Lost at Windy River: A True Story of Survival

And so begins Trina Rathgeber’s Lost at Windy River, a middle grade nonfiction graphic novel that shares the story of Ilse Schweder (Cree), the author’s grandmother, and how she survived nine days in the Canadian north with no food or provisions.

In 1944, Ilse, whose Cree name translates as Lady of the Thunderbird, is 13-years-old, has lost her mother, and now she has also lost her older sister in a residential school. In an attempt to keep the family together, her father, Fred, decides to take all his kids north to live at the Windy River Trading Post.

The Schweder family are fur traders and are skilled at living off the land. One day, Ilse and her brothers go on a three-day dog-sledding trip to check the family’s traplines. The trip starts off fine, but, the following day, a massive snowstorm hits, and Ilse and her team of dogs are separated from the rest of her family.

Ilse, soon realizing that she is lost with no food and no tools, relies on traditional Indigenous knowledge and her fur-trading skills to survive. Over the course of her nine-day ordeal, Ilse survives by building a snow cave for shelter, melting scoops of snow in her hands to create drinking water, and by eating spruce sap and wild cranberries for sustenance.

On the ninth day, badly frostbitten and mentally exhausted, Ilse stumbles upon a local trapper named Ragnar Jonsson. Ever the survivalist, Ragnar builds a tent around Ilse and helps her warm up with blankets and hot tea. The book ends with a much older Ilse recounting her story to a group of young students during a class visit.

An epic survival story, Lost at Windy River is the author’s attempt to reclaim her grandmother’s story. In the author’s note, Rathgeber acknowledges that it always bothered Ilse that the famous Canadian author Farley Mowat told her story in his work, People of the Deer. Through her own retelling, she believes that “today Ilse would be happy to know that her story has been reclaimed in a way that was true to her experience.”

And what an experience that was! Young readers will love reading about Ilse’s adventures of surviving in the north with no modern conveniences. Especially notable are the fun facts and survival skills that Rathgeber peppers throughout the storyline. Adding to the book’s appeal are Alina Pete’s highly detailed and colourful illustrations that really bring to life the Canadian barren lands.

Overall, Lost at Windy River is a captivating true-life survival story.