Tall and powerful even in her advanced age, she is guarded by three fierce dogs and has little patience for most humans. She has no children although she has had three husbands. Old Tallow, an eccentric old woman, is another vital character in this story. Nokomis is wise and her relationship with Omakayas is strong and loving.

We first meet the main character, Omakayas, age seven, as she and her grandmother, Nokomis, search for birch bark for the birchbark house they will live in until next fall. The story itself is divided into seasons: neebin (summer), dagwaging (fall), biboon (winter), and zeegwun (spring). Omakayas herself seems removed from their influence. Fishtail compares them to greedy children, always wanting more. Old Tallow refuses to have anything to do with them. Deydey, Omakayas' father is half white and loathes and ridicules the chimookomanug, yet he trades with them for his living. One man, Fishtail, is going to the mission school to learn their language so that he will know what the treaties say. The non-Indian settlers and voyageurs, called 'chimookomanug', are viewed from a variety of perspectives. This is her first children's novel and she's done a remarkable job. The author is a member of the Turtle Band of Ojibwa and has written several outstanding novels for adults.

If you are introducing children of any culture to that period of United States history or just looking for a good book to share, you will want this book to begin to balance the picture. It's the good story and strong characterization that lift what could have been earnest and dull into the realm of good literature. It makes an excellent read-aloud choice for children as young as third grade and should appeal to youngsters all the way up through seventh, at least. The book has been nominated for the National Book Award for Young People's Literature. This band of Ojibwa (old name: Anishinabe) live on an island in Lake Superior and we are witness to much of the custom and ritual, successes and tragedies of these people who lived so closely bound to the earth. The Birchbark House is what many of us have been seeking for many years: a good story through which the Native American culture during the Westward Expansion of the United States is realistically and sympathetically portrayed.

The birchbark house