The Bone Tribe

by Louise Erdrich

Overview

The sixth book in the Birchbark House series, spanning one hundred years in the life of one Ojibwe family, by award-winning and New York Times bestselling author Louise Erdrich. In this first book about Anak, she grapples with the devastating effects of the near extinction of the buffalo population while navigating her identity.

Thirteen-year-old Anakwad prefers to split logs and help her father and uncle collect buffalo bones instead of cooking and learning to do beadwork at home. With the buffalo population decimated by white settlers on the Great Plains, Anak and her Ojibwe family have resorted to the gruesome, toiling work of selling the animals’ bones to the white men who run the bone yard to make ends meet.

But when Anak discovers that her reservation’s graveyard has been disturbed, she learns the devasting truth behind the bone yard. Meanwhile, an old enemy is silently lurking—one that puts Anak’s entire reservation in serious danger.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798228478688
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	09/09/2025
Series:	Birchbark House Series , #6
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 5.70(h) x 0.00(d)
Age Range:	9 - 12 Years

About the Author

Louise Erdrich, a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, is the award-winning author of many novels as well as volumes of poetry, children’s books, and a memoir of early motherhood. Erdrich lives in Minnesota with her daughters and is the owner of Birchbark Books, a small independent bookstore.

Hometown:

Minneapolis, Minnesota

Date of Birth:

June 7, 1954

Place of Birth:

Little Falls, Minnesota

Education:

B.A., Dartmouth College, 1976; M.A., Johns Hopkins University, 1979

Editorial Reviews

PRAISE FOR MAKOONS: ★ “Erdrich continues her excellent storytelling. She has a knack for creating humorous and endearing characters. This beautiful novel is quick moving and deeply affecting. Readers will thoroughly enjoy following Makoons and learning about Ojibwe life.” — School Library Journal (starred review)

★ “Warm intergenerational moments abound. Erdrich provides fascinating information about Ojibwe daily life. Readers will be enriched by Erdrich’s finely crafted corrective to the Eurocentric dominant narrative of America’s past.” — Horn Book (starred review)

“Erdrich’s simple text and delicate pencil illustrations provide a detailed, honest portrait of Plains life. A warm and welcome addition to the unfolding saga of a 19th-century Ojibwe family.” — Kirkus Reviews

“Erdrich’s direct narrative voice brings readers right into Makoons’s world. A new addition to the Birchbark House saga, launched in 1999, is always an anticipated event.” — ALA Booklist

PRAISE FOR CHICKADEE: ★ “A beautifully evolving story of an indigenous American family.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

★ “Erdrich’s storytelling is masterful. All of the characters, even minor ones, are believable and well developed, and small pencil drawings add to the story’s charm. The northern Minnesota setting is vividly described, and information about Ojibwe life and culture is seamlessly woven into every page. Readers will be more than happy to welcome little Chickadee into their hearts.” — School Library Journal (starred review)

“Readers will absorb the history lesson almost by osmosis; their full attention will be riveted on the story. Every detail anticipates readers’ interest.” — Horn Book Magazine

“In the fourth book in Erdrich’s award-winning Birchbark House series, the focus moves to a new generation. As always, the focus is on the way-of-life details as much as the adventure. Most affecting are the descriptions of Makoons’ loneliness without his brother.” — ALA Booklist

“The pleasures of reading the series are not unlike those of reading Laura Ingalls Wilder: Discovering an earlier time in our country through stories of the daily lives of children.” — Newsday

PRAISE FOR THE PORCUPINE YEAR: ★ “Erdrich weaves in Ojibwe culture and language, defined in a glossary at the back, and her occasional black-and-white sketches express her affection for small daily things. Based on Erdrich’s own family history, the mischievous celebration will move readers, and so will the anger and sadness. What is left unspoken is as powerful as the story told.”  — ALA Booklist

PRAISE FOR THE GAME OF SILENCE: ★ “Readers who loved Omakayas and her family in The Birchbark House (1999) have ample reason to rejoice in this beautifully constructed sequel … Hard not to hope for what comes next for this radiant nine-year old.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

★ “Readers will welcome the return of richly drawn characters.” — ALA Booklist (starred review)

★ “Erdrich’s gifts are many, and she has given readers another tale full of rich details of 1850’s Ojibwe life, complicated supporting characters, and all the joys and challenges of a girl becoming a woman.” — Horn Book (starred review)

“Erdrich is a talented storyteller. She has created a world, fictional but real: absorbing, funny, serious and convincingly human.” — New York Times Book Review

PRAISE FOR THE BIRCHBARK HOUSE: ★ “[A] lyrical narrative. Readers will want to follow this family for many seasons to come.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“The Birchbark House establishes its own ground, in the vicinity of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House books.” — New York Times Book Review

“Why has no one written this story before?” — ALA Booklist

“Erdrich’s captivating tale of four seasons portrays a deep appreciation of our environment, our history, and our Native American sisters and brothers.” — School Library Journal

From the Publisher