Home > Children > Children's Fiction > The Game of Silence

The Game of Silence

List Price: $4.99

Save 5.0%

You Pay: $4.74

Want this eBook?Our eBook Library Software is required to purchase and download eBooks. Download it here.

Tell a Friend

Overview

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.

Editorial Reviews

In the sequel to Erdrich's novel The Birchbark House, about the Ojibwe Indians, Fields reads at an often leisurely pace in a deep, calm voice-a good match for the tone of the text, but not a great choice for an engaging listen. The author picks up the story of Omakayas, now nine years old, as her tribe faces government expulsion from their island settlement on Lake Superior in 1849. When she's not fighting with her pesky brother Pinch, helping her mother, or gleaning advice from mentor Old Tallow, Omakayas starts to discover more about her talent for reading dreams. But no one can really know what the future-and the move west-will hold. Fields admirably masters Ojibwe names and vocabulary, but this recording's appeal lies with true fans of the material. Ages 8-12. (May) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information. -- PUBLISHERS WEEKLY.

Author Information

Bio of Louise Erdrich

The daughter of a full-blooded Chippewa, Louise Erdrich was born on July 6, 1954 in Little Falls, Minnesota, the daughter of Ralph and Rita Erdrich, both of whom were employed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Erdrich's heritage may explain her focus and interest in the Native Americans who populate her writing. In speaking of her childhood, Erdrich relates how her father used to give her a nickel for every story she wrote and her mother would provide construction paper for book covers. She always felt like a published author. In 1981 Erdrich married Native American author Michael Dorris and together they published The World's Greatest Fisherman, which won the Nelson Algren Award in 1982. In 1984 she won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Love Medicine, which is an expansion of the story she cowrote with Dorris. Love Medicine was also awarded the Virginia McCormick Scully Prize (1984), the Sue Kaufman Prize (1985) and the Los Angeles Times Award for best novel (1985). In addition to her prose, Erdrich has written several volumes of poetry, a textbook, and short stories and essays for popular magazines. She has been the recipient of numerous awards for professional excellence, including the National Magazine Fiction Award in 1983 and a first-prize O. Henry Award in 1987. Erdrich has also taught writing at Johns Hopkins University and Dartmouth College.

Customer Reviews

There are no customer reviews available at this time. To add your review, Register or Sign In to your account using our free eBook Library Software.

Additional Info

Imprint

HarperCollins

Filesize

3.19 MB

Number of Pages

319

eBook ISBN

9780061187599

Awards

  • ABC Children's Booksellers Choices Awards
  • American Library Association Notable Books for Children
  • Bluegrass Award
  • Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award
  • Georgia Children's Book Award
  • Great Lakes Book Awards
  • Great Lakes' Great Books Award
  • Jane Addams Children's Book Award
  • Maine Student Book Award
  • Maryland Children's Book Award
  • National Book Awards
  • Nene Award
  • Publishers Weekly Best Books of the Year
  • Rhode Island Children's Book Award
  • Scott O'Dell Historical Fiction Award
  • Volunteer State Book Award
  • Western Heritage Awards (Wrangler Award)
  • William Allen White Children's Book Award
  • Young Reader's Choice Award

Excerpt from: The Game of Silence by Louise Erdrich

The Raggedy Ones

When they were close enough to touch bottom with their paddles, the people poured out of the nearly swamped canoes. The grown-ups held little ones and the little ones held even smaller ones. There were so many people jammed into each boat that it was a wonder they had made it across. The grown-ups, the ones who wore clothes, bunched around the young. A murmur of pity started among the people who had gathered on shore when they heard Omakayas's shout, for the children had no clothing at all, they were naked. In a bony, hungry, anxious group, the people from the boats waded ashore. They looked at the ground, fearfully and in shame. They were like skinny herons with long poles for legs and clothes like drooping feathers. Only their leader, a tall old man wearing a turban of worn cloth, walked with a proud step and held his head up as a leader should. He stood calmly, waiting for his people to assemble. When everyone was ashore and a crowd was gathered expectantly, he raised his thin hand and commanded silence with his eyes.

Everyone's attention was directed to him as he spoke.

"Brothers and sisters, we are glad to see you! Daga, please open your hearts to us! We have come from far away."