The Birchbark House

Prologue, Neebin (Summer): Chapters 1-4

Reading Check

1. The “Birchbark House” is Omakayas’s family’s summer home, which the women build. (Chapter 1)

2. In the Prologue, Tallow’s husband says she is both fearsome and courageous. (Prologue)

3. When Omakayas returns from the encounter with the bears, her mother promises her a special pair of shoes and Angeline uses one of her own ribbons to style Omakayas’s hair. (Chapter 3)

4. Deydey gives Omakayas her own scraping tool, which disappoints her. (Chapter 4)

Short Answer

1. Readers may suspect Omakayas is the baby from the Prologue. (Prologue)

2. The mother bear doesn’t attack Omakayas because the bear senses no danger after smelling Omakayas. (Chapter 2)

3. Omakayas voluntarily helps to scrape the moose hide because she needs time to reflect on her encounter with the bear. (Chapter 3)

4. Based on the meeting with the mother bear and the scene babysitting Neewo, Omakayas seems to be able to communicate with those who do not speak her language, such as animals and babies. (Chapters 2-3)

Dagwaging (FALL): CHAPTERS 5–8

Reading Check

1. Andeg is a useful pet as he chases raccoons out of food storage and rids the winter house of mice. (Chapters 5 and 6)

2. Andeg distrusts Mama because she throws a stick at him when she mistakenly thinks he ate the berries. (Chapter 6)

3. Omakayas learns that medicinal herbs talk to Nokomis, and Nokomis learns that bears talk to Omakayas. (Chapter 7)

4. The Catholic mission school offers Omakayas’s people reading lessons. (Chapter 8)

Short Answer

1. Omakayas’s people are in conflict with the white people over land. The white people keep pushing the Indigenous people off their land, forcing them to move farther and farther west. (Chapter 5)

2. During the rice harvest, Two Strike Girl and Omakayas break tradition by dancing the rice, which is typically done by boys. (Chapter 6)

3. When Nokomis blesses the winter food storage with a prayer, she expresses fears regarding starvation and disease. (Chapter 7)

4. Omakayas realizes that Old Tallow has real affection for her and would do anything to protect her. (Chapter 8)

Biboon (Winter): Chapters 9-11

Reading Check

1. Ten Snow gives a sewing kit to Omakayas. (Chapter 9)

2. A sick trader brings smallpox to the village. (Chapter 10)

3. Deydey helps the family combat its hunger by winning a game of chess against a trader. (Chapter 11)

4. The theme of the muskrat story is that even the smallest can make a big difference. (Chapter 11)

Short Answer

1. Nokomis’s grandfather sails off with the ghost of his dead wife. (Chapter 9)

2. Beginning with Angeline, each of Omokayas’s family members gets smallpox, except Nokomis and Omokayas. All recover except Neewo, who dies. (Chapter 10)

3. Omokayas dreams and meets a bear spirit woman who promises to help her. (Chapter 11)

4. When Tallow’s yellow dog attacks Omakayas, Tallow kills the dog. (Chapter 11)

Zeegwun (Spring): Chapters 12-14

Reading Check

1. The taste of maple sugar reminds Omakayas of Neewo because she shared her maple sugar with him. (Chapter 12)

2. Omakayas tells the bear family how to avoid humans. (Chapter 12)

3. The family laughs at Albert LaPautre’s story of his new spirit helper because he describes the talking Andeg to them. (Chapter 14)

4. Omakayas associates Neewo’s voice with birdsong. (Chapter 14)

Short Answer

1. Omakayas’s grief is calmed when she thinks she hears Neewo talking to her in the woods. (Chapter 12)

2. Omakayas heals Pinch’s burned foot, which shifts their relationship. (Chapter 12)

3. Andeg leaves the family to join other crows and find a mate. (Chapter 13)

4. Old Tallow tells Omakayas of the story of her birth as the only survivor on an island of people ravaged by smallpox. (Chapter 14)