, of course, aren't that bad). The other thing I am continually confused by is the interaction or lack of interaction between the family and the settlers. There are a few actions, but those are also flat. I'm hopeful that the story gets a bit of lift in book 5.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

This continues the familial tale begun three books ago in "The Birchbark House", but now Omakayas is the mother of twins, one of whom features in this novel. This tells the story of how the family ends up leaving the lake country of Minnesota and moving to the plains of Dakota. Here they need to learn a completely different lifestyle as none of their traditional plants and animals used for food and tools are available. Once again, Erdrich tells a well-drawn story with interesting characters that will appeal to middle-grade readers. There is humor as well as some frightening events that will teach young readers that Native people also migrated west during the 19th century.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book four of the Birchbark House series is by far the most heavily plotted so far, though the least permeated by Ojibwe arts and tradition. As we focus on the next generation, Omakayas, now the mother of twin boys Chickadee and Makoons, becomes more of a minor character, and the world of this novel a bit more masculine. I’m not complaining, as I found the book entertaining, and there’s something to be said for branching the series out to a perspective that will interest boy readers too. (Not to say that boys couldn’t enjoy the first three books, but realistically . . . .)

In addition to the gripping plot, I really liked the messages, which, I should say, are NOT laid on with a heavy hand. Chickadee has mixed feelings about his name; at first, he’s proud of beings named after the bird that stayed with Omakayas when she went into early labor with her twins; then he becomes embarrassed to be named for such a small bird; but his great grandmother explains, “Small things have great power, and when he is forced to fend for himself for a time, he enlists the assistance of a chickadee and a pair of hawks (an instance of native spirituality) and draws on that power.

There’s also a nice bit on a “corduroy road,” made of poles placed together to keep wagons from sinking in mud. “If one of the poles broke, the oxcart train stopped and cut a new pole to replace it. . . . ‘We depend on those who went before us to do the same. Once I explained this to Nokomos. Know what she said? . . . She said that was how the world should work. We should fix what we break in this world for the ones who come next, our children.’”

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

A young Ojibwe boy named Chickadee is kidnapped by neighbors as revenge for a prank. Chickadee's family, especially his twin Makoons, is devastated, and auntie Two Strike vows to find the boy. After escaping his oafish captors easily, Chickadee begins a long and tumultuous journey over the Great Plains, encountering a priest who wants to save his soul, racist nuns who torment him, the spirits of birds who offer help, and eventually his uncle, who brings him along on a fur trading expedition to the big city. The harsh realities of life on the plains--mosquitoes, flooding--delay their arrival home, but the family is reunited, which readers probably never doubted. While the events are dangerous and serious, the tone of the novel is light, and Chickadee remains convinced he will make it home safely.

The characters in this work of historical fiction are lovingly crafted, especially bright, adventurous Chickadee, who, like his namesake proves that "small things have great power" (Erdrich, 2013, p. 27). The highly likeable Uncle Quill, who scoops Chickadee up into his oxcart and carries him home, is also particularly vivid, with his fear of snakes, his ability to fix anything, and his unbelievable dancing skills.

Young readers will also enjoy the comedy of some of the more cartoonish characters in the book, too, such as the two buffoons who initially capture Chickadee, Babiche ane Batiste, Chickadee's aunt, the ferocious Two Strike, who puts the brutish brothers in their place.

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the fourth book in a five-book series. I loved the characters, the storytelling, the glimpses into Ojibwe language, culture and tradition, and moments in American history seen from the perspective of a Native person. Erdrich's beautiful drawings illustrate and enrich the stories.

Environmental stewardship as a cultural value is revealed in each of the five books, and I was especially drawn to this poignant commentary from Chickadee, who once accompanied a delivery of furs from the Red River Valley to traders in St. Paul, Minnesota:

It seemed to Chickadee that those houses held the powers of the world. The ones who built and lived in those houses were making an outsize world. An existence he'd never dreamed of. Almost a spirit world, but one on earth. Chickadee could see that they used up forests of trees in making the houses. He could see that they had cut down every tree in sight. He could feel that they were pumping up the river and even using up the animals. He thought of the many animals whose dead hides were bound and sold in St. Paul in one day. Everything that the Anishinabeg counted on in life, and loved, was going into this hungry city mouth. This mouth, this city, was wide and insatiable. It would never be satisfied, thought Chickadee dizzily, until everything was gone.

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rated 4.0

This is a delightful book. A friend told me to read Erdrich and I was not disappointed. Unfortunately, this is the 4th in a series but charming nevertheless. Chickadee, one of 8 year old twins living on the Mississippi River in Minnesota. Chickadee is kidnapped and the story of his travels in search of his family is told through his young eyes. He has many new experiences and sees new things. It is a big world for a little boy. Well written. A great story.

Winner of the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction, Chickadee is the first novel of a new arc in the critically acclaimed Birchbark House series by New York Times bestselling author Louise Erdrich.

Twin brothers Chickadee and Makoons have done everything together since they were born—until the unthinkable happens and the brothers are separated.

Desperate to reunite, both Chickadee and his family must travel across new territories, forge unlikely friendships, and experience both unexpected moments of unbearable heartache as well as pure happiness. And through it all, Chickadee has the strength of his namesake, the chickadee, to carry him on.

Chickadee continues the story of one Ojibwe family's journey through one hundred years in America. School Library Journal, in a starred review, proclaimed, "Readers will be more than happy to welcome little Chickadee into their hearts."

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fourth in a series of five about growing up Ojibwa in the late 1700s and early 1800. The tribe has left their ancestral grounds in the lake country of Minnesota, refusing to take the government's "leftovers," which is what they call the reservations. Pushed out onto the plains of the Dakotas, they must adapt to a new lifestyle: living on grassland instead of in a forest, accommodating their lifestyle to a prairie that is mostly dry rather than having an abundance of water, mastering the buffalo hunt to meet their needs, and learning to mix with all the different indigenous tribes that have chosen the freedom of the plains rather than the government reservations.
Chickadee and his twin brother Makoons are like all boys, full of fun and mischief, learning the ways of the hunt, and making their contribution to life on the prairie. But one day their fun goes too far and, in revenge for a joke, Chickadee is kidnapped and taken away to be a servant in the household of two horrible brothers. It is a story of survival and adventure, as Chickadee has to use everything he has been taught in order to escape and make his way back to his people.

[Donald · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s 1866, and Omakayas is married with children!?!?!
That felt like a big jump from where the last novel left off! But I guess it’s been 14 years, so…

She has twin eight-year-old boys, Chickadee and Makoons. And Chickadee is stolen by the Zhigaag brothers! The ENTIRE family packs up camp to chase them down, including Two Strike. And, as Orph Carter says, “…I don’t want to be here when Two Strike comes after this boy.”! Good advice, as Two Strike has grown into a tremendous woman hunter/warrior and her strength rivals any man! It's a good story, with a nice ending, but I must admit that I liked the tales of young Omakayas a little more than the story of her twins. It isn't bad, it's just my preference. Great illustrations and great map, as well as a cool song for the twin whose name graces the cover of the book:

"I am only the Chickadee
Yet small things have
great power
I speak the truth."

And good advice from Nokomis: "She said that was how the world should work. We should fix what we break in this world for the ones who come next, our children." Amen!