In the Arctic lands of the Midnight Sun, the winters are long and harsh. It is the 1670s. The Saami migrate with the reindeer they depend on for food, clothing, and shelter like the American Plains Indians relied on the buffalo.
Tuuli was marked from birth to be the next noaidi of her people. She will be wind listener and keeper of their most sacred drum. But the wind whispers to Tuuli that strangers are coming—strangers who threaten the reindeer and demand the Saami give up their drums and ancient beliefs. Tuuli refuses, hiding one of the drums and setting off on a series of perilous journeys to save her people, their way of life, and, ultimately, herself.
The Wind and the Drum, written by Minnesota native Katharine Johnson has been chosen as the 2018 One Book Northland community read!
Johnson was a Language Arts teacher at Cloquet High School, and was later director of the school's media center. In the late 1970s, she taught Spanish during her lunch breaks. She retired in 1999. Her previous publications are: “Company’s Here” in Ladybug magazine, “Ada,” “Forgiveness of Sins,” and several poems in anthologies.