Olla-piska

Winner of the 2005 Stevens Literary Prize. A historical novel about the great botanist and explorer David Douglas and his travels through the Pacific Northwest in 1824-25

Talks about the great botanist and explorer David Douglas and his travels through the Pacific Northwest in 1824-25. This work provides an account of Douglas and a description of what life was like for many different people in the region in the years after the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

Winner of the 2005 Stevens Literary Prize

Douglas's student, Sandy, who has run away from home to join the Hudson’s Bay Company, learns about the plants that Douglas methodically collected and identified for science. He befriends T’Catisa, the daughter of Chinook Chief Cockqua, and they spend time with Douglas as he explores a new landscape. Olla-piska is a good introduction for young people and adults alike to one of the most important scientists and explorers to visit the Columbia country.