Grade 5 · Class Reads · Book guide

The Barren Grounds

by David A. Robertson

Morgan and Eli, two Indigenous children living in foster care in Winnipeg, discover a portal to Askí. There they join Ochek and Arik on a dangerous journey to help a community facing endless winter and hunger.

Format

Middle-grade fantasy

Suggested age range

Middle-grade readers

Why read it together?

A book worth talking about

Norway House Cree Nation author David A. Robertson centres contemporary Indigenous young people and Cree ways of knowing within an adventure story. The novel supports discussion of kinship, displacement, cultural reconnection, land, and belonging.

Cree identity
Kinship
Cultural reconnection
Land and survival

Before reading

Get ready to wonder

What can help someone reconnect with family, language, or culture?
How can a fantasy world reflect real experiences without being a direct copy of them?

During and after reading

Talk about the text

How do Morgan and Eli understand home differently at the beginning?
Which relationships change Morgan's conclusions about trust and belonging?
How does knowledge of the land guide the group's choices in Askí?

Writing invitation

Respond to the book

Compare Morgan's understanding of belonging near the beginning and later in the novel. Support the comparison with sequenced evidence.

For parents and educators

Ontario curriculum alignment

Grade 5 Language · Strand C: Comprehension: Understanding and Responding to Texts

View supported expectations

C1.7 · Indigenous Context of Various Text Forms

Read, listen to, and view various forms of texts by diverse First Nations, Métis, and Inuit creators to make meaning through Indigenous Storywork about First Nations, Métis, and Inuit histories, cultures, relationships, communities, groups, nations, and lived experiences.
C2.1 · Prereading: Activating Prior Knowledge

Identify and explain prior knowledge from various sources, including personal experiences, that they can use to make connections and understand new texts.
C2.5 · Monitoring of Understanding: Making Connections

Describe how the ideas expressed in texts connect to their knowledges and lived experiences, the ideas in other texts, and the world around them.
C2.6 · Summarizing: Identifying Relevant Information and Drawing Conclusions

Summarize the main idea of a text and the supporting details in sequence, and draw a well-supported conclusion.
C3.2 · Making Inferences

Make local and global inferences, using explicit and implicit evidence, to extend their understanding of various texts.
C3.3 · Analyzing Texts

Analyze various texts, including literary and informational texts, by identifying main and supporting ideas, sequencing the events of multiple plots, recording relevant information, and explaining cause and effect.
C3.6 · Analysis and Response

Explain how various topics, such as diversity, inclusion, and accessibility, are addressed in texts, and describe what insights or messages are conveyed.

Book details

A book worth talking about

Get ready to wonder

Talk about the text

Respond to the book