BIO

Louise Erdrich lives with her family and their dogs in Minnesota. Ms. Erdrich is a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa. She grew up in North Dakota and is of German-American and Chippewa descent. She is the author of many critically acclaimed and New York Times best-selling novels for adults, including LOVE MEDICINE, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award, and her latest novel THE PLAGUE OF DOVES, also published by HarperCollins.

THE PORCUPINE YEAR continues the story that began with THE BIRCHBARK HOUSE, a National Book Award finalist, and THE GAME OF SILENCE, winner of the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction, and was inspired when Ms. Erdrich and her mother, Rita Gourneau Erdrich, were researching their own family history.

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Louise Erdrich on THE BIRCHBARK HOUSE

Louise Erdrich is the noted author of LOVE MEDICINE, THE ANTELOPE WIFE and other books for adults, as well as her picture book for children, GRANDMOTHER'S PIGEON. She is a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwa and often writes about elements of her Native American heritage in her books. In THE BIRCHBARK HOUSE, her first novel for children, Erdrich introduces Omakayas, a thoughtful, spunky eight-year-old Ojibwa girl who lives with her family on an island in Lake Superior in 1847. Omakayas' adventures will not only entertain young readers, but also inform them of the experiences and devastating hardships of Native Americans facing the encroachment of white settlers during pioneer days. Here Erdrich answers some questions about her latest project.

Q: On your acknowledgments page you mention some family research you did which turned up Native American ancestors who lived during the same time as Omakayas. Can you explain how that grew into your inspiration for writing this book?

A: I actually mentioned that my mother and sister did research that led our family back to Madeline Island. Standing on the shores of Lake Superior, I have wondered whether my ancestors stood in the same place, saw the same scene, heard the same sounds --- the high-pitched cry of the flicker or the white throated sparrow's song. It was natural to want to write about the past, for me, and it came from the heart.

Q: What other kinds of research did you undertake to make this book historically accurate? What was the most striking thing you discovered about this period in American history?

A: I read the letters of travelers in the region, generously provided by the Madeline Island Historical Society. I spoke to Ojibwa elders about the spirit and significance of Madeline Island. I spent time there with my children and watched their reactions to the place --- trees, woods, stones, crayfish, bears and deer.

Q: Omakayas is a memorable character, both introspective and pro-active, a bit of a spitfire. Is she based on any person or a composite of persons you have known?

A: Omakayas is as wholly invented as any character is; that is to say she is composed of my own childhood feelings and reactions to experience. She is like my little sisters, a little like my daughters, a little like my mom, most of all she becomes herself by the end of the book.

Q: Do some of Omakayas' experiences specifically parallel those of your ancestors?

A: The smallpox occuring during the winter of 1847 was an actual event taken from historical records. I have no idea how my ancestors fared during that terrible time. As the books move closer to the present I will be able to include true family anecdotes. For this book, I relied on a great deal of historical reading, especially of primary sources --- letters and journals of the time. The food, however, is based on real food and dishes prepared by Ojibwa people then and now. My near favorite character, Old Tallow, is based on a real woman who lived much as she did, a powerful Ojibwa hunter with a pack of dogs.

Q: Thanks to some classic titles like Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House books, many young readers are familiar with white settlers who traveled West during the 1800s. But Omakayas' story will be new to them. Did you read the Little House books as a girl? Do you consider THE BIRCHBARK HOUSE a kind of answer to them?

A: I read the Little House books as a child and so have my children. I love their humor and warmth, but am disturbed by Ma's racism. Given their widespread use in the schools, I do not think it would be wrong to annotate some of her more insulting remarks. Perhaps their publisher will do that in time. I didn't write this book as an answer but hope it will be perceived as an enlargement of the view encompassed in Laura's world.

Q: This book also brings to mind some works by Scott O'Dell, for example SING DOWN THE MOON and ISLAND OF THE BLUE DOLPHINS. Do you think there are any similarities?

A: Although I wasn't influenced by Scott O'Dell, I read and loved JULIE OF THE WOLVES and read the book aloud to my daughters. I was very much taken with Julie's resourceful use of native technology.

Q: You also did the illustrations for THE BIRCHBARK HOUSE. What was that like and why was it important for you to do?

A: I wanted very much to try and capture the Omakayas I saw in my mind's eye while writing the book. She looks like an amalgam of my daughters. I have always wanted to illustrate a book --- this exact book especially because I described so many objects of my own --- the makazins, the makuks, and so on. When the book was nearly written with the crow included, we [my daughters and I] were given an actual baby crow to raise! We did so, successfully, and set the crow free. She returned for several months and at those times I had a wonderful chance to sketch as she sat on my chair.

Q: Will there be more books about Omakayas? If so, when can we look for them?

A: I am going to keep writing about Omakayas and her family. I hope to finish a book every two to three years.

(c) Copyright 1999, Hyperion Books for Children.