This tender land

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Average Rating
Publisher
Varies, see individual formats and editions
Publication Date
2019.
Language
English

Description

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! “If you liked Where the Crawdads Sing, you’ll love This Tender Land...This story is as big-hearted as they come.” —Parade A magnificent novel about four orphans on a life-changing odyssey during the Great Depression, from the bestselling author of Ordinary Grace.1932, Minnesota—the Lincoln School is a pitiless place where hundreds of Native American children, forcibly separated from their parents, are sent to be educated. It is also home to an orphan named Odie O’Banion, a lively boy whose exploits earn him the superintendent’s wrath. Forced to flee, he and his brother Albert, their best friend Mose, and a brokenhearted little girl named Emmy steal away in a canoe, heading for the mighty Mississippi and a place to call their own. Over the course of one unforgettable summer, these four orphans will journey into the unknown and cross paths with others who are adrift, from struggling farmers and traveling faith healers to displaced families and lost souls of all kinds. With the feel of a modern classic, This Tender Land is an en­thralling, big-hearted epic that shows how the magnificent American landscape connects us all, haunts our dreams, and makes us whole.

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ISBN
9781476749297
9781470391317
9781476749310
9781432869342

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These books have the appeal factors lyrical, character-driven, and stylistically complex, and they have the theme "coming of age"; the genres "book club best bets" and "literary fiction"; the subjects "child abuse" and "family violence"; and characters that are "complex characters."
These books have the appeal factors multiple perspectives, and they have the themes "chosen family," "coming of age," and "thrown together"; the subject "depressions, 1929-1941"; and characters that are "well-developed characters" and "sympathetic characters."
Orphaned siblings in Depression-era Minnesota (This Tender Land) and the Gold Rush West (How Much of These Hills Is Gold) flee from unsafe environments and set off on a fateful adventure to find a new home in both lyrical novels. -- Kaitlin Conner
Irrepressible 12-year-old boys come of age on picaresque adventures in both lyrical works that feature a strong sense of place. 99 Nights in Logar is a bit more stylistically complex than the straightforward This Tender Land. -- Autumn Winters
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These culturally diverse and character-driven male coming-of-age stories center on young Native Americans. Tender land is a historical adventure tale about orphans in dust bowl era Minnesota. Round House is literary fiction set in North Dakota in 1988. -- Alicia Cavitt
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Young men suffer horrific abuse at an Indian Training School (This Tender Land) and a juvenile reformatory (Nickel Boys) in both historical novels. Nickel Boys is more brutal and disturbing than the lyrical This Tender Land. -- Autumn Winters
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Having left juvenile detention (Lincoln Highway) and an Indian training school (Tender Land), boys on the brink of becoming young men travel America while coming to understand that the real journey is within themselves in these atmospheric historical novels. -- Mara Zonderman

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Gunn and Krueger write tough police mysteries set in rural Minnesota that feature honorable small town policemen in multitextured plots. The stories have atmospheric local color, rich characterizations, and well written plots that deal with the problems facing rural America. Well developed supporting characters and an emphasis on family life are an important part of the stories. -- Merle Jacob
Krueger's territory is the northern midwest - northern Minnesota and Michigan's Upper Peninsula - no less dangerous and just as evocative as Hillerman's Navajo (Diné) territory. Both authors write of procedural investigations undertaken by active or retired cops, who wrestle with danger set against the importance of family ties and traditional values. -- Katherine Johnson
Both Krueger and Box write suspenseful mysteries that feature wilderness survival themes as well as hot-topic social and political issues. Family plays an important role in both, and the rugged landscape holds as many dangers as the villains they pursue. -- Joyce Saricks
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David Housewright and William Kent Krueger write noir mysteries featuring policemen and private detectives. The complex and very human protagonists have seen the dark side of life, which has made the men tough and resilient. The intricately plotted stories realistically bring to life their Minnesota settings. -- Merle Jacob
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Published Reviews

Booklist Review

Minnesota, 1932. Twelve-year-old orphan Odie and his 16-year-old brother, Albert, are the only white students at the Lincoln Indian Training School. When Odie accidentally kills a fiendish school employee, he, his brother, their Sioux friend Mose, and a bereft little girl, Emmy, whose single-parent mother has been killed by a tornado, must flee by canoe down the nearby Gilead River. And so their adventure begins, narrated by Odie, who is a born storyteller who often entertains his companions with tales. The way to their planned destination, St. Louis, is a checkered one: a one-eyed, troubled man named Jack holds them captive; a bounty hunter nearly captures them; they find respite with a revival tent show; Odie falls in love; and more. Theirs is more than a simple journey; it is a deeply satisfying odyssey, a quest in search of self and home. Richly imagined and exceptionally well plotted and written, the novel is, most of all, a compelling, often haunting story that will captivate both adult and young adult readers.--Michael Cart Copyright 2010 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
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Publisher's Weekly Review

This lively but heavy-handed adventure from Krueger (Ordinary Grace) follows four orphans as they search for safety in Depression-era Minnesota. Storytelling scamp Odysseus "Odie" O'Banion and his more rule-abiding brother Albert are shipped off to the Lincoln Indian Training School after their bootlegger father is murdered. There, along with dozens of Native American children, they endure brutal abuse and neglect; the only bright spot is their friendships with Mose, a teenage Sioux, and Emmy, a precocious girl whose mother, a teacher at the school, is killed by a tornado. After Odie kills the teacher who's been abusing him, the four children escape down the Minnesota River in a canoe, meeting both friends and foes along the way as they try to evade capture, find a home, and hold onto the bond between them. The encounters bring the era to life as the children meet traveling evangelists, Dust Bowl farmers in shanty towns, and ghettoized Jews in the flats of St. Paul. Krueger keeps the twists coming, and the constant threat of danger propels the story at a steady clip. Though overly sentimental prose ("With every turn of the river, we were changing, becoming different people, and for the first time I understood that the journey we were on wasn't about getting to St. Louis") weakens the story's impact, Krueger's enjoyable riff on The Odyssey will satisfy fans of American heartland epics. (Sept.)

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Library Journal Review

Odie O'Banion remembers 1932, when he was 12 and had one of the great adventures of his life. During the Depression, Odie and his older brother, Albert, were the only white children at the Lincoln Indian Training School. The O'Banions were orphans, while the other children had been taken from their parents to have their native cultures and languages beaten out of them. Mrs. Brickman, "the Black Witch," oversaw the abusive school, and after the tragic death of a protector, Odie and Albert fled, along with two other "vagabonds," taking to the river to escape. There they find kindness and assistance in unexpected places. Krueger's second coming-of-age story is not the sequel to Ordinary Grace; it's his version of Huckleberry Finn or the Odyssey, as adolescents are forced to move toward adulthood. It's a remarkable story of a search for home that also reveals the abusive treatment of Native American children in schools and the wanderings of people during the Depression. VERDICT Readers expecting an actual mystery from crime writer Krueger might be disappointed, but those who want to read about the mystery of life will discover what one of Odie's companions observes. "You tell stories but they're real. There are monsters and they eat the heart of children." [See Prepub Alert, 3/4/19.]--Lesa Holstine, Evansville Vanderburgh P.L., IN

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Booklist Reviews

Minnesota, 1932. Twelve-year-old orphan Odie and his 16-year-old brother, Albert, are the only white students at the Lincoln Indian Training School. When Odie accidentally kills a fiendish school employee, he, his brother, their Sioux friend Mose, and a bereft little girl, Emmy, whose single-parent mother has been killed by a tornado, must flee by canoe down the nearby Gilead River. And so their adventure begins, narrated by Odie, who is a born storyteller who often entertains his companions with tales. The way to their planned destination, St. Louis, is a checkered one: a one-eyed, troubled man named Jack holds them captive; a bounty hunter nearly captures them; they find respite with a revival tent show; Odie falls in love; and more. Theirs is more than a simple journey; it is a deeply satisfying odyssey, a quest in search of self and home. Richly imagined and exceptionally well plotted and written, the novel is, most of all, a compelling, often haunting story that will captivate both adult and young adult readers. Copyright 2019 Booklist Reviews.

Copyright 2019 Booklist Reviews.
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Library Journal Reviews

Odie O'Banion remembers 1932, when he was 12 and had one of the great adventures of his life. During the Depression, Odie and his older brother, Albert, were the only white children at the Lincoln Indian Training School. The O'Banions were orphans, while the other children had been taken from their parents to have their native cultures and languages beaten out of them. Mrs. Brickman, "the Black Witch," oversaw the abusive school, and after the tragic death of a protector, Odie and Albert fled, along with two other "vagabonds," taking to the river to escape. There they find kindness and assistance in unexpected places. Krueger's second coming-of-age story is not the sequel to Ordinary Grace; it's his version of Huckleberry Finn or the Odyssey, as adolescents are forced to move toward adulthood. It's a remarkable story of a search for home that also reveals the abusive treatment of Native American children in schools and the wanderings of people during the Depression. VERDICT Readers expecting an actual mystery from crime writer Krueger might be disappointed, but those who want to read about the mystery of life will discover what one of Odie's companions observes. "You tell stories but they're real. There are monsters and they eat the heart of children." [See Prepub Alert, 3/4/19.]—Lesa Holstine, Evansville Vanderburgh P.L., IN

Copyright 2019 Library Journal.

Copyright 2019 Library Journal.
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Publishers Weekly Reviews

This lively but heavy-handed adventure from Krueger (Ordinary Grace) follows four orphans as they search for safety in Depression-era Minnesota. Storytelling scamp Odysseus "Odie" O'Banion and his more rule-abiding brother Albert are shipped off to the Lincoln Indian Training School after their bootlegger father is murdered. There, along with dozens of Native American children, they endure brutal abuse and neglect; the only bright spot is their friendships with Mose, a teenage Sioux, and Emmy, a precocious girl whose mother, a teacher at the school, is killed by a tornado. After Odie kills the teacher who's been abusing him, the four children escape down the Minnesota River in a canoe, meeting both friends and foes along the way as they try to evade capture, find a home, and hold onto the bond between them. The encounters bring the era to life as the children meet traveling evangelists, Dust Bowl farmers in shanty towns, and ghettoized Jews in the flats of St. Paul. Krueger keeps the twists coming, and the constant threat of danger propels the story at a steady clip. Though overly sentimental prose ("With every turn of the river, we were changing, becoming different people, and for the first time I understood that the journey we were on wasn't about getting to St. Louis") weakens the story's impact, Krueger's enjoyable riff on The Odyssey will satisfy fans of American heartland epics. (Sept.)

Copyright 2019 Publishers Weekly.

Copyright 2019 Publishers Weekly.
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