The Lincoln School, an orphanage with horrible caregivers who beat the children and subjected them to even worse daily working conditions, is where we meet Odie, Albert, Mose, and then Emmy. Why does Odie trust Sister Eve so wholeheartedly, but not her partner, Sid? Do you think he’s right to draw the conclusions he does about Sid from their interactions? How do some of Odie’s misjudgments lead to disastrous consequences? In your opinion, is what happens to Albert in some way Odie’s fault? This is the first person account of “the four vagabonds,” told by 12-year-old harmonica-playing, storytelling Odie. It is 1932, in the midst of the Depression, and Odie, his older brother, Albert, their Indian friend, Mose, and six-year-old Emmy are traveling by canoe to what Odie hopes is home in St. Louis. All four are orphans who had been living in unacceptable circumstances at an Indian boarding school in Minnesota with its vicious superintendent. The life they are leaving is based on what really did go on at many Indian boarding schools.

Sister Eve says to Odie that the only prayer she knows will absolutely be answered is a prayer for forgiveness. What do you think she means by this? Who are the people whom Odie needs to forgive, and for what reasons? As he turned to leave, Volz put a hand on my shoulder, the briefest of gestures, but I appreciated what it meant. He said?” Now there was something different in the way she spoke. As if she were struggling to cough up a fish bone caught in her throat. “ He said?” She’d been sitting on a stool that raised her up so everyone in the dining hall could see her. She slid from the stool and walked between the long tables, girls on one side, boys on the other, toward where I sat with Albert. In the absolute silence of that great room, I could hear the squeak, squeak of her rubber heels on the old floorboards as she came. The boy next to me, whose name I didn’t yet know, edged away, as if trying to distance himself from a place where he knew lightning was about to strike. I glanced at Albert, and he shook his head, a sign that I should just clam up. What a marvelous, master story teller Mr. Krueger is. His book even incorporated stories told by the characters within the book.

Lesson Plan

She put her hands on her desk, one atop the other, and spread her fingers wide so that they formed a kind of web over the polished wood. She smiled at me as if she were a spider who’d just snagged a fly. “Good,” she said. “Good.” She nodded toward Albert. “You should be more like your brother.” Book review: 'This Tender Land' a harrowing Depression-era coming-of-age tale". Sun Sentinel . Retrieved 2022-08-05. The trip down the river also seemed dangerous but was amazing how the friends always had another friend/stranger helping out. Krueger does a good job in developing Odie’s character as he travels on the Mississippi. Odie was only 12, almost 13, and some of his decisions and how he feels about something was reflected in the story realistically. That first night in the quiet room, I barely slept a wink. It was April, and there was still a chill in the wind sweeping out of the empty Dakotas. Our father was less than a week dead. Our mother had passed away two years before that.We had no kin in Minnesota, no friends, no one who knew us or cared about us. We were the only white boys in a school for Indians. How could it get any worse? Then I’d heard the rat and had spent the rest of those long, dark hours until daylight pressed against Albert and the iron door, my knees drawn up to my chin, my eyes pouring out tears that only Albert could see and that no one but him would have cared about anyway.

Four orphans escape an abusive situation at a boarding school and set off on a river trip in a canoe bound for St Louis. The trip is not a leisurely one, as the authorities are hot on their trail. Along the way, they meet a variety of people, all trying to make their way in the world under trying circumstances. Some are good, some not so much, and some are somewhere in the middle. They all have lessons to teach as Odie, the main character, attempts to come to terms with his faith and God in a world he find unfair, and where everything and everyone he loves is taken from him. Mose is a physically imposing and kind-hearted member of the traveling group who has suffered greatly in his life due to his Native American heritage. As the group journeys across the western wilderness, Mose becomes increasingly bitter and resentful of the numerous injustices he has faced in the past. However, he is able to find a sense of purpose and empowerment by standing up for the rights of Native Americans, and becoming an effective political advocate. Krueger takes the reader to a time in the not-too-distant past when children had virtually no rights, especially if, as in this case, they were orphans or Native American children forcibly removed from their parents. While there were, of course, many genuinely good people amongst those in a guardianship role, a significant number of these children were at the mercy of unscrupulous adults who revelled in cruelty and to whom kindness was a foreign concept. After reading this book I think there should be a separate genre for incredibly well written books that will endure the test of time, this is truly a “masterpiece”. It is literary fiction, adventure, mystery, a lesson in morality and forgiveness, and so much more. To understand this book you really MUST READ it, and I seldom say that about a book. It is every bit as good as Ordinary Grace by this author.After a crime was committed, Albert, Odie and his best friend Mose, and a little orphan girl Emmy flee the Lincoln School and head to find a place they can call home. The Lincoln School was a boarding school for Native American children. Its primary purpose was to assimilate the Native American children to American culture. Odie and Albert were the only white boys in the school for Indians. Why do you think the author made the two brothers white? This reading group guide for This Tender Land includes an introduction, discussion questions, and ideas for enhancing your book club. The suggested questions are intended to help your reading group find new and interesting angles and topics for your discussion. We hope that these ideas will enrich your conversation and increase your enjoyment of the book. 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.