Wikipedia

The Barren Grounds

The Barren Grounds is a middle-grade children's book by David A. Robertson, published September 8, 2020 by Puffin Books. It is the first volume in Robertson's Misewa Saga series. The publisher has named it a juxtaposition between traditional Indigenous stories and C.S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia.[1]

The Barren Grounds
AuthorDavid Robertson (writer)
LanguageEnglish
SeriesThe Misewa Saga
GenreChildren's literature, Fantasy
PublisherPuffin Books
Publication dateSeptember 8, 2020
Publication placeCanada
Media typePrint (Hardcover and Paperback)
OCLC1225150679
Followed byThe Great Bear 

Summary

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The novel's focal character is Morgan, an Indigenous girl who has been in foster-care in Winnipeg since the age of three and is now in grade 8 (13–14 years old). She is two months into her probably seventh foster-placement, with Katie (a teacher) and James (a doctor). Morgan is clever and witty and likes Fantasy fiction, but she is mistrustful and angry. The novel hints that Morgan finds Katie and James more congenial than previous foster-parents, but she struggles to invest in a relationship with them.

The foster-home has recently been joined by Eli, a year younger than Morgan. This is Eli's first foster-placement; he has hitherto lived in an Indigenous community, and can speak Cree. Eli says little but likes drawing in a sketchpad.

The first third of the novel focuses on Morgan's life in her foster-home and at school. She responds with rage when James tries to cheer her up by arranging her breakfast to make a smiley face. As Morgan walks Eli to school, he drops his sketchpad and it is run over by traffic, ruining it. Morgan's English Language Arts teacher, Mrs. Edwards, praises the technical achievement of a poem Morgan has written but asks her to rewrite it with more heart. On the other hand, Morgan is befriended by Emily, a White hockey-player who acquires a new sketchpad for Eli.

Morgan starts to take an interest in Eli's drawing, discovering that he draws scenes inspired by traditional Indigenous story. Morgan shows Eli Katie and James's attic. There they discover that one of Eli's drawings is a portal into the world he has drawn, but their realisation is interrupted by dinner. It turns out that Katie and James are celebrating Morgan's two-month anniversary in their home, and trying to help her connect with her Indigenous heritage. Morgan enjoys the traditional food they have bought but when Katie gives her a pair of moccasins, she flees upstairs in anger.

A fisher (Pekania pennanti)

Morgan wakes in the night and realises that Eli has passed through the portal. She follows him, emerging from a hole in a large tree into a snowbound land. She is found and rescued by Ochek, a human-sized, walking, talking fisher. Ochek, who has already found Eli, takes Morgan to his village. Morgan discovers that she is in the world of Askí and that time moves much faster than on Earth. Ochek's region, the North Lands, has been plunged into perpetual winter by a White man (later named as Mason) who came through a portal and stole the "summer birds", preventing the seasonal return of the "Green Time". Misewa is now close to starvation.

Ochek takes Morgan and Eli on a hunting trip. They find a sassy talking squirrel, Arik, stealing from one of Ochek's traps. Ochek tries to kill her for food, but the children prevent him, and Arik reveals that she knows where the summer birds are. With the permission of Misewa's council, Ochek, Arik, and the children set off to find the birds. They arrive at a chain of mountains to the west, where a wolf, Mahihkan, who works for Mason warns them not to cross. The heroes ascend the mountains anyway; the wolf attacks their camp at the summit but they defeat him and spare his life.

The heroes find that the Green Time persists on the other side of the mountains, but as they proceed towards Mason's house they realise that there are no animals there either, and surmise that Kisémanitou (the Creator) has withdrawn them to punish the man. They successfully steal the birds from Mason's house and head for Misewa, but he pursues them. He catches up with the heroes on the mountain summit; Ochek successfully climbs a sequoia tree and releases the birds, but falls from the tree, his tail broken by an arrow. Kisémanitou intervenes, turning Ochek into a constellation (Ochekatchakosuk, corresponding to the Big Dipper) for his services.

Arik, Morgan and Eli continue to flee Mason and are saved by Mahihkan; in their struggle, Mahihkan and Mason plunge into a deep canyon.

The heroes return to Misewa, where summer and prosperity have returned. Promising to return to Askí, Morgan and Eli head home through the portal, where they arrive just in time for school. Katie is pleased to see that Morgan is wearing her moccasins.

Throughout the novel, Morgan's memories of being taken away from her mother gradually return, and she writes a poem based on this process of recuperation that satisfies Mrs. Edwards.

Reception

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The Barren Grounds was a CBC Books number one bestseller for children's books for six nonconsecutive weeks,[2] and remained on the list for over a year following publication.[3]

The book was well received by critics, including a starred review from Kirkus Reviews, who highlighted how the novel "deftly and compellingly centers Indigenous culture".[4] Joanne Peters, writing for CM Magazine, "highly recommended" the novel and called it "an amazing book, pulling together diverse strands of ageless mythic traditions and contemporary stories of children who traverse portals in which other times and other worlds intersect." Peters further highlighted how the book "is rich in its characterization, evocative in its descriptions, and skillful in its weaving together of traditions of the past and life in the present."[5] According to Publishers Weekly, "the humans’ and animals’ voices are somewhat homogenous". Despite this, they found that "the treatment of Cree culture resonates, and the engaging characters and folklore ensure readers will look forward to the next installment."[6]

CBC Books and Quill & Quire named The Barren Grounds one of the best books for young people in 2020.[7][8] NPR's Code Switch team named it one of five underappreciated books published in 2020.[9]

Awards and honors for The Barren Grounds
Year Award/Honor Result Ref.
2020 Governor General's Literary Award for Young People's Literature Finalist [10][11]
USBBY Outstanding International Books List Selection [12]
2021 Silver Birch Fiction Award Finalist [13]
Forest of Reading Nominee [14]
Canadian Children's Book Centre Book Awards Shortlist [15][16][17]

Adaption

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On October 7, 2021, Robertson announced that ABC Signature had bought film rights to the Misewa Saga series.[18]

Sources and inspirations

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Both Robertson and academic commentators have presented The Barren Grounds as an Indigenising rewrite of C. S. Lewis's Fantasy classic The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe.[19][20] Ochek and Arek's quest to regain the summer birds is, however, an adaptation of a traditional story from Cree culture about the origin of the constellation Ochekatchakosuk, known in Anglophone culture as the Big Dipper,[21]: 23  which Robertson learned from Murdo Scribe, a north-Manitoban elder, and from Wilfred Buck's Tipiskawi Kisik: Night Sky Star Stories.[22]: 102–6  In Robertson's assessment, "Ochekatchakosuk shares this message: if you take too much from the land, there are consequences".[22]: 105 

The book makes extensive use of Cree vocabulary. From the paperback edition onwards, copies included a glossary and pronunciation guide, which Robertson also published online.[23][24]

References

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  1. ↑ "The Barren Grounds". CBC Books. May 4, 2021. Archived from the original on October 9, 2021. Retrieved October 12, 2021.
  2. ↑ "The bestselling Canadian books". CBC Books.
  3. ↑ "The bestselling Canadian books". CBC Books.
  4. ↑ "The Barren Grounds". Kirkus Reviews. June 3, 2020. Archived from the original on October 9, 2021. Retrieved October 12, 2021.
  5. ↑ Peters, Joanne (May 22, 2021). "The Barren Grounds". CM: Canadian Review of Materials. 26 (36). Archived from the original on August 4, 2024. Retrieved October 13, 2021.
  6. ↑ "Children's Book Review: The Barren Grounds (The Misewa Saga #1) by David A. Robertson". Publishers Weekly. September 30, 2020. Archived from the original on October 29, 2021. Retrieved October 12, 2021.
  7. ↑ CBC Books (December 15, 2020). "The best Canadian YA and middle-grade books of 2020". Canadian Broadcasting Company. Archived from the original on October 28, 2021. Retrieved October 12, 2021.
  8. ↑ Deziel, Shanda (November 23, 2020). "2020 Books of the Year: Books for Young People". Quill and Quire. Archived from the original on October 17, 2021. Retrieved October 12, 2021.
  9. ↑ Grisby Bates, Karen; Meraji, Shareen Marisol; Devarahan, Kumari; Donnela, Leah (December 30, 2020). "Code Switch: The Books That Got Away". NPR.org. Archived from the original on October 14, 2021. Retrieved October 12, 2021.
  10. ↑ "2020 Governor General's Literary Awards finalists". Canadian Children's Book Centre. May 4, 2021. Archived from the original on October 24, 2021. Retrieved October 12, 2021.
  11. ↑ CBC Books (May 4, 2021). "The finalists for the 2020 Governor General's Literary Award for young people's literature — text". CBC. Archived from the original on October 9, 2021. Retrieved October 12, 2021.
  12. ↑ Deogun, Inderjit (January 26, 2021). "Canadian talent celebrated on USBBY Outstanding International Books list". Quill and Quire. Archived from the original on October 16, 2021. Retrieved October 12, 2021.
  13. ↑ "Here are the 2021 Silver Birch Fiction Award finalists: 10 great Canadian books for readers in Grades 3-6". CBC Books. October 15, 2020. Archived from the original on October 28, 2021. Retrieved October 12, 2021.
  14. ↑ Deziel, Shanda (October 15, 2020). "The 2021 Forest of Reading nominations shine a light on the best in Canadian kidlit". Quill and Quire. Archived from the original on October 24, 2021. Retrieved October 12, 2021.
  15. ↑ Deogun, Inderjit (September 14, 2021). "CCBC Book Awards announces 2021 shortlist". Quill and Quire. Archived from the original on December 2, 2022. Retrieved October 12, 2021.
  16. ↑ "The 2021 Shortlists for the CCBC Book Awards Honour the Breadth of Canadian Books for Young People, Featuring the Inaugural Jean Little First-Novel Award". Canadian Children's Book Centre. September 14, 2021. Archived from the original on October 24, 2021. Retrieved October 12, 2021.
  17. ↑ Balser, Erin (September 14, 2021). "The Barnabus Project by the Fan Brothers among finalists for Canadian Children's Book Centre Awards". CBC Books. Archived from the original on August 4, 2024. Retrieved October 12, 2021.
  18. ↑ van Koeverden, Jane (October 12, 2021). "Film rights for David A. Robertson's YA series The Misewa Saga picked up by ABC Signature". CBC. Archived from the original on October 12, 2021. Retrieved October 12, 2021.
  19. ↑ Fachinger, Petra (2022). "Healing Intergenerational Trauma through Cultural Reclamation in David Alexander Robertson's Cree-Centric Retelling of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe". Jeunesse. 14 (1): 49–64. doi:10.3138/jeunesse-14.1.01. ISSN 1920-2601.
  20. ↑ Samuelson, Anah-Jayne (January 21, 2025). "Kiskisitotaso, Don't Forget Yourself: Indigenous Resurgence in David A. Robertson's Barren Grounds". Canada and Beyond: A Journal of Canadian Literary and Cultural Studies. 14: 7–25. doi:10.14201/candb.v14i7-25. ISSN 2254-1179.
  21. ↑ Nadine Keyworth, Lori Villeneuve, Katherine Mulski, Cristina Gismondi, Madison McArthur, and Lesley Gunning, The Barren Grounds, David Robertson: Langley Read Aloud Teacher Resource Guide (2021).
  22. 1 2 Robertson, David A. (2025). 52 Ways to Reconcile: How to Walk with Indigenous Peoples on the Path to Healing. New York: McClelland & Stewart. ISBN 978-0-7710-1935-7.
  23. ↑ https://x.com/DaveAlexRoberts/status/1413581878297300994
  24. ↑ Robertson, David A. "SWAMPY CREE GLOSSARY AND PRONUNCIATION GUIDE FOR THE BARREN GROUNDS". Retrieved May 4, 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
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