Remember back in the day, when the long school holidays started, and weeks and weeks of sunshine stretched in front of us, and we had nothing to do but play – and read? Remember building caterpiller zoos in jam jars, and catching bees (to the horror of our mothers…) and letting them go again? And walking city streets for hours with our friends, because those were the freedom days of the sixties and seventies – and making little tar balls at the side of the road, then diving out to put them where a car would roll them flat?
It was heady stuff, and no comparison to the brave new world kids face today. Who’s to say which is better? One thing that hasn’t changed, though, is the enjoyment we get from a few hours escapism in a good book. Two books in particular have stuck in my mind from my own +/- ten-year-old days – and I still have both on my shelves.
The Growing Summer by Noel Streatfield. In this book, a family of four London children are sent to the south coast of Ireland to stay with Great-Aunt Dymphna while their parents are otherwise occupied. And oh, the difference. The freedom. Finding out how to do real things with real people, watching the sea and the gulls, discovering poetry in daily life. How I envied those children.
Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Laura’s pioneer childhood must have been amazing. Imagine that vast expanse of prairie, the hugeness of nature, blue skies enormous overhead – and travelling through all that on a covered wagon, looking for the perfect place to build your home. Laura’s life was more than just ‘different’ to mine; it was another world. And like Noel Streatfield’s Irish coast, it was a good place to go for a while each summer. I still revisit both now and then…
Book News:
I’m delighted that Chosen Child has been awarded a KDP All-Star Bonus on Amazon UK, which means it was in the top 100 KDP Select books downloaded in May. A big THANK YOU to all who bought my book! In this story, little Soraya didn’t have the idyllic summer she’d have wished for. I hope she did the following year!
To finish off, here’s our lake in all its growing glory. (Please note, the sun is almost shining and there’s a bit of blue sky up there. We are thankful for the merest hint of summer this year…)
linda huber 
Congratulations Linda, great news on the bonus 🙂
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Thanks, Georgia – it isn’t a huge one but it’ll take me and the kids for a nice meal out sometime!
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Congratulations Linda! It was a great book, but then again, they’ve all been great! Looking forward to ordering and reading, The Paradise Trees” as well.
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Thanks, Charlotte! Hope you like The Paradise Trees too – that one’s set in Yorkshire, north England. 🙂
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Another lovely picture, Linda. You’re obviously a lover of the great outdoors. Congratulations on your bonus, and well deserved. 🙂
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Thanks, Heather. It’s lovely living here, with woods and the lake literally on the doorstep. We’re lucky!
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Congrats on the bonus, that is SO awesome (!!). I also loved all of the “Little House” books. I reread them as an adult and loved them even more. In fact, I read “Little House in the Big Woods” while at the library a few months ago. The story sucked me in, just as it had as a child. Cheers and happy writing.
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Thanks, Cinthia – you too! I often wish there were more Little House books – the story didn’t stop there. Maybe one day we’ll make it to the Little House Museum in Wisconsin! 🙂
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