The Birchbark House
by Louise Erdrich
★ Top 25 book of 1999 · #24 on Best Books of 1999
Set around 1847 on an island in Lake Superior, this story follows a young Ojibwa girl named Omakayas. Drawing on the author's family history, it tells of Native American life from the inside, standing alongside the Little House books.
Best for: Young readers who enjoy Little House style stories told from a Native perspective
The Birchbark House is #24 on BookWard's Best Books of 1999, out of 52 1999 books that cleared our data bar.
What The Birchbark House is about
Omakayas is a young Ojibwa girl living on an island in Lake Superior around 1847. Her story unfolds through the rhythms of a family's life in that place, told from the inside rather than through an outsider's eyes. That choice matters. Many older children's stories about Native Americans in the nineteenth century treated them as dangers or curiosities, a distant "them." Louise Erdrich turns that around and speaks as "us," drawing on her own family's history to do it.
The tone is gentle and warm, and the book follows a child growing up amid family, heritage, and the work of survival. The New York Times Book Review placed it in the vicinity of Laura Ingalls Wilder's 'Little House' books.
The Birchbark House on the Best Books of 1999
The Birchbark House came out in 1999. Of the 52 books first published in 1999 that met BookWard's data bar, it ranks #24 on our Best Books of 1999 list.
Why it made the list: 336 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 3.6 out of 5 (10 ratings). The list ranks each year’s books on how many readers have picked them up, how highly readers rate them, and how many are reading them right now.
Nearby on the 1999 list
- Code Charles Petzold, #22
- The Amber Spyglass Philip Pullman, #23
See all Best Books of 1999 Best books by year
More years: Best Books of 1998 Best Books of 2000.
The numbers behind it
- Readers: 305 want to read it, 17 are reading it now and 14 have read it, according to Open Library.
- Ratings: 3.6 out of 5 from 10 Open Library ratings.
| Signal | This book (0 to 100) | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Reach | 60 | 55% |
| Reader love | 15 | 25% |
| Being read right now | 65 | 20% |
Questions about The Birchbark House
When was The Birchbark House published?
The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich was first published in 1999.
Was The Birchbark House one of the best books of 1999?
The Birchbark House is #24 on BookWard's Best Books of 1999, out of 52 1999 books that cleared our data bar. 336 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 3.6 out of 5 (10 ratings).
Why is The Birchbark House on the Best Books of 1999 list?
336 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 3.6 out of 5 (10 ratings).
More of the best books of 1999
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban J. K. Rowling, #1
- The Perks of Being a Wallflower Stephen Chbosky, #2
- Wings of Fire A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, #3
- On Writing Stephen King, #4
- The Bad Beginning Lemony Snicket, #5
- The Coldest Winter Ever Sister Souljah, #6
See the full Best Books of 1999, the Top 100, or new books on Rising.
How we know
This page uses public data: Open Library reader counts and ratings, and Wikipedia page views for recent years. The description is paraphrased from real source text. Rankings reflect reading interest, not quality or sales, and can be affected by data gaps. Lists update monthly.
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