Wednesday, March 10, 2021

Bo at Ballard Creek by Kirkpatrick Hill illustrated by Leuyen Pham

 When Bo was a baby, her mother, who was a "good-time" girl, handed her off to Arvid, a blacksmith in a mining camp, telling him to take her to an orphange.  Arvid did not know what to do with the baby.  Jack, a cook at the mining camp, pitched in to help Arvid.  Both of them decided they could not leave Bo at an orphange and committed to raise her together.   

The story takes place when is Bo five-years-old, loving her life with two miners as her papas and experiencing the miner camp with many interesting miners, Eskimos and two good-time girls.  While reading this book, the reader will learn a lot about the life of a miner, the Alaskan natives, and life during the 1920s. The characters are likable and humorous.

Ms. Pham's illustrations are adorable.  

Points to discuss/warnings: two papas (no hint that they are romantically involved-they have just agreed to raise Bo together), swearing-a few times, "good-time girls", smoking, drinking, the kids like looking at naked pictures in the National Geographic magazines, one miner explains rocks/life via evolutionary/old earth lens.

-Borrowed from the library.




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