The Winter People Internet Hunt
Based on the novel The Winter People by Joseph Bruchac

Directions: Click on the link to go to a web site with the answer to the question.
Use the Go Menu of your browser, to return to this web page. Printer version

1. In your opinion, what makes Joseph Bruchac highly qualified to write this story.

2. At the dance, musicians used several kinds of instruments.
Write 3 characteristics of the music of the native people of the Northeast.

3. At the beginning of Chapter 10, Saxso talks about time keeping with the church bells and a clock.
Use the resources in A Walk Through Time to identify the kind of time keeping device the priest probably used.

Read "The World's Time Zones". Examine the map on the right side of the paragraph.
How many time zones would a person from France have to cross to reach New England?

Name a way (other than a clock) that you keep time.

4. A birch bark canoe was a vital tool for Saxso to use to save his family.
Bruchac does an exceptional job of describing its appearance and construction.
View these photos of a birch bark canoe. Write a paragraph describing it.

What were two advantages to using a birch bark canoe?

5. Saxso tells of many ways the Abenaki people used plants.
How might they have used the Black Cohosh plant?

Name another plant used by Native Americans for healing. How was it used?

6. Many times during the story a folk tale or legend is used to teach a lesson.
Read one of these Native American tales. What is the lesson it teaches?

Title of the tale/legend read:

Lesson taught:

7. Vocabulary - Use this online dictionary to find the meaning of the following words

Epidemic -

Concealment -

Stealthily -

Talisman -

8. TAI (Think about it) - Who were the Winter People?

Why did Saxso call them that?

9. During the 1600 to 1800's Indian populations were decimated by epidemics.

How did this happen?

10. Bruchac uses literary devices to paint a vivid picture of events in the book.

For example: he described Great Simon being shot ...
"His body became limp as a deer when an arrow has cut its breath." p. 47

This is an example of which literary device? a Simile / a Metaphor / Personification

11. The Abenaki people named many places where they lived. Those name are still used today.
Identify three place names used by Americans today that are native american in orgin.

Calculated to challenge
How many books written by this author, does your school or community library offer?

How many books about Native Americans does your library have?

What percentage of the library's Native American books were written by Bruchac?

"Most battles are lost before the fighting ever begins." Pierre Ktsi Awasos

Done Already?

Take the literary skills quiz based on this book. Write your score:

Write a Letter to a Character | Make a story timeline | ReadWriteThink - Timeline generator

Make a Character Map for a character in the story

Explore this web site that shows how to build a birch bark canoe.

Learn about basket making. Use the NativeTech web site to learn more about The People.

Raid on Deerfield - an extraordinary web site

Exploring Native Americans activity | Outstanding Native Americans activity | Issues for Native Americans pbl

Tour the Plants and People Project | Native Americans as Dynamic Agents of Change

 

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Created 2004 Cindy O'Hora FAQ posted 5/2004, Updated 12/2011, 11/2013, 1/2018, 12/2022. 10/2023, 9/2024, 10/2025

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