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Birchbark House #3
The Porcupine Year
When Omakayas is twelve winters old, she and her family set off on a harrowing journey. They travel by canoe westward from the shores of Lake Superior along the rivers of northern Minnesota, in search of a new home. While the family has prepared well, unexpected danger, enemies, and hardships will push them to the brink of survival. Omakayas continues to learn from the land and the spirits around her, and she discovers that no matter where she is, or how she is living, she has the one thing she needs to carry her through.
Here follows the story of a most extraordinary year in the life of an Ojibwe family and of a girl named "Omakayas," or Little Frog, who lived a year of flight and adventure, pain and joy, in 1852.
Richly imagined, full of laughter and sorrow, The Porcupine Year continues Louise Erdrich's celebrated series, which began with The Birchbark House, a National Book Award finalist, and continued with The Game of Silence, winner of the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction.
195 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2008
139 people are currently reading
2421 people want to read
About the author
Louise Erdrich
130 books12.7k followersKaren 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:
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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 244 reviews
July 4, 2008
Louise Erdrich writes The Birchbark House. It becomes a National Book Award Finalist. No surprises there. Louise Erdrich writes The Game of Silence. It does slightly better than its predecessor and wins the Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction. Very good, but still not surprising. Now the third book in Erdrich’s "Birchbark House books” (surely there’s a better name for them, right?) is present and accounted for. The Porcupine Year picks up where the last book left off without a glitch, hitch, or hiccup. Readers who have never read Erdrich’s books in this series, or who haven’t seen them in a very long time won’t need much help in catching up and understanding Erdrich’s magnificent world. How far will this latest installment in the chronicles of Omakayas and her family go? It remains to be seen. The only thing I can say with certainty is that The Porcupine Year does not disappoint. It gives the series a richness and fullness it might not have had before.
It’s 1852 and 12-year-old Omakayas and her Ojibwe family are traveling west to escape the expansion of the white settlers encroaching on their land. In trying to decide where to go next, the family and their companions must choose a route. At last they decide to go north to be reunited with family there. All too soon the trip turns more perilous than anyone expected. There are other tribes to avoid, lost children to take care of, fires to escape, and a traitor whose actions bring about the death of a beloved character. Still, through it all Omakayas keeps a clear head and a loving heart. An Author’s Note at the end offers additional information on the Ojibwe language and its many dialects. A glossary provides pronunciations and definitions of Ojibwe terms.
How do you recount a story about a people in dire peril of losing their way of life without making the book deeply, deathly, oppressively depressing? Some people would go the opposite direction and try to stuff the book full of false hopes and forced cheer. Credit Erdrich with indulging in none of this. Which is not to say that the book isn't often funny. As always, she has a sense of humor and what I liked most about The Porcupine Year was how that sense of the absurd filters in right from the start. At the beginning of the book Omakayas's brother Pinch gets a faceful of porcupine quills (the accompanying picture is worth the cover price alone). Then, when he and Omakayas return home to find their family convinced that the kids are dead, the boy has the audacity to suggest that it would be a perfect time for the siblings to cover themselves in flour and pretend that they are ghosts of themselves. That right there sets the tone for the rest of the book. On the one hand you have people dealing with very real issues and grief too huge to name. On the other hand, you have characters that key into the wonderful absurdity of life. You have people like Pinch who aren’t afraid to get a little profane, even when people’s hearts are panting on the floor (to steal a phrase). And an author who can strike that balance and strike it well is an author you should keep a close eye on. You never know where they’re going to lead you next.
What also helps the book along is Erdrich’s sense of how people really are and how they act when they’re under stress. Sometimes you see the best in them, but more often than not you get all their insecurities and concerns on parade for everyone to see. There’s a wonderful moment when Pinch (now Quill) is returned from a capture by his father Deydey that puts his mother’s emotions on perfect display. Look at how Erdrich describes the scene. “Yellow Kettle always confused her affection with anger, and even as she put her head against Deydey’s chest, she gave a furious shake of her hand at Quill and cuffed at him before he darted away.” These little details make the book worth reading. I love the loving insults Omakayas and her brother throw at one another in the morning and how much she misses them when he gets distracted with other matters.
As with the Little House on the Prairie books (a series these books are often compared to), the characters in Erdrich’s world learn and grow. I’m going to be sad indeed when Quill is too old to pull pranks and drive his sister nuts. Or when Two Strike isn’t a headstrong hellion anymore. As with the previous books there’s plenty of hardship, pain, and sorrow to this series. Yet there’s always that tempering of the bleak with hope. The Porcupine Year serves to satisfy old fans and lure in new ones. Wherever Omakayas’s journey takes her, we’ll be poor indeed if we can’t come along. A worthy companion piece.
Ages 8-12
It’s 1852 and 12-year-old Omakayas and her Ojibwe family are traveling west to escape the expansion of the white settlers encroaching on their land. In trying to decide where to go next, the family and their companions must choose a route. At last they decide to go north to be reunited with family there. All too soon the trip turns more perilous than anyone expected. There are other tribes to avoid, lost children to take care of, fires to escape, and a traitor whose actions bring about the death of a beloved character. Still, through it all Omakayas keeps a clear head and a loving heart. An Author’s Note at the end offers additional information on the Ojibwe language and its many dialects. A glossary provides pronunciations and definitions of Ojibwe terms.
How do you recount a story about a people in dire peril of losing their way of life without making the book deeply, deathly, oppressively depressing? Some people would go the opposite direction and try to stuff the book full of false hopes and forced cheer. Credit Erdrich with indulging in none of this. Which is not to say that the book isn't often funny. As always, she has a sense of humor and what I liked most about The Porcupine Year was how that sense of the absurd filters in right from the start. At the beginning of the book Omakayas's brother Pinch gets a faceful of porcupine quills (the accompanying picture is worth the cover price alone). Then, when he and Omakayas return home to find their family convinced that the kids are dead, the boy has the audacity to suggest that it would be a perfect time for the siblings to cover themselves in flour and pretend that they are ghosts of themselves. That right there sets the tone for the rest of the book. On the one hand you have people dealing with very real issues and grief too huge to name. On the other hand, you have characters that key into the wonderful absurdity of life. You have people like Pinch who aren’t afraid to get a little profane, even when people’s hearts are panting on the floor (to steal a phrase). And an author who can strike that balance and strike it well is an author you should keep a close eye on. You never know where they’re going to lead you next.
What also helps the book along is Erdrich’s sense of how people really are and how they act when they’re under stress. Sometimes you see the best in them, but more often than not you get all their insecurities and concerns on parade for everyone to see. There’s a wonderful moment when Pinch (now Quill) is returned from a capture by his father Deydey that puts his mother’s emotions on perfect display. Look at how Erdrich describes the scene. “Yellow Kettle always confused her affection with anger, and even as she put her head against Deydey’s chest, she gave a furious shake of her hand at Quill and cuffed at him before he darted away.” These little details make the book worth reading. I love the loving insults Omakayas and her brother throw at one another in the morning and how much she misses them when he gets distracted with other matters.
As with the Little House on the Prairie books (a series these books are often compared to), the characters in Erdrich’s world learn and grow. I’m going to be sad indeed when Quill is too old to pull pranks and drive his sister nuts. Or when Two Strike isn’t a headstrong hellion anymore. As with the previous books there’s plenty of hardship, pain, and sorrow to this series. Yet there’s always that tempering of the bleak with hope. The Porcupine Year serves to satisfy old fans and lure in new ones. Wherever Omakayas’s journey takes her, we’ll be poor indeed if we can’t come along. A worthy companion piece.
Ages 8-12
December 1, 2022
Digital audiobook narrated by Christina Moore
Book three in the Birchbark House series sees Omakayas growing into young womanhood. Her leadership qualities are blossoming and becoming evident to the members of her tribe. She has a bit more autonomy as she explores the area with her younger brother, which leads to some serious difficulties.
The entire tribe is affected by the encroachment of white settlers who force them from their ancestral lands and send them in search of a new home. They endure a very harsh season, nearly starving, and losing a couple of valued members of the group. But always, Omakayas and her people rely on their traditions, beliefs and cooperation to survive and prosper.
Christina Moore does a marvelous job of narrating the audiobook. This is a children’s series and the story is well-suited to an oral tradition. However, the text does have some marvelous illustrations. The text also includes a helpful glossary explaining / translating many of the Ojibwe terms used throughout the book.
Book three in the Birchbark House series sees Omakayas growing into young womanhood. Her leadership qualities are blossoming and becoming evident to the members of her tribe. She has a bit more autonomy as she explores the area with her younger brother, which leads to some serious difficulties.
The entire tribe is affected by the encroachment of white settlers who force them from their ancestral lands and send them in search of a new home. They endure a very harsh season, nearly starving, and losing a couple of valued members of the group. But always, Omakayas and her people rely on their traditions, beliefs and cooperation to survive and prosper.
Christina Moore does a marvelous job of narrating the audiobook. This is a children’s series and the story is well-suited to an oral tradition. However, the text does have some marvelous illustrations. The text also includes a helpful glossary explaining / translating many of the Ojibwe terms used throughout the book.
November 29, 2017
Good book, I thought of it as a story like that of Laura Ingalls Wilder told by a Native American girl. The book was well written and enjoyable. I did wish that the ending didn't come quite so suddenly AND I was surprised to learn about halfway through the book that is #2 in a 3 book set...but fun to read nonetheless. I'd recommend it to middle schoolers.
February 6, 2012
The Porcupine Year is the third book in the Birchbark House series about the protagonist, Omakayas by Louise Eldrich. 12 year old Omakayas is an Ojibwe girl in 1852 America. This book is a heartwarming story that chronicles the struggles of Omakayas and her family as they search for a new safe place to live after being removed from their home by the United States government.
The story catches you from the beginning with banter between Omakayas and her brother Pinch. The banter soon turns to survival and working together when they accidentally go over a waterfall. Humor replaces danger when Pinch saves a porcupine that later becomes his “medicine animal” and wants to live perched on his head! The two are reunited with their extended family and start their long journey north to start a new life. Numerous difficulties are thrown in their path as they make their way across the landscape. The reader lives one year of Omakayas’ life and learns about the customs, relationships and spiritual beliefs of this Ojibwe Native American family. The overwhelming theme of sticking together to survive continues throughout the entire book as the family encounters the cruelty of other Native Americans, starvation, abduction and death but ends with Omakayas’ coming of age when she receives her “first moon (puberty).” Along the way the reader gets to see how each situation, good and bad, is dealt with and thus learns a great deal about Native American culture.
I happen to love Native American symbolism and spiritualism and found myself really enjoying this book. Eldrich does a beautiful job of describing the setting so young readers can visualize not only the landscape but the mood and thoughts of the characters with simple but moving authentic dialogue. She is of Chippewa descent and clearly has an authentic perspective about the life of a Native American in this era. The pencil drawings although rare, also lent themsleves to the beauty of the book. I can see how this text won the ALA Notable Children’s Book Award.
It is suggested that the age range of this text is grade 3-8. I would suggest it not be used with 3rd to 5th grade children because of some of the “intense” material and the amount of background knowledge needed to comprehend the text. This possibly disturbing material includes a story about a person being eaten by dogs. In addition, there are many aspects of the book that need scaffolding. The names in the book are difficult to pronounce and I found myself confused as to which character was male or female. I was fortunate to have listened to the text on a CD and received the correct pronunciation. Younger students might become frustrated with the unusual names. I also have a great deal of background information about Native American rituals and beliefs and found it easy to fill in any gaps. Things like “spirit cloth”, medicine animal’ and “first moon” as well as the Native American symbolism and beliefs about nature would need to be discussed with children prior to reading. Discussions about the onset of puberty also need to be considered. Instructors need to make individual determinations as to the maturity of their students as well as their background knowledge. This is not a stand- alone text but may be offered toward the end of a unit on Native American life.
I did not read the other two books in the series, The Birchbark House and The Game of Silence but I look forward to doing so in the future.
The story catches you from the beginning with banter between Omakayas and her brother Pinch. The banter soon turns to survival and working together when they accidentally go over a waterfall. Humor replaces danger when Pinch saves a porcupine that later becomes his “medicine animal” and wants to live perched on his head! The two are reunited with their extended family and start their long journey north to start a new life. Numerous difficulties are thrown in their path as they make their way across the landscape. The reader lives one year of Omakayas’ life and learns about the customs, relationships and spiritual beliefs of this Ojibwe Native American family. The overwhelming theme of sticking together to survive continues throughout the entire book as the family encounters the cruelty of other Native Americans, starvation, abduction and death but ends with Omakayas’ coming of age when she receives her “first moon (puberty).” Along the way the reader gets to see how each situation, good and bad, is dealt with and thus learns a great deal about Native American culture.
I happen to love Native American symbolism and spiritualism and found myself really enjoying this book. Eldrich does a beautiful job of describing the setting so young readers can visualize not only the landscape but the mood and thoughts of the characters with simple but moving authentic dialogue. She is of Chippewa descent and clearly has an authentic perspective about the life of a Native American in this era. The pencil drawings although rare, also lent themsleves to the beauty of the book. I can see how this text won the ALA Notable Children’s Book Award.
It is suggested that the age range of this text is grade 3-8. I would suggest it not be used with 3rd to 5th grade children because of some of the “intense” material and the amount of background knowledge needed to comprehend the text. This possibly disturbing material includes a story about a person being eaten by dogs. In addition, there are many aspects of the book that need scaffolding. The names in the book are difficult to pronounce and I found myself confused as to which character was male or female. I was fortunate to have listened to the text on a CD and received the correct pronunciation. Younger students might become frustrated with the unusual names. I also have a great deal of background information about Native American rituals and beliefs and found it easy to fill in any gaps. Things like “spirit cloth”, medicine animal’ and “first moon” as well as the Native American symbolism and beliefs about nature would need to be discussed with children prior to reading. Discussions about the onset of puberty also need to be considered. Instructors need to make individual determinations as to the maturity of their students as well as their background knowledge. This is not a stand- alone text but may be offered toward the end of a unit on Native American life.
I did not read the other two books in the series, The Birchbark House and The Game of Silence but I look forward to doing so in the future.
November 4, 2019
Very good, though we lose a much loved character.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 6, 2018
I feel ashamed that I first picked up this series as an alternative to Little House on the Prairie, as it is so much more beautiful, nuanced, and meaningful. This series is so clearly full of love and connection, and again deals so wonderfully with the nature of grief and loss. Incredibly excited to finish the series and buy the books from Erdrich's store.
November 4, 2023
A continuation of two other books to start this series, also a children’s book, set in the mid-1800s, focusing on a young Anishinaabe/Ojibwe girl, Omakayas (Little Frog). This follows another year in her life. Initially she and her younger brother get caught up in some rapids in their canoe and are not sure where they’ve ended up. They do find their way back to their family (who has found some beads belonging to Omakayas and fear the two have died!), along with a pet baby porcupine! Other happenings include coming across a wildfire (as they travel toward more family living elsewhere) and “adopting” two white children. Later on the group is ambushed and robbed, leaving them to struggle to survive.
I didn’t like this one as much as the first two, though that little porcupine was cute! . I’m not sure why this one didn’t hold my interest as well as the first two in the series, but I did lose focus a few times. (Note: I was not listening to an audio, so can’t blame it on that.) I will continue the series, however.
I didn’t like this one as much as the first two, though that little porcupine was cute! . I’m not sure why this one didn’t hold my interest as well as the first two in the series, but I did lose focus a few times. (Note: I was not listening to an audio, so can’t blame it on that.) I will continue the series, however.
December 2, 2020
The Porcupine Year continues the story of Omakayas and her Ojibwa family in the mid-1800s after the Federal Government has ordered them to vacate the island that has been their home. They travel by canoe to join another branch of the family and experience danger, near starvation, and death on their journey. There are also humorous moments, many of which are provided by a porcupine that Omakayas' brother adopts, causing his nickname to be changed to Quill. It's a slow-paced story that illustrates the way the Ojibwa lived in harmony with the land and with nature. By following this one family, The Porcupine Year conveys the government's heartless treatment of Native Americans. An engrossing story, one that is geared for middle-school aged children.
March 25, 2019
In the year during which Omakayas is twelve winters old, she and her family leave their home near Lake Superior and head west, looking for a new place to settle. As they make the difficult journey, Omakayas and her younger brother, Pinch, both begin to come of age, taking on new names and identities as adulthood comes ever closer. The year is marked by many emotional ups and downs, including the loss of a beloved family member and the revelation that another is perhaps not what he had first seemed.
I was really annoyed by the representation of Father Baraga in the second book of this series, Game of Silence, and it took me a while to want to read another book for fear there would be more blatant inaccuracies requiring research and emails to Catholic Answers apologists. Happily, there are no egregiously anti-Catholic representations in this book, and indeed, priests, when mentioned, are shown to be helpful and merciful. Without having to dissect scenes involving Catholic clergy, I was able to enjoy this novel for what it is: an exciting but emotional adventure story about Ojibwe life in 1852.
There is a lot of memorable description in this book, and while not all of it is pleasant to read about, it is all handled very tastefully and almost poetically. Though there are some definite scary moments, and some that could even be considered gruesome, I did not find them so troubling that I lost sleep or had nightmares or anything like that. Even the scenes about Omakayas beginning her "moon" and gaining the ability to bear children were written in a way that didn't feel embarrassing or awkward. Erdrich describes this experience as such a positive and meaningful transition from girlhood to womanhood, and though it is very specific to Omakayas's culture, I think her description could be comforting to a girl from any time and place.
While the plot in this book is pretty action-packed, for some reason, I just didn't connect with it as strongly as with the first book of the series. Still, I enjoyed the story and plan to read the next book, Chickadee, sometime this spring, at which point I'll need to get myself a copy of Makoons, the only one of the series I don't yet own, and the final book.
This review also appears on my blog, Read-at-Home Mom.
I was really annoyed by the representation of Father Baraga in the second book of this series, Game of Silence, and it took me a while to want to read another book for fear there would be more blatant inaccuracies requiring research and emails to Catholic Answers apologists. Happily, there are no egregiously anti-Catholic representations in this book, and indeed, priests, when mentioned, are shown to be helpful and merciful. Without having to dissect scenes involving Catholic clergy, I was able to enjoy this novel for what it is: an exciting but emotional adventure story about Ojibwe life in 1852.
There is a lot of memorable description in this book, and while not all of it is pleasant to read about, it is all handled very tastefully and almost poetically. Though there are some definite scary moments, and some that could even be considered gruesome, I did not find them so troubling that I lost sleep or had nightmares or anything like that. Even the scenes about Omakayas beginning her "moon" and gaining the ability to bear children were written in a way that didn't feel embarrassing or awkward. Erdrich describes this experience as such a positive and meaningful transition from girlhood to womanhood, and though it is very specific to Omakayas's culture, I think her description could be comforting to a girl from any time and place.
While the plot in this book is pretty action-packed, for some reason, I just didn't connect with it as strongly as with the first book of the series. Still, I enjoyed the story and plan to read the next book, Chickadee, sometime this spring, at which point I'll need to get myself a copy of Makoons, the only one of the series I don't yet own, and the final book.
This review also appears on my blog, Read-at-Home Mom.
November 24, 2024
It is 1852, and Omakayas, the little girl we have come to know and love, is 12 winters old—“somewhere between a child and a woman—a person ready to test her intelligence, her hungers. A dreamer, who did not yet know her limits. A hunter, like her brother, who was beginning to possess the knowledge of all that moved and breathed. A friend who did not know how far her love might extend…. A girl who’d come to know something of her strength and who wanted challenge, and would get it, in the years of her family’s exile from their original home…” --Book Review
June 3, 2024
THE PORCUPINE YEAR is Louise Erdrich's third installment in her children's series THE BIRCHBARK HOUSE. I continue to enjoy each new story.
Twelve-year-old Omakayas and her Ojibwe family are forced to find a new home. These chapters hold betrayal, loss, and hunger, but also humor, hope, and fortitude. We also get some insight into Ojibwe traditions when Omakayas' period begins.
I enjoyed listening to this as an audiobook during a car trip between Iowa and Wisconsin.
Twelve-year-old Omakayas and her Ojibwe family are forced to find a new home. These chapters hold betrayal, loss, and hunger, but also humor, hope, and fortitude. We also get some insight into Ojibwe traditions when Omakayas' period begins.
I enjoyed listening to this as an audiobook during a car trip between Iowa and Wisconsin.
June 21, 2017
Each book in this series gets better. In the Porcupine Year Omakayas leaves childhood behind in a year with her family searching for a new home, experiencing adventure, hardship, cruelty and loss. She also falls in love. My favorite of the books so far.
June 12, 2024
Still working our way through this series as a read aloud with the kids. Still liking it. My 11 and 9 yr olds are the most invested. My 7 yr old is in and out. And my 2 and 4 yr olds mostly run around and dump out legos and make it really hard for everyone else to listen.
December 31, 2019
Really interesting book, i think we read the first book of this series in school when i was a kid lol but i plan on rereading them for sure! Enjoyed this book a lot
July 31, 2020
Louise Erdrich writes a moving, funny, and sad entry in her children's series, and invests us more deeply in Omakayas's world.
June 24, 2019
AUDIOBOOK: I just adore these little stories! Once again I was captured by the telling of these Native people and their connection to the natural world and each other as they work to survive.
March 28, 2020
I just love this series, the main character, and her love for her family!
March 18, 2024
I have always loved all the Little House on the Prarie books... now, not so much.
August 29, 2024
I am into this kids' series. What can I say 🤷♀️
March 13, 2023
Very good, particularly the ending. A really good mix of complex story lines but at a young readers' comprehension level, and without too graphic of descriptions.
November 13, 2021
I loved this one though it's bittersweet to leave this family behind now. The Porcupine Year marks the ending of Omakayas' story and I'm left feeling cozy and also sad. I have heartily enjoyed these three books and the emotional journey of this family. In Erdrich fashion, I feel I know these characters intimately and get invested in their lives and worry for the dangers.
I know there are other books in this series, but they follow a different protagonist who I'm sure I'll love...but it won't be this protagonist. I'm excited to read the next couple in the series, but also feeling the finality of this conclusion. I appreciate all the care, research, and wisdom that Erdrich puts into her stories and they're highly enjoyable for a lighter, easier read for adults too.
content warnings for: food insecurity, children in danger, guns/gun violence, injury, death, betrayal, brief mentions of alcoholism. All told at an appropriate level of sincerity yet shielding a younger audience.
I know there are other books in this series, but they follow a different protagonist who I'm sure I'll love...but it won't be this protagonist. I'm excited to read the next couple in the series, but also feeling the finality of this conclusion. I appreciate all the care, research, and wisdom that Erdrich puts into her stories and they're highly enjoyable for a lighter, easier read for adults too.
content warnings for: food insecurity, children in danger, guns/gun violence, injury, death, betrayal, brief mentions of alcoholism. All told at an appropriate level of sincerity yet shielding a younger audience.
January 18, 2009
Louise Erdrich has always struck me as being a particularly warm and accessible writer, for whom humor is never far away and who can write about tragic events with a poignancy that never veers into pathos.
The Porcupine Year is the third – but not the last – in the series about an Ojibwe girl named Omakayas and her close-knit extended family. The Porcupine Year relates the events of the year 1852, during which the family is uprooted from their beloved home next to Lake Superior in Minnesota all the way up to the Lake of the Woods, where they hope to meet up with family. Omakayas grows in many ways, finally becoming a woman when she gets her first period, but also experiencing strange new emotions about a young man and learning many essential lessons about healing plants and surviving on very little.
The small group has some good luck but is also beset by much misfortune, even coming close to complete starvation. There is a death and much loss. However, though they must often mourn, Omakayas’ family and loved ones never despair. They do what they must, accept what they must, and continue on, never forgetting to celebrate good fortune, however small and fleeting. This quiet resilience is captivating, as is the way the family members interact. Some are grumpy, some are gruff, and Quill can be just plain silly – yet their ties are so strong that they all treat each other with respect and love.
Quill, Omakayas’ younger brother, continues to be an annoying yet often refreshing clown of a character. He lightens many a scene, and yet he also gets his chance to shine as he becomes a skilled and dedicated hunter.
Erdrich’s simple sentences and understated prose manage to relate a story of surprising depth, lightened by sparks of humor, and her talent is such that she makes it look easy.
A thoughtful and entertaining read for grades 4 and up.
May 3, 2011
Beautiful.
This book has more action that the previous two in this series and I liked that, even though I did like the gentleness of the first two as well.
Omakayas and her family have been forced to leave their home and this book is all about what happens on their travels, both the good and the bad.
I enjoy the writing of this series a great deal. It is very vivid and the descriptions are lovely while not being overdone. I like to know how things look or feel, but don't need page after page of adjectives to make things clear and this author manages to get the right balance.
The growth in the personal relationships was very believable. Omakayas finds her little brother isn't as irritating as he once was and they come to have some fondness for each other. It seems very natural the way a brother and sister would treat one another.
She starts to see her friends and family with a different outlook, closer to an adult than a little girl and, as she is on the edge of her teen years, her more grown-up way of seeing the world works very well.
Even though it's a children's book, I was brought to tears by some of the things that occur in the book, again, both the good and the bad. You'll have to read it for yourself to know what I mean and I highly recommend that you do just that.
This book has more action that the previous two in this series and I liked that, even though I did like the gentleness of the first two as well.
Omakayas and her family have been forced to leave their home and this book is all about what happens on their travels, both the good and the bad.
I enjoy the writing of this series a great deal. It is very vivid and the descriptions are lovely while not being overdone. I like to know how things look or feel, but don't need page after page of adjectives to make things clear and this author manages to get the right balance.
The growth in the personal relationships was very believable. Omakayas finds her little brother isn't as irritating as he once was and they come to have some fondness for each other. It seems very natural the way a brother and sister would treat one another.
She starts to see her friends and family with a different outlook, closer to an adult than a little girl and, as she is on the edge of her teen years, her more grown-up way of seeing the world works very well.
Even though it's a children's book, I was brought to tears by some of the things that occur in the book, again, both the good and the bad. You'll have to read it for yourself to know what I mean and I highly recommend that you do just that.
January 30, 2010
The story unfolds with twelve year old Omakayas, an Ojibwe girl living in the mid 1800’s, hunting for food with her younger brother, Pinch. The children literally run into a porcupine who becomes the medicine animal for her brother then taking on the name Quill. This narrative flows beautifully as the reader experiences life of Native Americans, traveling to find new homes to settle as the United States government pushes them on. Through the eyes of Omakayas, we relate to this journey of hardship and brutality contrasted with the caring love this 12 year old girl has for her family and elders as they travel for a year to a new land.
This book is Louise Erdrich’s sequel to The Birchbark House (1999) and The Game of Silence (2005). While The Porcupine Year stands alone quite well, I am anxious to read those first books. Erdrich creates a vivid picture of the characters for the reader, including Ojibwe culture and language in a glossary of words and a descriptive prologue. The book includes black and white drawings throughout the chapters, aiding the reader in visualizing this time in history. The stories are based on Louise Erdrich’s family history and are appropriate for grades 5-8.
This book is Louise Erdrich’s sequel to The Birchbark House (1999) and The Game of Silence (2005). While The Porcupine Year stands alone quite well, I am anxious to read those first books. Erdrich creates a vivid picture of the characters for the reader, including Ojibwe culture and language in a glossary of words and a descriptive prologue. The book includes black and white drawings throughout the chapters, aiding the reader in visualizing this time in history. The stories are based on Louise Erdrich’s family history and are appropriate for grades 5-8.
December 28, 2020
In 1852, the Ojibwe family of Omakayas, a 12-year old girl, is forced to leave their traditional homeland on Madeline Island in Lake Superior. White people are taking over and Minnesota has become part of the United States with many new rules and lies coming from the government. They must move west into the land of the Dakotas. They pack everything they can into their canoes and set off across the big lake. From the shore they portage and find small rivers that take them to the Red River of the North. The family was well prepared for the trip, but several unexpected problems plague the journey.
This is the 3rd book in Erdrich's series and once again she tells a terrific story about what it was like for the woodland/lake Ojibwe to move out onto the northern plains. Much of the plot is centered on Omakayas's brother, Pinch, telling how he became known as Quill.
This is the 3rd book in Erdrich's series and once again she tells a terrific story about what it was like for the woodland/lake Ojibwe to move out onto the northern plains. Much of the plot is centered on Omakayas's brother, Pinch, telling how he became known as Quill.
June 9, 2009
This is third in a series that began with The Birchbark House. In this book Omakayas, an Ojibwe, is a teenager, and struggles with what that means in her life, as she helps her family move from their beloved island, because of increasing white settlements. Their lives are challenged by a more difficult winter than some, and by the shameful betrayal by their Auntie Muskrat's husband. This is a very engaging book, in which Omakaya's relationship with her family (especially her rascally little brother, Pinch) changes as she becomes a young woman, with some of the duties and responsibilities that means in her society.
There is a glossary to help with the Ojibwe words, and an author's note showing how much of the book is based on fact.
There is a glossary to help with the Ojibwe words, and an author's note showing how much of the book is based on fact.
October 3, 2008
I thought this is one of the better titles this year. The scenes and characters linger long after I closed the book. Wondering a little about the cover -- will it appeal to general child readers?
I am surprised by how much humor is infused into the harsh and devastating life stories of these resilient people.
I am surprised by how much humor is infused into the harsh and devastating life stories of these resilient people.
January 18, 2009
Darker, sadder, and even more beautiful than the first two in this gorgeous series.
November 7, 2008
Engrossing. Builds slowly and beautifully. As elegantly written as the previous book.
November 24, 2014
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