Author: Anna Rose Johnson
Recommended Age: 12-14
Date Published: 2022
Genre: Historical Fiction
Summary: When Norvia’s Ma remarries, their family must leave their beloved home on Beaver Island and move to the city that isn’t anything like living along the shores of Lake Michigan. But even worse than that, Norvia’s Ma tells all of the children to never reveal to her new husband that they are Ojibwe. Can they keep their Ma’s secret? Or will their heritage ruin the new marriage and their new life?
Notes from The Radical Reader:
- Noble Characters: Norvia, Dicta, Elton, and Vernon quickly lit up the pages of this story with their struggles, hopes, dreams, and absolute life-likeness. Watching Elton sacrifice his dreams to provide for his family, Norvia fight for friendships only to learn that deceit destroys them, and Vernon transform into a beloved brother delighted my heart and made me laugh out-loud at numerous points in the story.
- Captivating Plots: The humor and hope that filled the pages of this book reminded me of classic tales like Anne of Green Gables, Little Women, and Pollyanna. The way the author portrayed Norvia struggling to feel accepted among her peers made me resonate so deeply with her. And the relationship between she and her step-father was beautiful to watch as it unfolded.
- Elaborate Worlds: This book is based off of the true-life events of the author’s great-grandmother, a half-Swedish, half-Ojibwe fourteen-year-old growing up on the shores of Lake Michigan. Readers will be swept away in this delightful tale of melodramatic theatrics, dashing tricksters, and desperate measures to stay together as a family and survive in the early 1900s.
Noteworthy Elements:
- Profanity: The words “darn”, “gosh”, “heck”, and “golly” are each used once.
- Spiritual: Norvia hosts a Halloween party where she and her younger sister, Dicta, pretend to tell the party guests’ fortunes. There is one reference to a talisman. Dicta wonders if Vernon’s deceased mother turns into a ghost at night and wanders the house.
- Other: Norvia’s father leaves his wife and children when Norvia’s parents are divorced. Throughout the story, Norvia recalls the negative comments her father made in past years towards their Indian heritage.
