Melody Murray's Books

I found it interesting that Erdrich came back to these people so many years later (in real time, I mean- The Birchbark House was written in 1999). I'm glad she did. I enjoyed this one perhaps more than the first- I think Erdrich does a fabulous job of showing how the changes come to the family without telling us a thing. It's all seen quite authentically through the eyes of Omaykayas, and the baggage I bring to what she sees is emphatically my own. I love Omaykayas' family. Her interactions with her annoying little brother Pinch are spot-on. I really dig the ebb and flow of emotions that run through this family- Yellow Kettle boils over with a certain regularity, and everyone copes. DeyDey vanishes and reappears, and it's just the way things are.My own childhood was steeped in Manifest Destiny and the Little House books. I wish I'd had these books instead. Though I'd probably have colored my face with charcoal and wandered off into the woods for a week.