Dancing at the Odinochka - Hardcover

Kirkpatrick Hill lives in Fairbanks, Alaska. She was an elementary school teacher for more than thirty years, most of that time in the Alaskan "bush." Hill is the mother of six children and the grandmother of eight. Her three earlier books, Toughboy and Sister, Winter Camp, and The Year of Miss Agnes, have all been immensely popular. Her fourth book with McElderry Books, Dancing at the Odinochka, was a Junior Library Guild Selection. Hill's visits to a family member in jail inspired her to write Do Not Pass Go.

Grade 5-8–In the 1860s in what is now Alaska (then called Russian America), Erinia Pavaloff, her parents, and seven others live at the Nulato odinochka, where Indians and Eskimos trade furs for Russian goods such as tobacco and tea. The life of these settlers is described–their daily routines, their search for food, making clothing, housing, and their survival on the land. Erinia's life is described as she experiences hunting season, winter, spring thaw, festivals, and visiting tribes of traders. As she grows, she learns the skill of survival in this remote land, using tools made by the natives and how to measure goods in the store. She is amazed when the telegraph men come to this remote area and discovers the items they bring, such as photographs, toothbrushes, and scissors. At first, the changes are for the good. Then, after the United States purchases the land from Russia, they all become American Alaskans and new ways begin to conflict with the old. Believable characters and good descriptions of the area allow readers to become a part of this time in history that is often overlooked.–Denise Moore, O'Gorman Junior High School, Sioux Falls, SD
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