CHILDREN OF THE WILDERNESS: New Homes in New Places (Growing Up Wild Book 3)

Book Synopsis: After living off-the-grid in the remote forested wilderness for the past eight years, Vernon, Sylvia and their four young children now begin spending their summers fishing on the shores of Cook Inlet. They were still largely self-sufficient, calling a canvas wall tent their home for three months of the year. Their new enterprise, begun in 1945 with the prospect of Vernon being drafted to fight in World War II looming over them. Although it brought a new set of challenges and hazards and a great deal of hard work and frustrations, it also brought its own rewards. The next two winters were spent back in their log cabin on Alexander Creek. Then the failing health of Sylvia’s father caused them to make even more changes in their lives. While written for the general public, this book, as well as the others in the series, is also suitable for older children who are interested in how families lived in earlier times and in far different circumstances than their own. They are written in part from the perspective of the children, as well as that of the adults. “[The author] grew up in a world that most people cannot even imagine—it’s a world that we ‘old-timers’ up here sometimes call either ‘the old Alaska’ or ‘the real Alaska.’ And it’s a world that we will unfortunately never see again. Sled dogs, moose meat, fresh trout, log cabins and 7-year-old girls trapping beaver are all part of this delightful, hard-scrabble romp through the wilds of Alaska in the 1940s.” Ron Dalby, former editor of Alaska Magazine and author of Guide to the Alaska Highway and his newest book Pipeline.