Bo at Ballard Creek

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, 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.

This is extremely endearing, and one of the best middle readers I've picked up in a while.

Bo is a little girl who lives in a small mining town in Alaska in the 1920s. The book is essentially a series of winsome anecdotes about various things that little kids get up to in a small mining town in Alaska ... and it's just so nicely written.

It's been compared a lot to the Little House books, and I think that's fairly understandable in a few ways. The author, a native Alaskan, has said that some of the episodes are based on family stories. There are a lot of "this is how things worked in Ye Olden Days" explanations of what's going on, handled in a good way - they're straightforward, a kid can understand them, and they support the story. In show more terms of reading level, it feels right about par with Little House in the Big Woods/Little House on the Prairie, so it would work well as a read aloud for kids starting about age 4, and realistic for slightly older kids who are reading on their own. Unlike the Little House books, the Eskimo members of the community get a lot of airtime, and come across as individual people as opposed to a vague group of Eskimos. show less

Personally, I thought the book was enjoyable but without a distinct plot or overarching issue. It seemed as though the book was one large introduction to a story that never unfolded.
The book could be used in the classroom in the context of rural communities, diversity, family structure, or 1920s history.

A delightful book about little Bo, her two adoptive dads, and their friends of Eskimos and miners in the waning days of the Alaskan gold rush. The details of mining life in a small remote town and daily Eskimo culture enrich these stories that are perfect for a family or classroom read-aloud. Everyone is neighborly and pitches in, and Bo and all the kids are raised by a multicultural village. I love LeUyen Pham's illustration work and her illustrations here are no exception, adding charm, personality and affection.

It's the 1920s, and Bo was headed for an Alaska orphanage when she won the hearts of two tough gold miners who set out to raise her, enthusiastically helped by all the kind people of the nearby Eskimo village.
Bo learns Eskimo along with English, helps in the cookshack, learns to polka, and rides along with Big Annie and her dog team. There's always some kind of excitement: Bo sees her first airplane, has a run-in with a bear, and meets a mysterious lost little boy.
Here is an unforgettable story of a little girl growing up in the exhilarating time after the big Alaska gold rushes.

Bo is a little girl living at a gold mine in 1920s Alaska. This book is just a series of slice-of-life bits in life at the mine. It is sweet and quaint and so very interesting. Bo is a darling little girl and seeing mine life from her point of view is fresh.

Hill has written her most delightful children's book about Alaska. Bo has been "adopted" by two very unlikely parents. Her Papa Jack is a black cook at an Alaskan mine. Her Papa Arvid is a Swedish miner. Bo unconventional family includes not only her papas, but the other miners and the Eskimo village of Ballard Creek. Fans of The Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder will see a bit of Laura in Bo. Best of all readers will see that families can be unconventional but if there is love, there is a family.