Battle Cry at Batoche

Kristin Butcher writes novels for young adults. Her most recent works
are The Tomorrow Tunnel (shortlisted for the 1999 CLA Book of the Year)
and The Runaways (regional winner of the 1998 OLA Silver Birch Award).

When 15-year-old Charity Muldoon becomes ill, she and her twin brother,
Ben, leave Fort Carlton and the unwanted guardianship of their Uncle
Lawrence to seek medical help from Tante Madelaine, a respected healer
and wife of Métis leader Gabriel Dumont. While staying with the
Dumonts, Ben encounters a Cree boy (Red Eagle) in the woods. After a
shaky beginning, the two become fast friends. Life with the Dumonts is
good, and even after Charity regains her health the Muldoon twins and
Red Eagle stay on. There is only one problem—and it is a big one. In
the Saskatchewan River Valley there is much political unrest. Cree and
Métis alike are seeking recognition and rights from the Canadian
government, but it isn’t going well. As negotiations flounder,
discontent grows and rebellion seems imminent. In order to learn what
the rebels are up to, Uncle Lawrence forces Ben to spy on Gabriel Dumont
and Louis Riel. Torn between loyalties to both sides, Ben has some hard
decisions to make.

As the likable central character of the novel, Ben must overcome a
number of conflicts—most notably guilt over his acts of
duplicity—and the reader follows his struggles with interest.
Nevertheless, it is clear from the beginning that the author’s real
focus is not Ben at all, but rather the 1885 North-West Rebellion and
the events leading up to it. It is through Ben that the engrossing story
is told. Recommended.