Subscribe to our Free Email Newsletter.
Sign Up!

Advertisements:

In Times Past
an eBook on CD
by Carol Hurst and Rebecca Otis

Integrating US History with Literature in Grades 3-8.

Enliven your US History curriculum!

Teach US History using great kids books.

More Info

Alida's Song

Review

You may have met Alida before this brief novel. She's the grandmother in The Cookcamp (Orchard, 1991 ISBN 0531085279). The summer the narrator spent with her in that lumber camp was as necessary for his well-being as it was fun for him, the small child of neglectful and drunken parents.
In Alida's Song, that grandmother rescues him again. She's not working in the cookcamp now but is housekeeper and cook for two bachelor farmers (just like in LakeWoebegone). She writes asking her grandson to join her. He will, she says, be able to help with the farming.
Gunar and Olaf do well by the boy as does his grandmother, of course. It's hard work and they toil from early morning to late evening, pausing only to eat enormous and frequent meals. They do believe in fun, however, and the two men prepare a feast for the boy's grandmother complete with fiddle and spoon music afterward. She teaches the boy to dance, to trust and to love again.
In all, the book is tender and quite wonderful. The knowledge that the work is largely autobiographical lets us feel grateful that the man whose work we so admire today had such nourishment, at least for a summer.

Related Areas of Carol Hurst's Children's Literature Site

• Work and Occupations. Featured Subject with related books, activities and links.
• Call Me Francis Tucket by Gary Paulsen. Book Review.
• Foxman by Gary Paulsen. Featured book with review, activities, related books and links.
• The Haymeadow by Gary Paulsen. Book Review.
• The Monument by Gary Paulsen. Book Review.
• Popcorn Days and Buttermilk Nights by Gary Paulsen. Book Review.
• The Winter Room by Gary Paulsen. Book Review.
• Woodsong by Gary Paulsen. Book Review.
• Listing of All Reviewed Books.

Related Areas on Other Web Sites

• Amazon.com Bookstore's listing of Gary Paulsen's books.