GPL Blog

Book Review | The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich

From the Publisher: Omakayas and her family live on the land her people call the Island of the Golden-Breasted Woodpecker. Although the “chimookoman,” white people, encroach more and more on their land, life continues much as it always has: every summer they build a new birchbark house; every fall they go to ricing camp to harvest and feast; they move to the cedar log house before the first snows arrive, and celebrate the end of the long, cold winters at maple-sugaring camp.

This is a highly recommended read for any Little House on the Prairie fans (along with Prairie Lotus by Linda Sue Park), as well as other readers interested in the mid 1800s and pioneering time period and aspects of American history. Louise Erdrich, an enrolled…

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Book Review | Baby Zebra Rescue by Tamsyn Murray

From the Publisher: There’s paws, claws, feathers and fur — welcome to Tanglewood Animal Park! Zoe loves living with her family at Tanglewood — splashing with penguins, feeding lemurs their breakfast, and even seeing baby zebra, Flash, being born! Then disaster strikes when Flash goes missing. Can Zoe help rescue him in time for the grand opening?

Zoe’s parents have bought a failing zoo and now she lives in the manor house on zoo grounds and helps out with taking care of the animals. The short description provided by the publisher makes this seem a lot lighter and fluffier than it actually is. I was expecting this to be similar to some of our other animal-based chapter book series for younger…

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