Blood Upon Our Land: The North West Resistance Diary Of Josephine Bouvier

Dear Canada

by Maxine Trottier

A young girl watches as the Métis life she knows is threatened by conflict and the men in her family are called to action by Louis Riel, the charismatic leader of the North West Resistance. Tension grips Batoche, Saskatchewan in 1885. Many Métis moved here after the 1870 Riel Rebellion in Manitoba left them disallusioned. But life in Batoche is difficult. The buffalo on which the Métis depended for generations have been hunted almost to extinction, and the coming of white settlers poses a threat to their traditional way of life. The Métis want title to their land, but the government has delayed for years. Promises are no longer enough . . . and talk of a second uprising is in the air. Thirteen-year-old Josephine finds herself torn over her feelings about the she is worried for her brother, who is eager to fight; for her father, who prefers a peaceful solution; for Edmond Swift Fox, her friend, whom she loves and will eventually marry; and for Louis Riel, the leader whose efforts to help the Métis preserve their way of life are actions she grows to respect and admire. Through Josephine's faithful diary entries, the reader is transported into this pivotal moment in Canadian history - the time leading up to the defeat of the Métis and the allied First Nations forces at Batoche, the execution of Louis Riel, and the growing tensions between English Canada and French Canada.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Canada, Fiction, Childrens, Historical, Middle Grade, Young Adult

231 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Maxine Trottier is the award-winning writer of numerous books for young people, including Claire's Gift (winner of the Mr. Christie's Book Award), Laura: A Childhood Tale of Laura Secord, the Circle of Silver Chronicles, and The Tiny Kite of Eddy Wing (winner of the CLA Book of the Year Award).

A former teacher and an avid sailor, Maxine has long been fascinated by history. She is now an associate member of La Société des Filles du roi et soldats du Carignan, whose purpose is "to honour the memory of these courageous people." While researching Alone in an Untamed Land, Maxine discovered that she herself is directly descended from a fille du roi.

Maxine lives in the small outport of Newman's Cove in Newfoundland, with her husband William and their Yorkie Moon.

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Twelve-year-old Josephine Bouvier and her family are Métis, descended from Cree Indians and French Canadians. They have their own unique culture, with a mixture of Native and French traditions, and are devout Catholics. The Bouviers live a peaceful life on their farm in Batoche, Saskatchewan, after being forced to leave their previous home because of white settlers shortly before Josephine was born. Josephine's mother died two years ago, and her biggest worry is adjusting to her new stepmother, Louise.

However, all that changes in the winter of 1885. Once again, the Métis are threatened with the loss of their homes. The Canadian government does not want to grant them title to their lands, and with white settlers beginning to move further west, the Métis fear they will lose their businesses and farms, since they have no legally recognized claim to them. The men are determined to fight for their homes, but Josephine is afraid. She knows that the soldiers will greatly outnumber her people and she fears for the lives of her family and friends.

Blood Upon our Land was another good book from the Dear Canada series. I am so glad this series has continued now that the Dear America series is over, since I love historical fiction written as diaries. As an American, I also really enjoyed learning about an event from Canadian history that I knew nothing about. I recommend this book to other readers who have enjoyed books in either the Dear America or Dear Canada series.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Josephine Bouvier is a Metis girl whose father and grandfather are assisting Louis Riel in his rebellion against the government who has threatened their land and their way of life. I didn't really get this one until I read the historical blurb at the end. She was naming names and places I had no idea had any sort of historical significance for my country. So my 3 stars comes from this new knowledge that I carry because of this book.

However, I found the character of Josephine a little lacking in personality and spirit which is completely surprising for this series. She is not someone I would want a little girl to look up to as she was incredibly submissive and not as inquisitive as I would have wanted her to be.

Regardless, I will continue to read these little books and they give me such joy and I'm learning so much about Canada it is staggering what a few children's books can do for your knowledge about the history.

[Georgia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Miss Josephine Bouvier has lived in the town of Batoche in the District of Saskatchewan her entire life. But her familiar Métis lifestyle is about to be changed forever. The eighteen year old nation of Canada wants to expand westward in order to bring in settlers and drive the economy. The problem is that the Métis and other Native tribes have called the prairies home for centuries. The Métis feel that the Government is invading land that was promised to them and they bring in a courageous man, Louis Riel, to lead the resistance. Unfortunately, the Canadians see this as a "rebellion" and send in military forces in to fight the unequipped Métis fighters. The Métis have mostly been victorious but they fall at Batoche, leaving Josephine's father and older brother prisoners of war and her grandfather, younger brother, herself and her stepmother homeless.
Josephine does all she can to help, but realizes it takes time to get over her own war wounds. Will her family and the handsome Edmond help her cope?

This was another fantastic Dear Canada that covers a topic that is not always taught in classrooms. Josephine is a very likeable and mature character that readers will love. However, I felt that the first 2/3rds of the book was mainly chronicling the every-day life in Saskatchewan at the time and I think that more action was needed to keep the reader engaged. I also think that the epilogue was unusually long, especially for a Dear Canada book, but there was also a lot of characters that they had to cover. I was very pleased to find that I learned a lot of new material from this book. Josephine teaches the reader many words from the Michif (Métis Language) Language and there is a helpful glossary at the back. Also Highly Recommended!

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

The diary of Josephine Bouvier is, first off, kind of boring. Something that should take me a few hours tops to read, could me several days, in small chunks. It did not keep my interest at all, which is sad because it's from a Metis girl's perspective about the rebellion led by Louis Riel because the government wouldn't recognize the Metis' claim to their land where they had lived for more then a generation.

If you paid any attention in school, this book doesn't bring too much new info to the table. That said, I did enjoy the historical notes at the end of the book. It was probably the best part.

I found Josephine a rather bland narrator. There was nothing memorable about her. Her grandfather had far more personality. She is...boring. She's never brought to life. She's just this obedient girl who rarely makes trouble and if she's ever unkind to anyone, she naturally apologizes without any prompting from an adult. I don't know. I just don't find her memorable when compared to other Dear Canada girls.

All in all, it was alright, but a bit boring. I'm sure there are better books out there to cover this historical event for children.

[Jenna Leigh · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's been a long time since I read this book, so my memory is somewhat sketchy. However, I do remember finding it interesting in some ways because I was interested in Louis Riel's story, having just seen the '79 film, Riel, and read some other things about him.

I didn't find this one as interesting as other books in the Dear Canada series, though. My memory is that Josephine was kind of an insipid character. I think there was a lot of French phrases/place names, and since I don't speak French, that was hard to follow. They probably put a French phrase index thing at the back, but when you're in the middle of reading, and you have to flip to the back of the book, find the page, find the phrase, go back, read the phrase in context, et cetera, it really ruins the flow of the book.

[Shanelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another book from the Dear Canada series that provides information on Canada's history. Blood Upon Our Land is a longer book in the series, but I found it hard to be interested in the story of Josephine Bouvier. The events were slow coming and by the time they unraveled, I was a bit bored of the storyline. I felt the story was a bit repetitive and needed more variety for the daily events.

[Terri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Given that I will be teaching grade six Canadian history (1867-present) next year, I thought I should take a look at this series. I found the book absolutely fascinating and spot on in terms of reading and content level. It gives a solid sense of how a young person might have experienced the events of the time. I dare anyone not to cry while reading about the Battle of Batoche and the epilogue.

[Shanelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although Maxine Trottier is one of my favourite authors I did find it hard to remain focused while reading this story. It wasn't until the end that I really enjoyed reading this book, especially after reading the historical note and epilogue. Once you got past the beginning, the story really picked up from there and was very interesting.

[Jessie · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a Dear Canada book, of course it's good.

[Renae · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes I get a little disturbed by how much I don't know. This was another of those times. It bugs me that I grew up in Michigan and knew nothing about our Northern neighbors.

[Gab · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book taught me more about my heritage and Canada's history than the education system did.

[Twyla · Rating 5 out of 5]

my favorite part was that not many people got hurt

[Jacqueline · Rating 3 out of 5]

J’adore lire des livres dont les histoires se jouent au Canada, et j’aime surtout les livres qui m’enseignent plus sur notre histoire. J’ai appris sur Louis Riel à l’école, très brièvement, mais ce livre m’a montré comment était l’atmosphère à cette époque, comment les personnes de Batoche ont été traitées, et comment le gouvernement été vu de leur perspectives.  J’ai appris tellement sur la culture de Métis et j’ai vraiment apprécié que la langue de Métis soit mêlée au français. Comme je n’ai que des connaissances basiques du français, ce livre était à un niveau parfait pour moi. Certains mots étaient difficiles, surtout le vocabulaire relié à la religions, mais cela m’a enseigné de nouveaux mots et j’ai trouvée moyennement facile à suivre l’histoire. Je le recommande fortement.

[Kristal · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am currently taking a couple of courses on Indigenous issues, one specifically dedicated to Métis culture so I thought taking a break from schoolwork by reading this book would be a great way of mixing leisure and solidifying what I am learning.

This book did a great job of teaching the Red River Resistance while having a personal touch! I like that certain things were added based on real events (other than the actual battle, of course), like the watch and the wristlets. The historical notes were very comprehensive in the back as well. I really like Trottier’s works!

[Victoria B. · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Penny · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.85

[Hannah]

- use for assignment

[Sapphire · Rating 1 out of 5]

After the disappointment of "Alone in an Untamed Island," another book written by Maxine Trottier, my hopes for "Blood Upon Our Land" were much lower than the Titanic (no offense Dorothy). Good thing I did that, because despite having my hopes as low as possible, I was still very disappointed with it, to the point that this has become my least favourite book in the entire collection.

If I were to describe Josephine, I would say that she's the most boring, uninteresting, bland and forgettable protagonist out of the entire collection. Wanna know why? Simple, she's "little miss perfect who can do nothing wrong, always apologizes when she makes a mistake and never gets into trouble." Tell me, is that a memorable and fun protagonist to you? I don't think so. Josephine never does anything interesting in the story and I don't even feel bad for her when things go badly. Overall, Josephine is the worst protagonist in the entire collection and her perfect behavior annoys me to death.

The story itself somehow managed to be even worse than the one in "Where The River Takes Me," which is an impressive achievement because the latter used to be my least favourite book in the entire collection until it got dethroned by "Blood Upon Our Land." Nothing interesting ever happens and it's just the same boring thing every time. I found myself spacing out several times throughout the book because of how uninteresting the book was. Even in other books like "Winter Of Peril" where nothing that interesting happens in the plot, at least the protagonist and character interactions made me enjoy the book. But no, the characters and plot in "Blood Upon Our Land" are extremely boring and forgettable, to the point that I cannot name you a single interesting thing that happened in the story. So yeah, the story is terrible because of how boring it is.

I'll compare "Blood Upon Our Land" to "Whispers of War" because I think both books are quite alike. In said book, Susanna is living during the time of the War of 1812, and she just goes to school, does her chores and occasionally goes to Niagara Falls. I think this book and "Blood Upon Our Land" are quite similar in terms of story in the sense that nothing too interesting happens in the book until the very end, which is when there's some action. The differences between the two are quite simple: Susanna is a much better protagonist than Josephine and the story in "Whispers of War," despite being simple, is engaging unlike the one in "Blood Upon Our Land." So you see, it's not the format of "Blood Upon Our Land" that is terrible, it's the writing and the execution.

Do I recommend this book? NO!!! Why would I ever recommend my least favourite book to anyone?! Everything about this book is bad, so if you do decide to read it, have fun being bored to death while reading this awful story. Go ahead and read "Whispers of War" if you want something similar.

[Tessa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Definitely not one of the happier Dear Canada stories. I found it difficult to finish.

[Meghan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Would have liked it if in the historical note, the Resistance and Riel were evaluated from multiple points of view, other than “some people disagree.”