Blackwater Ben
Grade 4-7-Ben and his father are the cooking team at a logging camp in northern Minnesota in the winter of 1898. Pa's in charge, and Ben is the helper hoping for a chance at other duties beyond peeling spuds and setting tables. The thread that carries through the episodic narrative is Ben's longing to know more about his dead mother and to feel closer to his reserved and demanding father. The "dentist," the man who sharpens the teeth on the saws, happens to have been one of his mother's suitors before she married; this unlikely coincidence provides Ben with a chance to satisfy his need to know more about his family. Maintaining a light tone, Durbin revels in his descriptions of the amount of work required, the intensity of the cold weather, and the cantankerous eccentricities of the members of the logging crew. The arrival of Nevers, who tells of his life as an orphan, helps Ben gain perspective on his own circumstances. The letters between him and his landlady back home add to the sense of remoteness of the camp, yet connect it to the world around. The glossary and an afterword summarizing facts about logging make this a tidy package for curriculum support. Vivid and often quite funny, the book is also a lively read.Carol A. Edwards, Sonoma County Library, Santa Rosa, CACopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.