Lost At Windy River. A True Story of Survival by Trina Rathgeber

Lost at Windy River is the reclaimed survival story of Ilse Schweder. Ilse was thirteen-years-old and living at Windy River, a northern trading post with her father Fred, her older brothers Charles and Freddy, her sister Mary, and her younger brothers Norman and Mike. Her father Fred had come to Canada from Germany and was a fur trader. Charles was a respected northern guide who was also a fur trapper and sled dog trainer. Freddy was also a skilled trapper and an expert dog-team driver. Mary was skilled in animal skinning and food preserving. Ilse was an accomplished outdoorswoman. 

Four years earlier, Ilse's mother had passed away and then two years ago Ilse and her two sisters had been taken to a residential school. It was after her older sister died at the school and selling their farm near Winnipeg,  that Ilse's father brought them north to live at the Windy River Trading Post. 

One winter the Schweder family began a trip around their trapline. It would take them three days to complete the eighty mile loop. Accompanying Freddy and Charles were the two younger boys Mike and Norman, and Ilse who was along to train the small dogs. Mary would stay behind with their father. 

They set out on a sunny, cold winter day passing "George", a pile of stones that resembled a human man. This was also called a caribou boundary, "...used to direct herds of caribou where hunters want them to go." Animals would pause to look at the stone man, allowing hunters the chance to aim and shoot. 

At the first stop, Freddy, Charles and the two younger boys went to check the first set of traps while Ilse rested and reminisced about the time they moved to the far north. Her brothers returned, telling Ilse a three-toed wolverine ate one of the foxes. Then they set off for the Sandy Hill Camp, one of eight stops along the trapline. After a night there, Ilse and her brothers prepared to continue on. However, Charles noticed the heavy clouds low on the horizon, the strong winds that indicated a storm was brewing. Because of this, Charles decides to continue on to the trapline camp at Kazan River while Ilse, Freddy and the two younger boys are to finish their tasks and then head home. Before leaving they make Charles extra dog food and mend parts of the shelter.

Although the younger boys begged Freddy to leave earlier for home, they don't start their journey until a few hours later. To make Ilse's sled lighter and easier for the smaller dogs to pull, Freddy placed all the supplies and Mike into his sled. He felt if they travelled quickly, they would make home before the storm hit. 

However, the storm came on fast and fierce, with whiteout conditions. Ilse's smaller, unexperienced dogs couldn't keep up with Freddy's sled. Her dogs pulled one way and then the other and she fell behind. To help keep Ilse in sight, Freddy attached a rope to the two sleds. It worked for a time but then broke once and then a second time. Soon Ilse was on her own. Freddy arrived back at Windy Post without Ilse, deeply distraught knowing that Ilse was out in the storm alone. Fred tells his son, they will go look for her in the morning. But for Ilse, soon without her dogs and any food, the struggle to survive on the barrens is just beginning. 

Discussion

Lost at Windy River is the story of author Trina Rathgeber's grandmother, Ilse Schweder who survived for nine days, lost in the barrens, in northern Canada. Ilse's Cree name was "iskwew pethasew" which means "Woman of the Thunderbird".  Ilse's remarkable survival story had been told by various authors, including Canadian author, Farley Mowat in his book, People of the Deer. In her Author's Note, Trina writes "It had always bothered Ilse that the writer Farley Mowat, who her father met on the train to Churchill, wrote an account of her story in the book People of the Deer and made mention of her family in others. He spent time camping outside their trading post too, always scribbling in his notebook. Today Ilse would be happy to know that her story has been reclaimed in a way that was true to her experience."  Her family also knew bits and pieces of this remarkable story: Trina first heard the story when she was about seven years old, with family members often stating that her story should be written down. Trina was able to interview her elderly grandmother, looking at past articles and photographs and even the blanket she used to protect her eyes while out on the snow. Ilse who was born in 1931, passed away in 2018 at the age of eighty-seven.

Although Rathgeber initially wrote her grandmother's story as a novel, she was convinced to use the graphic novel format as a way of engaging younger readers in this reclaimed Indigenous story. Lost at Windy River is that graphic novel, well written and delightfully crafted: the illustrations by Alina Pete and the coloring by Jullian Dolan are beautiful and appealing. Rathgeber presents her grandmother's as a story she reclaims by telling it to young students at a school. At the end of her telling, Ilse has some wise words for these students, explaining how every experience makes us who we are and how the north, "the land of the little sticks" is a piece of heaven 

Lost At Windy River highlights the inner strength, resourcefulness, determination and courage Ilse Schweder showed while lost on the barrens. She remained calm and used her wealth of Indigenous knowledge she had learned over the years to survive. For example, Ilse built a snow cave out of hard packed snow to keep her warm during the nights. She knew she had to keep her caribou clothing, which kept her warm, dry. However, when she fell through the ice, Ilse pressed the fur into the snow, which absorbed the water and dried it. She ate spruce sap that she found, which was a source of Vitamin C. When she began to realize she was suffering from snow blindness, she made makeshift snow goggles from a blanket.

Ilse was eventually saved when she wandered close to Ragnar Jonsson's camp. The Swedish born trapper had a reputation for being very honest and was well respected in the north. He came to Canada in 1923 and spent sixty years as a trapper. When he found Ilse, she was near death and suffering from frostbite. He immediately recognized the seriousness of her condition and did what he could to help her and get her back to her family. Ilse eventually reunited with Ragnar many years later. He passed away in 1988. 

Lost At Windy River will appeal to young readers between the ages of 9 to 12. While there is an Author's Note and a page devoted to small photographs of Ilse and a newspaper article, a more detailed biography section in the back matter would have added much context to Ilse's story. It is hoped that Author Trina Rathgeber will consider publishing a more detailed biography of her grandparents and great-grandparents, with a focus on life in Canada's Far North and the Indigenous peoples who live there. Lost At Windy River feels like just a taste of what could be a very interesting account of Indigenous life and culture. 

Book Details:

Lost At Windy River. A True Story of Survival by Trina Rathgeber

Toronto: Orca Book Publishers      2024

90 pp.

Swan: the Girl Who Grew by Sidura Ludwig

Swan offers a fictionalized account of the real historical person, Anna Swan who grew to be almost eight feet tall.

It is August, 1858. Anna Swan is twelve-years-old and the biggest girl in Colchester County, Nova Scotia. Anna lives with her parents, Alexander and Ann on a farm along with her sister Maggie, and her brothers John, George, and David. She's an astounding six feet ten inches tall. She has to duck under doorways and ceilings and barely fits into her bed or at the kitchen table. Anna dreams of being smaller than others and of being beautiful. She would love a pair of ladies boots but she's growing so fast that she has to wear the shoes her father has made her, even though her toes are now peeking out at the seams. And the pretty blue dress her mother made for her in the spring is already too small. 

Her mother's mother, Grandmother Graham, offers to take them in on her farm in Central New Annan.  Grandfather passed away in the spring and she is now alone on the farm. The prospect of a move frightens Anna. As expected, Anna finds that people in New Annan are also curious about her and drive by the farm to stare at her. This angers her grandmother.

Anna remembers when she was four years old how a man who came to see about a cow, advised her father "...to put her on exhibition..." to make money. At that time, Anna did not know what "exhibition" meant. Although her father sold the cow, he told the man his daughter was not for display. But worried about the coming winter, Anna was taken to Truro and show as "The Biggest Little Girl in Colchester County". Anna remembers being touched by strangers and later comforted by her mother.

One day after picking berries, Anna learns that a man has come from the city offering her father money to exhibit Anna at a museum of "oddities" in New York City. Her father flat out refuses. After church,  while Anna is playing with her younger brothers, she steps on the foot of a boy. That boy, Jack McGregor, ridicules Anna for her size and calls her an elephant. Mr. McGregor is just as rude as his son, commenting on Anna's height and suggesting to her father that he shouldn't hide her, but show her off. Later on Grandmother reveals that McGregor has been attempting to take over her farm. Anna realizes her family has come to the farm to help prevent this from happening.

In September, 1858, Anna walks to school with her siblings. Before they leave for this first day of school, her father notches each child's height on the barn. Anna is a remarkable six feet, eleven inches tall. At school, Jack is the tallest boy but Anna is taller than him. He calls Anna a "monster" under his breath. Their teacher, Miss Miller, is a young woman who is shorter than Anna's mother. She is friendly, greeting each student as they come into school. Miss Miller greets Anna and tells her she's been looking forward to having her as a student. Anna sits at the back of the classroom, but wishes she could be at the front, close to the teacher - but only if she were smaller. The first day at her new school is a struggle for Anna, especially dealing with Jack McGregor. But Miss Miller kindly arranges for Anna's father to raise her desk so she can sit properly. 

Meanwhile on the farm, the list of repairs grows and it is apparent that they need to take out a loan to survive. In November, Anna's mother gives birth to a baby girl named Eliza, a month early. As the family struggles to cope, Anna spies an ad in the serial magazine that Miss Miller has lent her about a growth supplement. She reasons if there is something to make people grow, perhaps there is something she can take that will stop her from growing. Anna's quest to find this takes her to the druggist at Gunn's General Store but he tells her that there is nothing to help her because tallness isn't an illness. However, Mr. McGregor overhears Anna and offers to help her earn the money to go to Boston to get the drug she needs by performing for him in Halifax. Anna decides to take McGregor up on his offer, not realizing what it might mean for her and her family.

Discussion

Swan is a fictional story about a real historical person known as Anna Swan who grew up in Nova Scotia. Author Sidura Ludwig encountered Anna's story while visiting the Anna Swan Museum in  Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia .In her Author's Note at the back, Ludwig writes that as a child she was tall for her age and understood how Anna must have felt. She "...decided to write Anna's story, imagining what life might be like for her when she was twelve years old." While some scenes in the novel really did happen (for example her father raising her desk at school), other events are fictional. Some historical details have also been altered, such as Anna's first exhibition, which was in Halifax and not Truro. Anna also toured many local fall fairs with her family. Anna who lived from 1846 to 1888, grew to be seven feet eleven inches tall and was known as the "Nova Scotia Giantess". Ludwig offers her readers a detailed biography of Anna Swan as well as a History of the Region. 

Swan covers the span of four months from August to December, 1858 and focuses on Anna's internal struggle as a young girl who is abnormally tall. Anna wishes she could be small and not be so noticeable. 

"I'm just a girl

who closes her eyes

and dreams of grown-up days

when she'll have grown

down"

Anna dreams of a home that she doesn't have to duck into, children who will grow taller than her and, 

"People who see me

for something

other than my size" 

Anna also dreams of making herself smaller with the help of a prescription drug:

I imagine pulling my bones into each other

pressing them down

like the way a house settles

over time

the wood shrinking into the ground

maybe just an inch

but I would take an inch

or give it, as the case maybe be

I sleep like this because for the first time

I believe

I can control my body

with just the right

prescription

I can finally be whomever 

I want

Throughout the novel Anna wishes she could be different, someone else. It isn't until she goes to Halifax and is on exhibition that she begins to accept who she is. It is a difficult journey as she is "examined" by a group of doctors who look but don't listen and then as she is treated like property by McGregor. When Anna realizes that McGregor is not going to share the money he makes from showing her, Anna begins to realize that she has some power to change this. And she acts. Her desire to help herself, her baby sister Eliza and her family, motivate her. This change in her perspective is also experienced by Jack,  after he sees his father's unkindness towards Anna and how he treats her like property. He feels shame and quietly supports Anna when she outmaneuvers his father and holds her own "exhibition". 

Ludwig portrays Anna as clever, intelligent, caring and gentle. Unfortunately at this time, medical science was not advanced enough to understand why Anna grew to be so large. In the novel, Ludwig imagines Anna worrying about how tall she will be and if she will ever stop growing. These kinds of worries would be only natural for both Anna and her family, because at that time there were no answers. 

Swan offers an interesting fictional account of Anna Swan, a little known historical figure in Canada's past. This novel will appeal to readers who enjoy novels in verse but they may struggle to get past the unattractive cover, to find the gem of a story.

Book Details:

Swan: The Girl Who Grew by Sidura Ludwig

Halifax: Nimbus Publishing Ltd.    2024

298 pp.