Review: The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich

The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich cover shows a young girl in the foreground with a crow sitting on her shoulder and her house made of birchbark in the background.

The Birchbark House (The Birchbark House #1)
Louise Erdrich
Hyperion Books for Children
Published June 3, 2002 (orig. 1999)

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About The Birchbark House

Nineteenth-century American pioneer life was introduced to thousands of young readers by Laura Ingalls Wilder’s beloved Little House books. With THE BIRCHBARK HOUSE, award-winning author Louise Erdrich’s first novel for young readers, this same slice of history is seen through the eyes of the spirited, 7-year-old Ojibwa girl Omakayas, or Little Frog, so named … Continue reading

Review: The Best Worst Summer by Elizabeth Eulberg

The Best Worst Summer by Elizabeth Eulberg

The Best Worst Summer
Elizabeth Eulberg
Bloomsbury USA Children’s
Published May 4, 2021

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About The Best Worst Summer

This is going to be the worst summer ever for Peyton. Her family just moved, and she had to leave her best friend behind. She’s lonely. She’s bored. Until . . . she comes across a box buried in her backyard, with a message: I’m so sorry. Please forgive me. Things are about to get interesting.

Back in 1989, it’s going to be the best summer ever for Melissa and Jessica. They have two whole months to goof around and explore, and they’re even going to bury a … Continue reading

Review: The Silver Box by Margi Preus

The Silver Box by Margi Preus

The Silver Box
Margi Preus
University of Minnesota Press
Published October 6, 2020

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About The Silver Box

In the final Enchantment Lake mystery, Francie’s search for the truth about her mother—and herself—plunges her into danger during a North Woods winter

When she wakes in her aunts’ cold cabin on the shore of Enchantment Lake, Francie remembers: everything about her life has changed. Or is about to. Or just might. Everything depends on the small, engraved silver box that she now possesses—if only she can follow its cryptic clues … Continue reading

Review: Enchantment Lake by Margi Preus

Enchantment Lake by Margi Preus

Enchantment Lake (A Northwoods Mystery)
Margi Preus
University of Minnesota Press
Published March 11, 2015

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About Enchantment Lake

A disturbing call from her great aunts Astrid and Jeannette sends seventeen-year-old Francie far from her new home in New York into a tangle of mysteries. Ditching an audition in a Manhattan theater, Francie travels to a remote lake in the northwoods where her aunts’ neighbors are “dropping like flies” from strange accidents. But are they accidents?

On the shores of Enchantment Lake in the woods of northern … Continue reading

Review: Both of Me by Jonathan Friesen

Both of Me by Jonathan FriesenBoth of Me
Jonathan Friesen
Zonderkidz Books
Published December 23, 2014

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On the run from a past she can’t bear to face, Clara retraces her the journey outlined in her father’s journal. Then a captivating, broken boy derails her. He sketches things he shouldn’t know. Images from memories she wants to forget. And she can’t let him out of her sight until she understands how he knows these things.

But following Elias means a trip into fantasy. The boy has two parts – the gentle Elias who soothes Clara’s fears and the rough, unpredictable one who lives in an imaginary world called Salem and a great evil to the east. … Continue reading