Louise Erdrich Books In Order

Publication Order of Birchbark House Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Picture Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Louise Erdrich is one of the well known author of the Ojibwe who has written a number of poetry, novels, children’s books, etc. Many of her writings feature the Native American settings as well as characters. She is an active member of the Chippewa Indians’ Turtle Mountain Band. Louise is widely popular as one of the most significant authors of the 2nd wave of the Renaissance of the native Americans. In the year 2009, one of her novels titled ‘The Plague of Doves’ won the Anisfield-Wolf Award and was also one of the finalists of the Pulitzer Prize. Author Louise also won the National Book Award in the year 2012 in the category of Best Fiction. Apart from writing novels and poetry, she also runs a small and independent bookstore known as the Birchbark Books, which is located in Minneapolis. This shop focuses mainly on the Native American literature and community of the Native Americans in the Twin Cities.

Author Louise was born as Karen Louise Erdrich on June 7, 1954, in Little Falls, Minnesota, United States. She was the first child among her seven siblings and was born to Rita, who is half Ojibwe and half French-American, and Ralph Erdrich, who was a German-American. Both the parents of author Louise were teachers at a boarding school located in Wahpeton, North Dakota. It was started by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and was headed by her maternal grandmother named Patrick Gourneau, who served as the tribal chairman for many years. Louise had developed an interest in writing stories from a very young age and was encouraged by her father in her skill, who gave her one nickel for each story that she used to write. One of her sisters named Heidi also used to write stories and poetry along with her and has now established herself as a successful poet. She lives in Minnesota and releases her written works under the name Heidi E. Erdrich. Louise’s other sister named Lise Erdrich has written a number of children’s books and several collections of essays and fiction novels.

Before beginning her career as a professional writer, Louise studies at the Dartmouth College between the years 1972 and 1976. She was a part of the first batch of co-ed class started by the college and graduated with her A.B. in the subject of English. While studying at the Dartmouth College, author Louise met with her future husband named Michael Dorris, who was the director of the new program of the Native American Studies at that time and later, went on to become an anthropologist and author. After completing her graduation, Louise earned her Master of Arts degree from the Johns Hopkins University in the Writing Seminars in the year 1979. In the year 1981, she married Michael Dorris and brought up 3 biological and 3 adopted children. Dorris and Louise separated from each other in the year 1995 and their marriage ended with the suicide death of Michael Dorris in the year 1997. As of today, author Louise lives in Minnesota along with all her children and remains indulges in her writing works all the time. In the year 2009, she returned to the Dartmouth College in order to be honored with the honorary Doctorate of Letters and also delivered an addressing speech of commencement. Along with her two sisters, author Louise often conducts writing workshops in North Dakota.

The novel series, The Birchbark House written by author Louise Erdrich consists of a total of 5 books published between the years 1999 and 2016. The first novel of the series was titled ‘The Birchbark House’ and was published by the Disney-Hyperion publishing house in the year 1999. The plot of this novel deals with the pioneer lives of the Americans during the 19th century, which is seen through the visions of a 7 year old Ojibwa girl named Omakayas. She is also called as Little Frog because she took her first step as a hop. When Omakayas had been just a small child, she was the only survivor of the smallpox epidemic on the Spirit Island, and was rescued by a brave woman named Tallow. She had taken Omakayas to the Ojibwa family living on Madeline Island in Lake Superior. Author Louise has described the life of Omakayas and her new family through 4 different seasons in the year 1847, including the chilling winter.

In the later parts of the novel, Louise has given a description of the daily life of the Native American family of Omakayas, as they keep themselves busy with picking berries, scaring crows in cornfields, and tanning moose hides. They also encountered the bear cubs in the region commonly and talked about ghost stories around the bonfires. Before writing this novel, author Louise spoke with the elders of Ojibwa, studied letters of the travelers, and even spent some time with her family on the Madeline Island. She closely observed the reactions of the Native Americans to stones, woods, bear, crayfish, and deer. Louise has described Omakayas as a strong, likable, and intense character. She is depicted as having mixed emotions for he siblings, discovering her new and unique talents, and developing devotion for her pet crow named Andeg.

The second novel of The Birchbark House series written by author Louise Erdrich was published under the title ‘The Game of Silence’. It was released by the HarperCollins publishing house in the year 2005 and continued to depict the life story of the Native American girl named Omakayas or Little Frog, as she is often referred to as, living on the Madeline Island in Lake Superior. In the opening sequence of the plot of the novel, author Louise has depicted the time period of the year 1850 in which Omakayas’s island gets visited by a group of several mysterious people. Omakayas learns from those people that the white people or the chimookomanag have ordered her and the people living on the island to go away from the island and move far in the west direction. On that day, Omakayas realizes that the place which was so valuable to her and so important that she never felt she possessed it in the first place, could face danger from the white people. The novel became extremely successful and went on to win the Scott O’Dell Award in the year 2006.

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