| Blackwater Ben by William Durbin. 2003; 199 pages; juvenile fiction.
"Daylight in the Swamp!"
That's what lumberjacks yell to wake each other up in the morning. And 13 year old Ben Ward is getting up before daylight, spending the winter of 1898, his first winter at Blackwater Logging Camp, as cook's helper to his pa. It takes a ton of flapjacks and doughnuts and beans to feed hungry lumberjacks. Long days of peeling potatoes and washing dishes with his ornery pa make Ben yearn to get out in the woods, felling trees, sawing timber, driving a team through the snow.
But the long, cold winter in a camp filled with outlandish characters teaches Ben a lot about himself and his pa. Especially after an orphan boy called Nevers signs on to work with Pa. Ben makes a friend, but a rival, too.
William Durbin's funny lumberjack tales brighten this warm story full of colorful characters and lively details about life in Blackwater Camp. |
