Bearwalker by Joseph Brucach

Barron Braun is the smallest boy in his class at Pioneer Junior High School. He faces bullies because of his size and his heritage – he is a member of the Mohawk tribe. Against his desires, he must join the rest of his eight grade class at Camp Chuckamuck (seriously?), but he hopes that he might be able to see a bear, an animal that he finds fascinating and spiritual.

Things at Camp start the way these things normally do. Bad councilors trying to teach kids about topics they know nothing about. The bullies doing what they can to make Barron miserable. But things take a turn for the worst. An explosion cuts the camp off from the rest of society, the electricity goes out and they discover the backup generator has been sabotaged.  The camp counselors are out to kill everyone in the hopes of helping greedy land developers.

To add a little more horror to the mix, Barron is certain one of the councilors, a man that tries to act like he is Native American but everything about him is fake and psychotic, is a Bearwalker. This is a creature from Mohawk tribal legend where a human becomes as predatory as a rabid bear. “That story I loved so much as a child has become all too real to me now. But I’m not the boy in that old story who could run forever without tiring. I don’t have a bow and arrow. No weapons at all.” (Bruchac).

Barron is sure this fake Native is one of them, and when the horrible truth comes out, things just get worse for the campers and their adult chaperones. It takes all the knowledge Barron has to keep everyone safe.

Hornbook  Guide to Children stated “Horror motifs mingle with traditional Mohawk legends in this fast-paced, spine-tingling tale of a misfit thirteen-year-old and a vengeful maniac. Baron Braun feels friendless and bullied until the opportunity to use his vast knowledge of bears and his (more limited) outdoorsmanship enable him to save his classmates and a wilderness preserve. Bruchac’s development of contemporary Native American identity issues adds heft” (2008).

The book gave a modern view of the Mohawk tribe, especially how the tribe is bound to different animals. Several of the characters that Barron speak to or of are referred to by their “clan”. The modern mix of Barron’s interest with the lingering touch of Mohawk legends make a believable and modern look at the Mohawk Natives.

 

Awards: Georgia Children’s Book Award (Ingram)

Works Cited

Bruchac, Joseph (2007. Bearwalker. New York: Harper Collin’s Publisher.

Goodreads (2008). [Book Quote – Bearwalker by Joseph Bruchac]. Retrieved on October 29, 2018 from https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/698959-bearwalker

Ingram (2008). [Awards – Bearwalker by Josephh Bruchac]. Retrieved on October 29, 2018 from https://ipage.ingramcontent.com/ipage/servlet/ibg.common.titledetail.pd1000?ttl_id=7817220

Ingram. (2008). [Book Review – Bearwalker by Joseph Bruchac]. Hornbook Guide to Children. Retrieved on October 29, 2018 from https://ipage.ingramcontent.com/ipage/servlet/ibg.common.titledetail.pd1000?ttl_id=7817220

Ingram (2008). [Digital Image – Bearwalker by Joseph Bruchac]. Retrieved on October 29, 2018 from https://ipage.ingramcontent.com/ipage/servlet/ibg.common.titledetail.pd1000?ttl_id=7817220

The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich

Omakayas lives on an island in Lake Superior in 1867. The novel, The Birchbark House, follows her through summer, the harshness of winter, and into the following spring. She lives with her family – her grandmother, her mother and father, her older sister, Angelina, her younger brother, Pinch, and her baby brother called Neewo until those that see names choose one for him. The story follows the family as they move from their house in the Objibwe village to their birchbark house on the lake shore so they can fish, farm, and prepare for the winter.

Pinch is Omakayas greatest annoyance. He is loud, unruly, and is always causing trouble, but she loves baby Neewo and would do anything for him she is asked, especially if that meant she does not have to help prepare the hides for the winter. She has a special connection to bears, they speak to her, and Old Tallow and her grandmother feel this is something to watch and they grow more interested as Omakayas shows a skill in healing.

However, Omakayas is helpless when small pox strikes her village. She does not fall ill, nor does her grandmother, and they work together to help their family. The disease, however, ravages her family and the village. Though the winter starts to fade and the village survived the lean rations, Omakays cannot find any hope, joy, or warmth in her life, not even with the crow, Andeg, she saved when he was a hatchling.

Old Tallow pulls her aside and reveals to Omakays why the small pox did not touch her like it did so many others. As a baby, Omakayas was the only survivor of small pox on a different island. Her family took her in and Old Tallow believes:

“You were sent here so you could save the others,” she said. “Because you’d had the sickness, you were strong enough to nurse them through it. They did a good thing when they took you in, and you saved them for their good act. Now the circle that began when I found you is complete” (Erdrich).

Though this does not bring back those that were lost, Omakaya begins to step into life again. Omakayas finding her life again fits the the review from Kirkus who felt the books is “a novel that is by turns charming, suspenseful, and funny, and always bursting with life” (2010).

Luise Erdrich is a member of an Ojibwe tribe. Her story is a realistic picture of how tribes lived their lives, how the cycles of the seasons were important to their daily lives, and how the small pox carried by the new citizens tore through their tribes. The Birchbark House is the first in a  series of books that follow Omakayas and is one worth reading.

Awards: WILLA Literary Award and Young Readers Choice Award (Ingram, 2018).

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

Erdrich, Louise (1999). The Birchbark House. New York: Hyperion Books for Children.

Goodreads. [Book Quote – The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich]. Retrieved on October 29, 2018 from https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/154105-the-birchbark-house

Ingram (2018). [Awards – The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich]. Retrieved on October 29, 2018 from https://ipage.ingramcontent.com/ipage/servlet/ibg.common.titledetail.pd1000?ttl_id=3147675

 

Kirkus Reviews (2010). [Book Review – The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich]. Retrieved on October 29, 2018 from https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/louise-erdrich/the-birchbark-house/

Midland County Libraries (2018). [Digital Image – The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich]. Retrieved on October 29 from http://10.1.5.33:8080/#section=resource&resourceid=2715711&currentIndex=0&view=fullDetailsDetailsTab