The length of this book is perfect for my students to learn about the tragedy of the Ojibwe of Sandy Lake in the 1850s. I had not heard about this particular story of the broken treaty and the resulting tragedy that ensued. My students will be drawn to the images and the story. The timeline in the back was also helpful.

Reading this book in July was the best decision I made.
I knew so little about Native Americans, but this book was like an open door for me to widen my knowledge about them.
This book is so informative and straightforward, really suitable for early readers at middle-grade levels. And for people like me who know very little to nothing about Native Americans, especially the Ojibwe.
While this book is educational, it's also a sad reminder of how hundreds of people, most importantly kids, die because of the government's greed.
Although I know little about Native Americans, I can't help but connect what happened to them to the Palestinians now. It's a scarily mirroring of the past.

Thank you to Emily Faith Johnson, Capstone Press, and NetGalley for the ARC.

Thank you Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book. The opinions written are completely honest and my own.

A sad, yet fascinating read. This book should definitely be in classrooms in both US and Canada.

The Sandy Lake Tragedy is the story of the lesser-known Ojibwe people of the midwestern United States. The story follows the how the Ojibwe made an agreement with the United States, which some unsavory officials took advantage of the group in 1850. The Ojibwe did not accept what these unsavory officials were doing, and a group of the Ojibwe made a long march to Washington DC. Eventually, the Ojibwe group meet with President Fillmore.

The book is filled with images, background information, and a timeline for context of the events. The Sandy Lake Tragedy is a very well-researched telling of the Ojibwe's resilience.

An incredibly beautifully written child-appropriate history book on the Sandy Lake atrocities/tragedy. Told with compassion and respect, I learned a lot from this book. As a white mother to Indigenous persons (my husband and children are Métis Cree), I felt it was incredibly important to learn about Indigenous cultures similar to their own. Gorgeous illustrations and relevant photographs help bring the book together.

This a short account of the suffering of a tribe of Native Americans known as the Ojibwee people. I confess that despite being of Native American heritage I was previously unaware of this tribe or of the cruel way they were treated, being shuffled from one place to the next in homes that the government could take their lands and pay them nothing for it. I can’t decide if the government actually wanted them to relocate or hoped for the exact result they got in delaying payments to these people, which is hundreds of people dead from starvation and illness due to having no means to buy food and traveling a massive amount of territory in miserable conditions with babies, young children, elderly and infirm individuals that couldn’t be left behind. Regardless, the result was devastating and this should be an eye opening account for those of us who have not learned this part of history or forgotten it.

This was such a short book but packed a powerful punch. It was heartbreaking and very well written.

I never heard this story before and I will never forget it . I know it’s a true story and not just a story but something that literally happened. It was so awful.

A book I will always remember.

The Sandy Lake Tragedy: Following in the Footsteps of the Ojibwe by Emily Faith Johnson is a powerful and essential picture book for young readers (ages 8–12) and educators. Through a clear and compassionate narrative paired with evocative illustrations, it shares the heartbreaking story of the 1850 forced removal of over 5,000 Ojibwe to Sandy Lake, where delayed payments, deadly conditions, and broken promises led to the deaths of more than 400 people before they could return home. It's an informative book.

Thank you, NetGalley, for providing me with the ARC of this book.
#TheSandyLakeTragedy #NetGalley.

This title is very informative and a great title to help you people understand and be aware of the injustices of the Ojibwe. My biggest concern with this book is holding students' attention. The pictures included are, but more visuals would help keep kids interested.

I am so grateful that I stumbled upon this book! I have only good things to say about it. As a Minnesota reader with familiarity of the region and also some Anishinaabe words and history, I found it incredibly readable and clear, and the glossary and pronunciation guide at the back will be useful for readers of all ages. Johnson presents the story of the Sandy Lake tragedy, as well as the conditions leading up to it and the key people involved, in a way that is easy to read and digest while also being full of important information. That’s really hard to do, and she did it so well! I also loved the use of photos and drawings to make the story come to life. The quotations from Ojibwe leaders interspersed throughout are helpful in grounding us in the Ojibwe perspective, too.

The more shocking thing to me is…I knew nothing about this particular tragedy and treaty violation until I read this book. I’m a lifelong Minnesotan, and I am a descendent of the Eastern Band of Cherokee, so even though my ancestral lands aren’t in Minnesota, I am really intentional about learning about and supporting our Indigenous communities. And I had no idea about this attempted forced removal in 1851 and the tragic loss of lives as a result of it. I didn’t realize how horrible Ramsay was by provoking all of it, either. The Sandy Lake Tragedy was eye-opening, then, not just in how educational and informative it is about this event and some Ojibwe history and culture (like the 7 Grandfather Teachings), but also in how it highlighted, at least for me, that the enormous gaps in our education are another kind of tragedy. I’m so glad Emily Faith Johnson took the time and energy to write this book, and hope it reaches readers from all communities across our region and beyond.

Thank you so much to the publisher and NetGalley for this beautiful e-arc. I’ll definitely be suggesting it to the schools I work with and doing everything I can to get it into the hands of MG readers!

As a teacher this is something I would use in the classroom for an assignment. Great detail for a very important period for the Ojibwe. Love that a timeline, glossary, and maps were included. The pages are formatted well enough to keep student attention.

I am always on the hunt for children's books about various indigenous groups that are not white washed but instead written by someone from within the given group. I love the design of the book. It included easy to read information with historical paintings and drawings, photographs of artifacts, maps, and quotes all combined with graphic design elements. This book was easily read by my nine year old and held her attention throughout. She was eager to share what she was learning. I appreciated this book as well because I also learned new information. I hope to see more books by this author.

Thank you so much to Capstone and Netgalley for the ebook to read and review.

Another heartbreaking story about the native tribes and the hardships they were put through. It’s really so sad knowing that these people have had to go through all these trying times all because people wanted their land.

This was a really fascinating fact file as I didn’t know about this piece of history before, but I’m always happy to learn more about what the native tribes had to go through. They’d signed a contract and stuck to it on their side, but then when the govementment decided it wasn’t good enough broke their’s for selfish gain. Making the entire tribes go further out in the wrong time of year, purging the groups of their family member’s and sending them on a harrowing journey.

I really enjoyed learning about this event that occurred to them in history. It was so detailed with so many extra facts and pieces of information. I hated what happened, but learning about it was great, they really struggled which was heartbreaking, but they knew right from wrong and had great leaders for their tribes that would go through anything to keep them safe and be given what belonged to them.

These are the pieces of ignored history that I wish were taught more, it’s so important for people and children to know what truly happened, to understand the struggles and difficulties that the native tribes had to experience. To learn what the governments did to them just because they wanted to. It’s all really sad and sometimes difficult to read about but so very vital.

The Sandy Lake Tragedy is a piece of history I was unfamiliar with. This book makes the history easy to access through clear writing and great text features. It breaks my heart that this is a part of history but I am grateful that books are being written to educate people about the past.

I live in Choctaw Nation in SE Oklahoma, so I am very familiar with the overall history of the Native American's struggle with the American Government. However, I was not familiar with the Ojibwe's personal experience of treaties broken and this particular incident where 400 tribal members perished due to American negligence. This was an informative and sobering read and I think it would be an excellent resource for middle schoolers learning about Native American history and relations.

Thank you to NetGalley, Capstone Press, and Emily Faith Johnson for the eARC of this book!

A very informative children’s non-fiction book, very readable for a non-American who knew nothing of this story! Making history accessible.

Powerful and Informative Look at a Forgotten Chapter in Native American History 🌲

Check out my review on YouTube! @lifewithladyO #TheSandyLakeTragedy #NetGalley

The Sandy Lake Tragedy is a deeply moving and eye-opening read that sheds much-needed light on a heartbreaking time in Native American history that many may not know about. 💔📚 Emily Faith Johnson did a wonderful job compiling and presenting the facts—her dedication to telling the truth of the Ojibwe people shines through on every page. 👏🏽

This book is full of insightful, heart-wrenching history that must continue to be told. 🗣️ We owe it to the Ojibwe and other Native communities to keep their stories alive so that history is neither lost nor repeated. 📖🪶

One piece of constructive feedback: while the content is rich and powerful, the format leans heavily toward a textbook style. 📘 To fully engage today’s young readers, I’d love to see future editions incorporate a more narrative or interactive approach to bring the events and emotions even closer to heart. 💡

That said, the meat is there. 🍽️ We walk alongside the Ojibwe on their version of the Trail of Tears, feeling the weight of broken treaties, governmental betrayal, and devastating loss. 💔 We witness the deadly impact of disease due to overcrowding and poor living conditions, and we end with a sense of hope as Chief Buffalo—joined by New York Senator George Briggs—bravely advocates for justice, ultimately gaining an audience with President Fillmore. ✊🏽🇺🇸

📚 Overall, this was a great read—a sobering but vital addition to the conversation around Indigenous history and resilience. Highly recommended for classrooms, libraries, and any reader committed to learning the full story of American history.

While I grew up in the land of the Ojibwe, I never knew the specifics of the Sandy Lake Tragedy. This book was very informative and easy to read. Definitely a great book for young readers.

I received a copy of this eBook from netGalley for a honest review.

This book is a moving memorial to the people who lost their lives in Sandy Lake and the people who peacefully made their way to Washington to fight for their rights. I learned a lot and was deeply moved by this book,

The Sandy Lake Tragedy details how the treaties made between the Ojibwe and the U.S. government led to the tragedy in Sandy Lake, Minnesota. The treaties they signed gave mining rights to the government in the Great Lakes area where the Ojibwe lived, while still allowing the Ojibwe use of the land for hunting and fishing purposes. The Ojibwe would also receive annual payments from the government for those mining rights. The Sandy Lake Tragedy is the story of how the governor of Minnesota hatched a scheme that violated those treaties and sought to remove the Ojibwe from their lands.

I was fascinated by this book! I knew a little about the Ojibwe people, and I was aware of the long and terrible history of broken treaties between the U.S. government and countless indigenous tribes, but I had no knowledge of the Sandy Lake Tragedy. Emily Faith Johnson tells the story clearly and engagingly, and she supplements the story wonderfully with timelines, vintage photos, and a glossary of terms. I highly recommend this book for school libraries and upper elementary classrooms. I'll definitely be getting a copy for my classroom.