The Barren Grounds
Author: David Alexander Robertson
Publisher: Puffin Books
Morgan and Eli, two Indigenous children forced away from their families and communities, are brought together in a foster home in Winnipeg, Manitoba. They each feel disconnected, from their culture and each other, and struggle to fit in at school and at their new home -- until they find a secret place, walled off in an unfinished attic bedroom. A portal opens to another reality, Askí, bringing them onto frozen, barren grounds, where they meet Ochek (Fisher). The only hunter supporting his starving community, Misewa, Ochek welcomes the human children, teaching them traditional ways to survive. But as the need for food becomes desperate, they embark on a dangerous mission. Accompanied by Arik, a sassy Squirrel they catch stealing from the trapline, they try to save Misewa before the icy grip of winter freezes everything -- including them.
The Barren Grounds by David A. Robertson is a remarkable novel where fantasy meets reality, smack in the middle of suburban Winnipeg. Morgan and Eli, siblings by circumstance in a foster system that needs some work, find themselves breaking through the back door of an attic to seek the adventure of a lifetime. What they find will surprise even the most jaded readers.
Robertson expertly weaves Cree constellation stories into a survival saga where the siblings battle supernatural creatures in an unforgiving landscape. There is an under-riding theme of colonization and reconciliation as the characters uncover secrets from their own past and that of the man and wolf that haunt the Barren Grounds. What makes this story memorable is the kinship developed between Morgan and Eli, and animals Ochek and Arik, as the four friends discover the true meaning of family and sacrifice.
-D.G.