March Grades 5-6 Book Club: The Birchbark House

For March's Book Club discussion, we read The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich. Cadence, Lily, Michaela and Sophia were present. This is what we talked about, with question help from Multnomah County Library's website.

Has anyone here read any of the Little House on the Prairie books? Well, this book takes place at the same time, and in the same part of the country, but instead of telling you about the white settlers like Laura Ingalls and her family, you see the same slice of history through the eyes of an Ojibwa Indian girl - Omakayas.

Spoiler alert! Some of the questions contain key elements of the plot. Do not read if you don't want to know what happens!

-Lily shared with us all the parts that made her cry.

-Lily is drawing parallels between Little House and Birchbark House.

Think about how changing weather affects the events in the book, including the move from a house made of birchbark to a winter cabin. What yearly events take place in different seasons for Omakayas and her Ojibwa tribe? How does the weather dictate what you do at different times of the year?

-You can't have picnics or swim in winter.
-In summer, they had corn and berries. For winter, they hunted and foraged in advance for their food.
-They tapped trees for sap, which they use throughout the year  

The Ojibwa harvest wild rice in the fall and maple syrup in the spring. The author carefully describes these and other foods that the Ojibwa eat. Which meal described in this book would you like best? Describe it and tell how the food was gathered and prepared.

-I wouldn't like any of them. If I had to pick one, it would be corn.
-Corn
-Any meat

Throughout the story, Grandma and Migwam (Deydey) tell stories about the Ojibwa people. At one point, the narrator explains that grandma tells the tale "Nanabozho and Muskrat Make an Earth" in order to teach a lesson to the children, not just to entertain them. In the past, how have stories helped you to better understand something about life?

-The Bible
-The Bible

At one point, Omakayas encounters two bear cubs and their mother in the wild; luckily, Omakayas is not harmed. What is Omakayas's attitude toward the bears? Why? How does that attitude change or grow through the rest of the novel?

-She was calm and didn't freak out
-Relaxed
-She wasn't afraid of them and found them to be her friends


We ended early today.


We will meet on Wednesday, April 12 at 3:00 p.m. in order to discuss Paper Wishes by Lois Sepahban. 

"Near the start of World War II, young Manami, her parents, and Grandfather are evacuated from their home and sent to Manzanar, an ugly, dreary internment camp in the desert for Japanese-American citizens."

Please be sure to register for Book Club and pick up your copy of the book at the Circulation Desk.

April Grades 5-6 Book Suggestions

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Nobody Owens is a normal boy, except that he has been raised by ghosts and other denizens of the graveyard.

Ms. Bixby's Last Day by John David Anderson

Loving their gifted teacher, three boys are dismayed when the teacher falls ill and leaves for the rest of the school year, a situation that compels them to share their stories while cutting class and journeying across town together on a fateful day.

Paper Wishes by Lois Sepahban

Near the start of World War II, young Manami, her parents, and Grandfather are evacuated from their home and sent to Manzanar, an ugly, dreary internment camp in the desert for Japanese-American citizens.