• Age: 7 to 15
• Grade: 3 to 8
• Reading age: 7 to 15

In the warm springtime of 1831, Isobel Macpherson cools her feet in the flowing water of the North Saskatchewan River. Nearby, York boats move northward in procession, carrying furs to the trading posts on Hudson Bay.

Soon, however, the skies began to darken for Isobel. The daughter of a Scottish father and a Peigan First Nation mother, her heart is pulled in two directions. She hates that her father has returned to Europe and so moves to live with her Peigan grandparents; there she longs for her European education and her old friends. Caught up in the ongoing struggles between the Peigan and their Cree adversaries, Isobel struggles to stay alive. At the same time she must learn to listen to her heart, and to take the best from both of her worlds.

Set against a vivid portrait of the Canadian West in the 1830s, Storm Child recounts one young woman's fierce struggle to understand who she is.

• Winner, Canadian Children's Book Centre Our Choice Selection

Storm Child

In this historical adventure story a bi-racial girl must rebuild her life after being abandoned by her Scottish father at Fort Edmonton in the 1830s. Isobel (Storm Child) struggles with prejudice from both white and native sides as she tries to fit back in with her aboriginal family. At the same time, she is discovering who she is as a person in her own right. While on her travels she deals with racial differences surrounding clothing, religion, family values, gender and education. Isobel/Storm Child learns valuable lessons from both cultures, but ultimately follows her own heart as she remodels her life.

Though published in 1985 this historic story still has currency. The jacket cover, however, may not appeal to today’s students. An Author’s Note contains the bibliographic reference to a newspaper article from 1832 that became the basis of this story.