Lost in the Barrens facts for kids
First edition
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| Author | Farley Mowat |
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| Illustrator | Charles Geer |
| Country | Canada |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Children's |
| Publisher | Little, Brown & Co |
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Publication date
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June 1956 |
| Pages | 219 |
| ISBN | 978-0-316-58638-2 |
| OCLC | 290007559 |
| Followed by | The Curse of the Viking Grave |
Lost in the Barrens is an exciting adventure novel written by Farley Mowat. It was first published in 1956. Some later versions of the book were called Two Against the North.
This book won two important awards: the Governor General's Award in 1956 and the Canada Library Association Book of the Year for Children Award in 1958.
About the Story
Two Against the North is an adventure story set in 1935. It takes place in the wild northern parts of Manitoba and the Northwest Territories in Canada. The book tells the story of two teenage boys who learn to survive and grow up during a tough journey.
One boy is Jamie, a white boy who recently lost his parents. The other is Awasin, a Cree boy from a nearby tribe. They go on a mission to help a starving village of Chipewyan people. But things go wrong, and they get stuck in Canada's northern Barren Lands during winter. This is a very cold and empty place above the tree line. The characters from this book also appear in Mowat's next book, The Curse of the Viking Grave.
Main Events of the Story
Jamie's parents died in a car accident in 1931. Four years later, he goes to live with his uncle, Angus Macnair, who is a trapper in Manitoba. Angus had been paying for Jamie's boarding school, Saint George's. But when the fur trade slowed down, Angus could no longer afford it. So, Jamie leaves school to live with his uncle.
Jamie quickly becomes friends with Awasin, the son of the Cree Chief. The Chief thinks a trader is cheating him. He asks Angus and Jamie to go with him to investigate. However, Angus's canoe is too small for three people and all their gear. So, Jamie has to stay at camp with Awasin.
Soon after, a group of Chipewyan people arrive, asking the Crees for help. They have been starving for days because they couldn't hunt enough caribou (which the book calls 'deer') the summer before. Awasin's Uncle Soloman is not sure if the Chipewyans truly need help or just want free supplies. So, the boys agree to go with them back to the Chipewyan camp to see for themselves. Jamie wants to go too.
Jamie, Awasin, and the Chipewyans (including their leader, Denikazi) canoe back to the Chipewyan camp. There, Denikazi misunderstands that Jamie and Awasin are joining them on the caribou hunt. This is how Jamie and Awasin begin their journey into the barrens to find caribou.
They travel farther north but still don't find any caribou. Denikazi tells Jamie and Awasin to stay with two young Chipewyan hunters at a certain spot until the main group returns. He also warns them to run and forget about the camp if they see any Inuit.
In the book, the Chipewyans and Crees are very afraid of the Inuit (who were called 'Eskimos' when Mowat wrote the novel). Denikazi explains that his people used to hunt far north because they had guns and the Inuit did not. But then the Inuit got guns and fought back.
While waiting with the two young Chipewyan hunters, Jamie decides he wants to explore. Awasin doesn't like the idea but eventually agrees. They go to find a 'stone house' that one of the Chipewyans mentioned. They try to find it but get caught in a dangerous whirlpool and barely survive.
They manage to save only a few things from the river and their broken canoe. Since their canoe is destroyed, they are now stranded in the barrens. When the two young Chipewyan hunters realize Jamie and Awasin are gone, they start searching for them. But they stop their search when they spot an Inuit kayak.
Meanwhile, Jamie and Awasin decide to follow the path Denikazi and the other hunters took. They hope to meet up with them on the way back. But a problem happens: one of Denikazi's men thinks he sees an Inuit, and they all quietly run away. They pass by Jamie and Awasin's camp during the night without knowing it.
Jamie and Awasin then face many challenges. They must find shelter and food. They need to survive until summer, when they can try to trek back home. They have a big caribou hunt and manage to build a log cabin, making a comfortable home for themselves.
On their first attempt to return home, both boys get snow blindness. This forces them to stop their trip and heal. They then decide to go back to their cabin. Unfortunately, a big snowstorm (blizzard) hits. They are forced to find shelter in an Inuit igloo to survive.
An Inuit boy named Peetyuk discovers them. He offers to help and takes them to his camp. There, Jamie and Awasin learn that the Inuit do not hate the Cree. They were only hostile because they were as afraid of the Cree as the Cree were of them. The boys are able to return home with the help of their new friends. They even make plans to return to their cabin the next summer with Jamie's uncle Angus.
Movie Version
There is a television movie version of Lost in the Barrens from 1990. It was directed by Michael Scott. The movie was made for families, so the hunting scenes are not as intense as in the book. There are also quite a few differences between the movie and the novel:
- The movie is told from Jamie's point of view (first person), while the book uses an all-knowing narrator (third person).
- In the movie, Jamie does not want to go north and dislikes living with his uncle. This is different from the book.
- The boys go hunting with Awasin's father, Alphonse, instead of Denikazi and the Chipewyans.
Other changes in the movie include:
- Awasin is called Awasis.
- Uncle Angus's last name is different.
- Jamie and Awasin meet on a train, not at Angus's cabin.
- Alphonse is called Mewasin.
- In the movie, Uncle Angus says he doesn't want Jamie with him.
- Unlike the book, Uncle Angus does not send for Jamie when fur prices drop. Instead, Jamie is sent north by his school because his money runs out.
