The Birchbark House Series by Louise Erdrich

This series follows two generations of a small Native American family living in the Midwest in the late 1800’s.

Reading Level: Ages 12-16
Read Aloud: Ages 10 and up

This series might seem like the perfect fit for a teenager who is studying or interested in Native American life in the Midwest in the 1800s. From the intricate details of daily life to the well-written characters, to the fascinating landscapes, humorous predicaments, and riveting adventures, it is easy to see why these books are well loved. But parents would be wise to approach this beloved series with caution. The characters are pagans whose lives revolve around rituals and stories steeped in demonic practices disguised as beautiful traditions. This is not fantasy. This is a portrayal of real historical beliefs and practices that condemned souls to hell. This series could be very helpful to students who are ready to have discussions about worldviews, the spiritual realm, and paganism, but this won’t be for everyone.

The first three books form a rather complete trilogy as they are predominantly from the perspective of Omakayas, a preteen girl struggling with very relatable feelings such as laziness, awkwardness, pride, shame, depression, jealousy, and romantic feelings all while being very brave to help her small family survive. Books four and five follow two preteen boys from the next generation of the same family as they adapt to life in a new location. As with most generational leaps, it was a rather jarring and disappointing transition into the last two books. Despite the titles, book four and especially book five didn’t really develop the main characters. The side characters had far more depth and growth. Even though the last two books were not as cohesive or well written as the first three, they contained some of the most impressive and interesting moments such as a journey with ox carts and a mosquito attack that completely covered the livestock. The descriptions of everyday life were fascinating and flowed well with the story. A younger reader would learn so much about this fascinating piece of history through this series but if pursued, it might be best to do it as a read aloud or read beside so questions could be answered.

Language:
-Nothing we would consider swearing, but they have their own equivocal exclamations.
-The kids call each other mean names occasionally

Questionable Behaviors:
-Sibling hate is very prominent in the first three books. There is a constant battle between two siblings in particular that results in nasty practical jokes or fights.
-Some characters are ruthless, unforgiving, vindictive warriors viewed as heroes for their brutality.
-Marriages are made and abandoned very casually.
-An elderly adult is always excused for her constant anger. It’s “just the way she is”.
-Omakayas is an emotional preteen girl with a sin nature. She makes wrong choices, lies, sins in anger, and mistreats others, but I appreciate that there are never good outcomes when people make selfish choices and often characters are punished and justice is enacted.

Sexual Content:
-In book three Omakayas is dealing with a lot of romantic feelings she doesn’t understand yet. The book ends with her transition to womanhood. I thought the author did a good job staying discreet but also emphasizing puberty is good and necessary and womanhood is beautiful.
-The author proposed that it was tradition for a couple that wanted to get married to walk off together alone for the whole night and then come back for a ceremony. Some side characters are described as having done this. I believe she was implying that relationships were consummated before a couple was recognized by the community as being married. At the same time, there is another time that teens are separated and chaperoned all night so nothing happens. The teen doesn’t understand quite what is going on in either situation.

Other Things to Know:
-It cannot be emphasized enough how pervasive paganism is in the series. There are religious stories that are recounted in full, every character talks about seeking out his or her spirit animal, they interact with supposed spirits such as animals and little people, they use repetitive chants and songs to heal people, and they give offerings to spirits all the time. This goes far beyond having a great respect for “mother nature” by respecting animals or rotating locations so their waste doesn’t pile up. They speak of going to see their family in the afterlife. There are many supernatural encounters with animals, spirits, and even one animal that talks. Sometimes the dead come back in dreams or audible voices.
-The emphasis on dreams and their interpretations is enormous. At a certain age, every child is forced to go into the woods alone for a few days to starve themselves and wait for “visions” from their spirit animal. They are guarded from afar by an adult, but it seems barbaric to force an 8-year-old to sit in the woods alone and without food for days so they can interact with “spirits”. From the Christian perspective, they were leading their children straight to demon possession.
-The few Christians in the series are always portrayed as ignorant, silly, or only trying to push “western culture” onto the people.
-Violence, gore, and death are prevalent. It was a brutal time so people did die, animals attacked, animals were killed for food, and people were injured. The process for cleaning and preparing animal meat is also detailed.
-A few survival moments are pretty gross such as adding and eating rat droppings in a stew.
-The other off-putting story was in book five. The characters bring two orphaned animals of different species to be fed by a mare that lost her foal. There was just something unsettling in how the author described it
-Children dealing with depression is a major theme in the first and fourth books.
-There is a little crude humor in every book such as a boy’s behind catching on fire.
-There are three cases of nudity: young girls bathing in a lake, women going into a sweat house like a sauna, and one man accidentally losing his trousers while riding a horse.
-Every adult smokes tobacco in a pipe as part of their religion. Even though the kids don’t smoke, they also frequently offer tobacco to their gods for good luck.
– Alcohol is in the series and it is spoken of in a very negative way due to abuse.
-When you take all 5 books into account, women are presented as superior to men. They are flawed and they make mistakes, but they are the bravest, smartest, and most prominent characters. Two female characters are described as superior to men. Not all men are bad, but the only bad or unintelligent characters are men. It was also disappointing to see no character growth in the titular male characters in books four and five. The author seems to heavily favor women.

This review is written by Good Book Mom contributor, Lynnette. To learn more about Lynnette, click HERE.