Kirkpatrick Hill

Lovely. Heart-warming, entertaining, and educational.

First, though, I have to disagree just a bit with another reviewer who accuses this of being just another unrealistic story about the amazing success of an inspirational teacher. Miss Agnes had already honed her craft on other Alaskan children for years in another, larger school. And most of these kids were *eager* to learn whatever they could in between all the migratory fishing and trapping activities.

And Miss Agnes knew enough about show more their traditional culture to respect it. Compared to the other teachers who had tried to serve in this village, almost anybody could have had some success - Miss Agnes had more because she knew her stuff - and because the student body, even at full-capacity, was fewer than a dozen students in all grades together.

And that's what made this very short book so successful for me. I did believe in it, and Miss Agnes' teaching strategies, with all my heart. I especially found the details of Alaskan life and culture, circa 1948, very interesting. I like how Fred tells Grandpa that 10M. people died in WWII, 20 M wounded, and Grandpa reflects about how isolated they were, and how they had no idea the war was such a big deal.

Lots of good stuff in a very short book. Hill could have written an adult-sized novel, but instead she pared every non-essential episode, every non-essential word, from the story, making it accessible to even the youngest independent readers. A fast reader should take the time to reread it, and catch more of the details as they skip by. show less

Loving the continuing adventures of Bo and her family. One more thing that I really enjoy about these books is the way children are treasured by the community. They aren't taken for granted by the majority of the adults that surround them -- another thing that I think must be unique to places and times where children are scarce.

The one thing I find controversial is the use of racial slurs -- I appreciate that the author addresses them directly in this book, and applies them widely to a show more variety of characters -- which may sound like a weird thing to say, but it's an aspect of our history that is true to the time, and an opportunity to confront hurtful language with child readers today. I think we get more of talking about it than pretending it never happened, and in 1930's Alaska, you can be sure that racially/culturally charged language was present. I also appreciated the author's note on the term Eskimo.

I also find the world of mining to be relatively horrifying, but I'm glad to learn more about it, and to hear the range of viewpoints that Hill presents. There's a lot to learn here, and the presentation is excellent. show less

I'm a sucker for frontier stories, and I like it even better when they really teach me something about a time or a place. These books are so upbeat and curiously cheerful that I just adored them. I love the pragmatic responses of the papas to Bo's upbringing -- the rules are so very firm, but never applied with anger. I love the partnership tradition, which strikes me as a uniquely gold-rush sort of thing, where there were so many men living out on their own over such a long time -- handy, show more too, that it leaves an ambiguous role modeling for today's same sex partnerships. Mostly, I just love the storytelling, the history, the quirky and fascinating characters. show less

Still really enjoying the works of Kirkpatrick Hill -- great kids adventures in the Alaska wilderness. Survival, kindness, and the challenges of growing up in a harsh environment, caught between the old ways and the new. Continuing adventures of Toughboy and Sister (from a previous book), but both can stand alone.