Adventurous, trail-blazing Wolf lives in a northern mining town and spends her days exploring the mountains and wilderness with her three best friends Penny, Ann and Brandi. The girls' secret refuge is their tree-house hideaway, Birchwood, Wolf's favourite place on earth. When her beloved grandmother tells her that she is the great-granddaughter of a tree talker, Wolf knows that she is destined to protect the birch trees and wildlife that surround her.
But Wolf's mother doesn't understand this connection at all. Not only is she reluctant to engage with their family's Indigenous roots, she seems suspiciously on the wrong side of the environmental protection efforts in their hometown. To make matters worse, she's just started dating an annoying new boyfriend named Roger, whose motives--and construction company--seem equally suspect.
As summer arrives, so do bigger problems. Wolf and her friends discover orange plastic bands wrapped around the trees near their cherished hangout spot, and their once stable friendship seems on the verge of unravelling. Birchwood has given them so much--can they even stay together long enough to save this special place?
With gorgeous yet understated language, Danielle Daniel beautifully captures an urgent and aching time in a young person's life. To read this astonishing middle-grade debut is to have your heart broken and then tenderly mended.
Paperback, 304 pages
Published January 18, 2022
by HarperCollins
4.5/5 stars
I have previously read Daughters of the Deer by Danielle Daniel, so I was anxious to read this her debut middle grade Forever Birchwood.
Taking place in Sudbury, Ontario 12-year-old Wolf along with three of her best friends spend a summer trying to save their beloved Birchwood from destruction.
Though I started off reading the book, it wasn’t long before I grabbed the audio and finished it in a day. I don’t understand some other reviews that criticize the audio and the narrator, for myself I found it a pleasant listen. The reader did a great job, I was captivated.
Wolf is a strong girl, determined along with her friends. But she also has other things going on in her life, her mother‘s new boyfriend who just happens to work for the construction company set to destroy Birchwood. She can't help wondering if her real estate mother is also somehow involved.
As these girls sneak around trying to thaw the demolition effort they get more than they bargained for in this mining town. I won’t go into what all these obstacles are for fear of spoilers. But suffice to say I think this was a well written coming of age story, that shows determination, the importance of heritage and family along with standing up for something you strongly believe in.
This Canadian reader also loves the setting and hopes the author will continue featuring this great province.
As these girls sneak around trying to thaw the demolition effort they get more than they bargained for in this mining town. I won’t go into what all these obstacles are for fear of spoilers. But suffice to say I think this was a well written coming of age story, that shows determination, the importance of heritage and family along with standing up for something you strongly believe in.
This Canadian reader also loves the setting and hopes the author will continue featuring this great province.
This was part of my 2024 reading off my shelf challenge and my copy of the audiobook was obtained through CloudLibrary
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