The Barren Grounds

 Robertson, David A. The Barren Grounds. Book 1 of the Misewa Saga series. 2000. 256p.  ISBN 978-0-7352-6610-0. Available at FIC ROB on the library shelves.

At 13, Morgan has been in more foster homes than she can recount. She has only vague memories of her mother, a Native Canadian Cree who lived in the north of Manitoba. Now living with Katie in James in Winnipeg, Morgan has been here for almost two months. A week ago, another Cree foster child named Eli joined the family. Unlike Morgan, who has no links to her ancestral culture, Eli can speak Cree and was removed from his family recently. This is his first foster home. Eli loves to draw, and is always illustrating scenes that he keeps secret. 

At their middle school, Morgan keeps an eye on Eli, who sits alone against a cafeteria wall, drawing away. Morgan herself is always alone, and her prickly personality pushes people away. Emily, however, is not deterred, and she keeps on talking with Morgan even though Morgan makes it clear she wants to be left alone. Deep down, Morgan is afraid of rejection and knows it's only a matter of time before her new family rejects her and sends her packing, like all other families before her.

Following a fight with James and Katie, Morgan takes refuge in the attic, where workers have been remodelling. She opens a door covered with paint, and hides here. Eli finds her, and brings her a drawing he did. It looks lifelike. In it, what appears to be a fisher cat walking upright is running towards them. Morgan can feel the cold and smell the winter forest surrounding the animal. They put the drawing away, scared of what it may mean. Later that night, Morgan wakes up to find the house very cold. In the attic, she discovers that Eli has placed the drawing on the wall again, and entered it like a window. Snow has already accumulated on the floor. 

Worried for her foster brother, Morgan enters the strange land. She is soon lost, but is rescued by the fisher cat who brings her to his village. There, Morgan is reunited with Eli and learns that Misewa, the village, has been cursed since the last human to visit stole the Green Time. In a state of perpetual winter, the land is dying and the animals are starving. With Ochek, the fisher, and Arik, a squirrel, Morgan and Eli set out to recover the Green Time from the man who stole it, before it's too late for Misewa and its inhabitants.

Inspired from Native Canadian myths and sprinkled with Cree words, Morgan and Eli's story of finding a secret door to a world unknown will resonate with the reader. Fans of The Chronicles of Narnia will appreciate this take on the theme of saving a new land.