More a series of personal essays than a memoir, this is an interesting reflection on raising young boys with the freedom to explore the wilderness and their dreams, in Alaska. ( )

Kaylene Johnson's nonfiction account of raising her two sons in Alaska centers around a series of essays. Her writing style is quite readable but I was often left wanting to know more about an episode, only to find myself in the next essay and a different time in their lives.
Johnson's early years and experiences with her sons easily hooked me in. I was fascinated by this woman who was raising her children in an environment completely foreign to me and fraught with danger and possibilities. however, as her sons aged, I was turned off by their obvious disregard for parental rules and limitations and Johnson's apparent acceptance of those behaviors. After several such examples, I began to no longer be as concerned about her sons' well-being or her responses to their escapades.
Perhaps it takes a woman with the ability to let her children experience life on their own terms to live successfully in such a wild country. Since I am not that type of woman, I could not identify with Johnson's life as much as I had hoped. ( )

A Tender Distance brings us into the lives of Kaylene Johnson and her 2 adventurous boys as they grow and venture out into the wilderness of Alaska. In Alaska, Kaylenes role as parent in helping her fearless children move forth into the world takes on a balancing act that has been described as walking a tightrope.

This was not a fast book to read, but a good one. It was a combination of beautifully crafted descriptions of the scenery, philosophy of parenting, and adventure that made me suck in my breath. I put the book down in the beginning to process the pictures in my mind, later I read it more for enjoyment. I wished for photos, but later thought maybe my mind pictures were good enough. I could put myself in her shoes as she worried about the problems the boys could be getting into, and the boys as they strayed further afield. All in all an enjoyable read. ( )

Journalist Kaylene Johnson turns her eye for detail to her own life in this memoir about her motherhood in Alaska. Some essays are serious, some humorous, all written with generous descriptions of the landscape in which she and her husband settled early in their life together.

As her two sons grow from babyhood to adulthood, Johnson asks herself the question that almost all parents ask, "How do we give them freedom to grow, yet also keep them safe?" Yet by raising her sons in a rugged terrain, Johnson has raised the stakes in keeping their sons safe. She recounts teaching her sons to carry bear spray while hiking, to pack food away from their campsites to avoid bear attacks, to handle guns safely, and to avoid coming between a mother moose and her calf.

Reading any memoir by parents about their children, one wonders what the children think of being subjected to such scrutiny. But Johnson deftly navigates the ground where other parent memoirists have falled: she writes about her children while preserving their privacy. Because of that, A Tender Distance reads like a love story to motherhood and Alaska. Recommended. ( )

A story written with humor and grace, of a mother raising her two sons in the Alaskan wilderness. The author describes trying to strike a balance between allowing her two boys to grow and explore their Alaskan environment, yet all the while trying to keep them safe. This book speaks of the struggles that all mothers experience. The letting go - allowing your child the freedom to learn, experience and ultimately mature, yet desiring beyond all else that the child be safe on this perilous journey called life. Whether it be encountering the wilds of Alaska, the complexities of urban life, navigating the rocky roads of relationships, or experiencing the certain disappointments life throws in our path, the author strikes a chord that ultimately speaks to us all.