The Stump Farm

There was a display of the books by Robert J. Adams at our local library.  He is a local author, raised in Edson, Alberta.  I picked up a copy of his first book, The Stump Farm.  I am so glad I did, what a wonderful story of growing up in Northern Alberta!  It takes place when he is a very little boy, about six or seven, around the time the soldiers are returning home from WW2.  His dad is a cat skinner (operates heavy machinery), and they live out in the middle of nowhere, on a farm where their most prolific crop is the stumps of the trees they cut down for firewood.  It's a collection of the various scrapes and mischief a little boy can get into, from losing his rubber boots in the ruts of a logging road, to being chased by a neighbors dogs, to surviving the rules of the playground at school.  I have to say I enjoyed a few belly laughs while reading this, and I think his mother was a saint!  If you're interested in a glimpse of life in rural Alberta in the 1940's, this book is for you.