
The Barren Grounds
The Misewa Saga, Book 1
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $16.19
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Brefny Caribou
About this listen
Narnia meets traditional Indigenous stories of the sky and constellations in an epic middle-grade fantasy series from award-winning author David Robertson.
Morgan and Eli, two Indigenous children forced away from their families and communities, are brought together in a foster home in Winnipeg, Manitoba. They each feel disconnected, from their culture and each other, and struggle to fit in at school and at their new home—until they find a secret place, walled off in an unfinished attic bedroom.
A portal opens to another reality, Askí, bringing them onto frozen, barren grounds, where they meet Ochek (Fisher). The only hunter supporting his starving community, Misewa, Ochek welcomes the human children, teaching them traditional ways to survive. But as the need for food becomes desperate, they embark on a dangerous mission.
Accompanied by Arik, a sassy Squirrel they catch stealing from the trapline, they try to save Misewa before the icy grip of winter freezes everything—including them.
©2020 David A. Robertson (P)2020 Penguin Random House CanadaListeners also enjoyed...
-
When the Ground Is Hard
- By: Malla Nunn
- Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
- Length: 8 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Adele Joubert loves being one of the popular girls at Keziah Christian Academy. She knows the upcoming semester at school is going to be great with her best friend Delia at her side. Then Delia dumps her for a new girl with more money, and Adele is forced to share a room with Lottie, the school pariah, who doesn't pray and defies teachers' orders. But as they share a copy of Jane Eyre, Lottie's gruff exterior and honesty grow on Adele, and Lottie learns to be a little sweeter. Together, they take on bullies and protect each other from the vindictive and prejudiced teachers.
-
-
Amazing book
- By Piper on 06-11-23
By: Malla Nunn
-
In the After
- By: Demitria Lunetta
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 9 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Amy is watching TV when the world is attacked by Them. Most of the population is overtaken, but Amy manages to survive - and even rescue "Baby" a toddler she finds in an abandoned supermarket. Then, after years of hiding, they are miraculously rescued and taken to New Hope, a colony of survivors living in a former government research compound. While at first the colony seems like a dream, with plenty of food, safety, and shelter, New Hope slowly reveals that it is far from ideal. And Amy soon realizes that unless things change, she'll lose Baby - and much more.
-
-
Riveting New Series
- By Kim Venatries on 01-10-14
By: Demitria Lunetta
-
Slider
- By: Pete Hautman
- Narrated by: Scott Lange
- Length: 5 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Competitive eating vies with family expectations in a funny, heartfelt novel for middle-grade audiences by National Book Award winner Pete Hautman.
-
-
its the bomb.com
- By M. Smith on 01-03-19
By: Pete Hautman
-
Blended
- By: Sharon M. Draper
- Narrated by: Sharon M. Draper
- Length: 5 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Eleven-year-old Isabella’s parents are divorced, so she has to switch lives every week: One week she’s Isabella with her dad, his girlfriend Anastasia, and her son, Darren, living in a fancy house where they are one of the only black families in the neighborhood. The next week she’s Izzy with her mom and her boyfriend, John-Mark, in a small, not-so-fancy house that she loves. Because of this, Isabella has always felt pulled between two worlds. And now that her parents are divorced, it seems their fights are even worse, and they’re always about her.
-
-
Disappointed
- By Denise A. Quinn on 03-10-19
By: Sharon M. Draper
-
Girl in the Blue Coat
- By: Monica Hesse
- Narrated by: Natalia Payne
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Amsterdam, 1943. Hanneke spends her days procuring and delivering sought-after black market goods to paying customers, her nights hiding the true nature of her work from her concerned parents, and every waking moment mourning her boyfriend, who was killed on the Dutch front lines when the Germans invaded. She likes to think of her illegal work as a small act of rebellion.
-
-
Author Tried Too Hard to Not Be Predictable
- By Lori J. Little on 06-13-19
By: Monica Hesse
-
Spy School
- Spy School Series, Book 1
- By: Stuart Gibbs
- Narrated by: Gibson Frazier
- Length: 6 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ben Ripley may only be in middle school, but he's already pegged his dream job: CIA or bust. Unfortunately for him, his personality doesn't exactly scream "secret agent". In fact Ben is so awkward, he can barely get to school and back without a mishap. Because of his innate nerdiness, Ben is not surprised when he is recruited for a magnet school with a focus on science - but he's entirely shocked to discover that the school is actually a front for a junior CIA academy.
-
-
Great book, but...
- By katiebmomof3 on 07-12-18
By: Stuart Gibbs
-
When the Ground Is Hard
- By: Malla Nunn
- Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
- Length: 8 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Adele Joubert loves being one of the popular girls at Keziah Christian Academy. She knows the upcoming semester at school is going to be great with her best friend Delia at her side. Then Delia dumps her for a new girl with more money, and Adele is forced to share a room with Lottie, the school pariah, who doesn't pray and defies teachers' orders. But as they share a copy of Jane Eyre, Lottie's gruff exterior and honesty grow on Adele, and Lottie learns to be a little sweeter. Together, they take on bullies and protect each other from the vindictive and prejudiced teachers.
-
-
Amazing book
- By Piper on 06-11-23
By: Malla Nunn
-
In the After
- By: Demitria Lunetta
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 9 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Amy is watching TV when the world is attacked by Them. Most of the population is overtaken, but Amy manages to survive - and even rescue "Baby" a toddler she finds in an abandoned supermarket. Then, after years of hiding, they are miraculously rescued and taken to New Hope, a colony of survivors living in a former government research compound. While at first the colony seems like a dream, with plenty of food, safety, and shelter, New Hope slowly reveals that it is far from ideal. And Amy soon realizes that unless things change, she'll lose Baby - and much more.
-
-
Riveting New Series
- By Kim Venatries on 01-10-14
By: Demitria Lunetta
-
Slider
- By: Pete Hautman
- Narrated by: Scott Lange
- Length: 5 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Competitive eating vies with family expectations in a funny, heartfelt novel for middle-grade audiences by National Book Award winner Pete Hautman.
-
-
its the bomb.com
- By M. Smith on 01-03-19
By: Pete Hautman
-
Blended
- By: Sharon M. Draper
- Narrated by: Sharon M. Draper
- Length: 5 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Eleven-year-old Isabella’s parents are divorced, so she has to switch lives every week: One week she’s Isabella with her dad, his girlfriend Anastasia, and her son, Darren, living in a fancy house where they are one of the only black families in the neighborhood. The next week she’s Izzy with her mom and her boyfriend, John-Mark, in a small, not-so-fancy house that she loves. Because of this, Isabella has always felt pulled between two worlds. And now that her parents are divorced, it seems their fights are even worse, and they’re always about her.
-
-
Disappointed
- By Denise A. Quinn on 03-10-19
By: Sharon M. Draper
-
Girl in the Blue Coat
- By: Monica Hesse
- Narrated by: Natalia Payne
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Amsterdam, 1943. Hanneke spends her days procuring and delivering sought-after black market goods to paying customers, her nights hiding the true nature of her work from her concerned parents, and every waking moment mourning her boyfriend, who was killed on the Dutch front lines when the Germans invaded. She likes to think of her illegal work as a small act of rebellion.
-
-
Author Tried Too Hard to Not Be Predictable
- By Lori J. Little on 06-13-19
By: Monica Hesse
-
Spy School
- Spy School Series, Book 1
- By: Stuart Gibbs
- Narrated by: Gibson Frazier
- Length: 6 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ben Ripley may only be in middle school, but he's already pegged his dream job: CIA or bust. Unfortunately for him, his personality doesn't exactly scream "secret agent". In fact Ben is so awkward, he can barely get to school and back without a mishap. Because of his innate nerdiness, Ben is not surprised when he is recruited for a magnet school with a focus on science - but he's entirely shocked to discover that the school is actually a front for a junior CIA academy.
-
-
Great book, but...
- By katiebmomof3 on 07-12-18
By: Stuart Gibbs
-
Wink
- By: Rob Harrell
- Narrated by: Michael Crouch, Marc Thompson
- Length: 6 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ross Maloy just wants to be a normal seventh grader. He doesn't want to lose his hair, or wear a weird hat, or deal with the disappearing friends who don't know what to say to "the cancer kid". But with his recent diagnosis of a rare eye cancer, blending in is off the table. Based on Rob Harrell's real life experience, this incredibly personal and poignant novel is an unforgettable, heartbreaking, hilarious, and uplifting story of survival and finding the music, magic, and laughter in life's weirdness.
-
-
Not just for middle schoolers
- By H. Moser on 04-11-20
By: Rob Harrell
-
Ghost Squad
- By: Claribel A. Ortega
- Narrated by: Almarie Guerra
- Length: 5 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Shortly before Halloween, Lucely and her best friend, Syd, cast a spell that accidentally awakens malicious spirits, wreaking havoc throughout St. Augustine. Together, they must join forces with Syd's witch grandmother, Babette, and her tubby tabby, Chunk, to fight the haunting head-on and reverse the curse to save the town and Lucely's firefly spirits before it's too late.
-
-
Loved it and so did my kids!
- By Amazon Customer Awesome on 05-23-20
-
While I Was Away
- By: Waka T. Brown
- Narrated by: Chieko Hidaka
- Length: 7 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When 12-year-old Waka’s parents suspect she can’t understand the basic Japanese they speak to her, they make a drastic decision to send her to Tokyo to live for several months with her strict grandmother. Forced to say good-bye to her friends and what would have been her summer vacation, Waka is plucked from her straight-A-student life in rural Kansas and flown across the globe, where she faces the culture shock of a lifetime.
-
-
Great book
- By Sam Brancg on 06-22-23
By: Waka T. Brown
-
We're Not from Here
- By: Geoff Rodkey
- Narrated by: Dani Martineck
- Length: 6 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The first time I heard about Planet Choom, we'd been on Mars for almost a year. But life on the Mars station was grim, and since Earth was no longer an option (we may have blown it up), it was time to find a new home. That's how we ended up on Choom with the Zhuri. They're very smart. They also look like giant mosquitos. But that's not why it's so hard to live here. The Zhuri don't like us. And if humankind is going to survive, it's up to my family to change their minds. No pressure.
-
-
Entertaining story
- By Bonnie Martineck on 07-11-20
By: Geoff Rodkey
-
Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky
- Tristan Strong, Book 1
- By: Kwame Mbalia
- Narrated by: Amir Abdullah
- Length: 10 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Best-selling author Rick Riordan presents Kwame Mbalia's epic fantasy, a middle grade American Gods set in a richly-imagined world populated with African American folk heroes and West African gods. Tristan is dreading the month he's going to spend on his grandparents' farm in Alabama, where he's being sent to heal from a tragedy. But on his first night there, he accidentally ripps open a chasm into the MidPass, a volatile place with a burning sea, haunted bone ships, and iron monsters that are hunting the inhabitants of this world.
-
-
Enjoyed by all!
- By Kia B. on 12-04-20
By: Kwame Mbalia
-
Firekeeper's Daughter
- By: Angeline Boulley
- Narrated by: Isabella Star LaBlanc
- Length: 14 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Eighteen-year-old Daunis Fontaine has never quite fit in, both in her hometown and on the nearby Ojibwe reservation. She dreams of a fresh start at college, but when family tragedy strikes, Daunis puts her future on hold to look after her fragile mother. The only bright spot is meeting Jamie, the charming new recruit on her brother Levi’s hockey team. Yet even as Daunis falls for Jamie, she senses the dashing hockey star is hiding something. Everything comes to light when Daunis witnesses a shocking murder, thrusting her into an FBI investigation of a lethal new drug.
-
-
Che Meegwetch
- By Nix on 03-18-21
By: Angeline Boulley
-
Brown Girl Dreaming
- By: Jacqueline Woodson
- Narrated by: Jacqueline Woodson
- Length: 3 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Raised in South Carolina and New York, Woodson always felt halfway home in each place. In vivid poems, she shares what it was like to grow up as an African American in the 1960s and 1970s, living with the remnants of Jim Crow and her growing awareness of the Civil Rights movement. Touching and powerful, each poem is both accessible and emotionally charged, each line a glimpse into a child's soul as she searches for her place in the world.
-
-
Memoir of a childhood, in verse.
- By Adam Shields on 02-18-19
-
Amari and the Night Brothers
- By: B. B. Alston
- Narrated by: Imani Parks
- Length: 11 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Amari Peters has never stopped believing her missing brother, Quinton, is alive. Not even when the police told her otherwise, or when she got in trouble for standing up to bullies who said he was gone for good. So when she finds a ticking briefcase in his closet, containing a nomination for a summer tryout at the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs, she’s certain the secretive organization holds the key to locating Quinton - if only she can wrap her head around the idea of magicians, fairies, aliens, and other supernatural creatures all being real.
-
-
Thank you!
- By Amazon Customer on 03-29-21
By: B. B. Alston
-
Elatsoe
- By: Darcie Little Badger
- Narrated by: Kinsale Hueston
- Length: 9 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Imagine an America very similar to our own. It's got homework, best friends, and pistachio ice cream. There are some differences. This America has been shaped dramatically by the magic, monsters, knowledge, and legends of its peoples, those Indigenous and those not. Elatsoe lives in this slightly stranger America. She can raise the ghosts of dead animals, a skill passed down through generations of her Lipan Apache family. Her beloved cousin has just been murdered in a town that wants no prying eyes. But she is going to do more than pry.
-
-
Not Bad
- By Gabriel on 12-04-22
-
The Last Cuentista
- By: Donna Barba Higuera
- Narrated by: Frankie Corzo
- Length: 8 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There lived a girl named Petra Peña, who wanted nothing more than to be a storyteller, like her abuelita. But Petra's world is ending. Earth has been destroyed by a comet, and only a few hundred scientists and their children - among them Petra and her family - have been chosen to journey to a new planet. They are the ones who must carry on the human race. Hundreds of years later, Petra wakes to this new planet - and the discovery that she is the only person who remembers Earth. A sinister Collective has taken over the ship during its journey.
-
-
Teen tale
- By Cynthia R Phillips on 10-31-21
-
I Must Betray You
- By: Ruta Sepetys
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini, Ruta Sepetys
- Length: 7 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Romania, 1989. Communist regimes are crumbling across Europe. Seventeen-year-old Cristian Florescu dreams of becoming a writer, but Romanians aren’t free to dream; they are bound by rules and force. Amidst the tyrannical dictatorship of Nicolae Ceaușescu in a country governed by isolation and fear, Cristian is blackmailed by the secret police to become an informer. He’s left with only two choices: betray everyone and everything he loves—or use his position to creatively undermine the most notoriously evil dictator in Eastern Europe.
-
-
Brilliant, dramatic, heartbreaking
- By Victor @ theAudiobookBlog dot com on 02-04-22
By: Ruta Sepetys
-
The Total Eclipse of Nestor Lopez
- By: Adrianna Cuevas
- Narrated by: Anthony Rey Perez
- Length: 4 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
All Nestor Lopez wants is to live in one place for more than a few months and have dinner with his dad. When he and his mother move to a new town to live with his grandmother after his dad’s latest deployment, Nestor plans to lay low. He definitely doesn’t want anyone to find out his deepest secret: that he can talk to animals. But when the animals in his new town start disappearing, Nestor's grandmother becomes the prime suspect.
-
-
Great character!
- By Steena on 02-17-24
By: Adrianna Cuevas
Critic reviews
2021, Diamond Willow Award: Short-listed
2022, First Nations Communities Read Award: Long-listed
2020, Governor General’s Literary Award - Young People’s Literature - Text: Short-listed
2021, National Chapter IODE Violet Downey Award: Short-listed
2021, Panda Book Award: Nominated
2022, Rocky Mountain Book Award: Nominated,
2021, Silver Birch Award for Fiction: Nominated
2022, Surrey Schools Book of the Year: Nominated,
2021, TD Canadian Children's Literature Award: Short-listed
A 2021 Governor General’s Literary Award for Young People's Literature Nominee
One of Quill & Quire's Best Books of 2020
Recommended by booksellers on NPR's Code Switch
One of CBC Books' Best Middle-Grade and Young Adult Books of 2020
One of Canadian Children's Book News’ Best Books of 2020
A CBC Books Bestseller
"This middle-grade fantasy deftly and compellingly centers Indigenous culture." —STARRED REVIEW, Kirkus Reviews
“[T]he treatment of Cree culture resonates, and the engaging characters and folklore ensure readers will look forward to the next installment.” —Publishers Weekly
“Reminiscent of C.S. Lewis’s Narnia stories, this fantasy is very much its own tale of ruptured Indigenous culture, of environmental reciprocity and care.” —Toronto Star
What listeners say about The Barren Grounds
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 05-13-21
For BIPOC students.
We heard this audio book for virtual learning in my sixth grade class. Most of my students are of BIPOC backgrounds and it was great to hear words in a story that they could relate to. Topics raised in this story allowed me to have courageous conversations with my class.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Allison K Cooney
- 02-03-21
Is Pemmican the new Turkish Delight?
What an amazing fantasy story for everyone, with indigenous Canadian cultural woven throughout. Definitely one for the young people in my world, and well, anyone. I thoroughly enjoyed it, thanks David!!!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 12-06-22
Great story and a few Moments to shed an tear.👍
I really think it's amazing because it puts a lot of character into the story!And I just want to say that a few moments in the book I laughed or I maybe got little mad or maybe got a little sad because of some of the bad things or good things that happened.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Christie deSouza
- 02-05-23
What a treasure!
Having taught the Chronicles of Narnia throughout my career, I am overjoyed to see a successor to these books. Modern, yet deeply immersed in indigenous tradition, this first book makes me excited to read the rest of them, and even more excited for this generation of students and teachers to lose themselves in this world.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Maang
- 04-01-24
Creative and heartfelt
I'm a fully grown adult and I was so entertained with this story! After reading the book Betty, I needed to reclaim some of my innocence and wonder so I chose this hoping it would do the trick and it certainly did! Now I'm invested, I purchased book 2!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Hiedi
- 04-03-22
Sooo Good
One of the best books I’ve read in recent memory. As a teacher I have chosen how I will start every school year.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Crossing Rebecca
- 08-01-22
First Nations Foster Kids go traveling
It took me a while to get into this but once we managed to go through the portal it was very special. I assume that the words in Cree (?) were correctly pronounced and they added a lot.
Well worth reading.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amy Hyatt
- 01-07-21
Beacon Light in our times
These days I don’t often get to listen to a book straight through but this one was such a salve for my soul that “I couldn’t put it down”. I made time to listen to it.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Carla J Hilderbrand
- 02-06-23
The Barren Grounds
It started REALLY slow but at the end it was better. Would not read on my own
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- 52
- 02-05-24
the only thing that stood out was the giant bear
I do not like the pacing of the story or the story in general
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!