The Birchbark House

Would love to see this taught alongside Little House in the Big Woods or Little House on the Prairie. Lovely to see Omakayas' growth as the seasons change in this book, and as she encounters more complicated and heart-rending experiences.

Summary: Omakayas, a member of the Ojibwa Native American tribe, is a spirited young girl who, throughout the course of the book, learns about a special gift that she has. Her family and her tribe work hard, using the resources around them to make their living and experiencing several hardships along the way—some of them almost unspeakably painful. The book, in my opinion, is pretty slow getting started, but a little over halfway through, it starts to pick up, and it offers an excellent depiction of Native American life.

Tardy to the party on this one but better late than never! This book comes up a lot in discussions of the Little House books as a readalike or read-instead-of, and it definitely appealed to me in that same way, that same seems-like-it-should-be-sort-of-boring old timey historical daily routine stuff. But since this is set in an Ojibwa village it's more new-to-me information, and I loved Omakayas' reflectiveness and honesty as a narrator. Erdrich's illustrations were lovely as well.

*Disclaimer, I know the Little House books are problematic but I loved them at too young of an age, they're just imprinted on me on some level