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The Game of Silence | LitPick Book Reviews
The Game of Silence
The Game of Silence (Birchbark House)
The Game of Silence
Louise Erdrich
Her name is Omakayas, or Little Frog, because her first step was a hop, and she lives on an island in Lake Superior.It is 1850, and the lives of the Ojibwe have returned to a familiar rhythm: they build their birchbark houses in the summer, go to the ricing camps in the fall to harvest and feast, and move to their cozy cedar log cabins near the town of LaPointe before the first snows.The satisfying routines of Omakayas's days are interrupted by a surprise visit from a group of desperate and mysterious people. From them, she learns that all their lives may drastically change. The chimookomanag, or white people, want Omakayas and her people to leave their island in Lake Superior and move farther west. Omakayas realizes that something so valuable, so important that she never knew she had it in the first place, is in danger: Her home. Her way of life. In this captivating sequel to National Book Award nominee The Birchbark House, Louise Erdrich continues the story of Omakayas and her family.

Book Details

Genre: 

  • Fiction
  • Historical Fiction
  • Series

Age Level: 

  • 12 and up
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BS

The trick with historical fiction is balancing atmosphere and information with an engaging, moving storyline. Too much story can turn facts to fiction; but too much data can leave the reader overwhelmed and, yes, even bored. Unfortunately for Louise Erdrich, her novel slips a little too much into the latter category. "The Game of Silence," sequel to Erdrich's novel "The Brichbark House," has a good story, which follows young Omakayas and her family and others in the Ojibwe tribe who live in what will later be called Minnesota.

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