Forever Birchwood
Forever Birchwood by Danielle Daniel has been on my radar for a long time. Her debut middle grade novel, I have long admired her picture books so have been eagerly anticipating this novel. Due on bookshelves on January 18, 2022, I thank HarperCollins Canada for an advanced copy for review. The story was everything I had hoped and more.
Wolf is a girl on the precipice of teenagehood. Living in Sudbury, Ontario in the early 1980s, she has a fierce group of friends, her wolf pack, and a fierce love for the environment, especially the trees. For anyone familiar with Sudbury at the time, the city was in the process of a reforestation due to the environmental devestation of the mining industry. The story opens with Grandma Houle and Wolf visiting a towering yellow birch tree and knowledge from Grandma Houle’s indigenous roots. Through the story, Wolf learns a lot about activism, friendship, first love and family.
Personally, there was a TON for me to connect with in this story. Although I did not grow up in Sudbury, I did attend University there in the early 2000s and through Danielle Daniel’s descriptions was able to go back and remember all of the things I loved about being up north. Some of my favourite memories are when I headed out to the trails near Ramsay Lake are, just like Wolf, was among the trees. Also, Wolf’s birthday is June 24th, same as mine! Honestly, there is something really magical when readers can connect with a charcter through similarities to their own lives. Don’t think I didn’t miss the reference to The Goonies, perhaps the greatest film of the 1980s!
Okay so what about readers now, how will they connect to the story. Regardless of the era a story is set there is always something to connect to. The friendship among Penny, Brandi, Ann and Wolf is universal. I appreciated that Danielle Daniel wrote a group of four friends, three is so much more complicated, although this group of friends goes through their fair share of conflict. I appreciated how through kindness and compassion, they were able to solve their conflicts. Readers today will also connect with Wolf’s fierce desire to advocate for the environment and her community. We are seeing more and more young people standing up and speaking out for the environment.
Lastly, this is a really fun and heart warming story. I loved the relative simplicity of the time period. No cell phones and instant communication. The characters actually had to go out and see each other! There is intrigue and mystery, conflict and resolution. Readers will go through so many different emotions as they navigate Danielle Daniel’s story. You will love and then hate and then love again so many different characters throughout. You will be heartbroken and heart mended by the end. Funny that she references The Goonies, as this story had all of the spirit of that film with an equally, if not superior cast of characters.
