There is something nostalgic about summer reading. I remember as a child going to our small downtown library sandwiched between the Coca-Cola bottling company and the Valerie theatre near the courthouse square. A few years later, once a week, the colorful Bookmobile parked near the highway a half mile from our farm. My mother piled us in the station wagon to check out a book, which did not have the same smell the library did—an old library with fans stirring summer heat smelled of musty paper and years of page-turners—older books with soft pages aged along their edges and woven cloth covers. A hidden book mark like a multiplication card 4 x 4 in large bright blue numbers would be left inside by a previous reader.
I had favorites. If I had to choose one book I read as a child, which impacted my life, it would be Strawberry Girl by Lois Lenski. This particular story has stayed with me my whole life. So much so a few years ago, I found it in a Wisconsin antique store. When my hand reached for the jacket-less binding-cloth book, I flipped through the pages and again was reacquainted with an old friend I had not seen in years.
Lois Lenski (1893 – 1974) was the author and illustrator of children’s books: picture books, historical and regional novels. Strawberry Girl was part of her regional story series, and it won the Newberry Award in 1946. I found a first edition 1945 copy printed and published by J.J. Lippincott Company labeled with Wisconsin Public School Library, Round Lake School, Burnette County, WI. The end pages are printed in red strawberries and green leaves, with Lenski’s drawings portraying life in the backwoods of Florida thorough out its pages.
Birdie Boyer was about my age when I first read Strawberry Girl. I thought she was courageous and a hard worker as she helped her family plant and take care of their strawberry plants. They encountered many difficulties, mainly due to neighbors who did everything they could to ruin the Boyer’s chances at strawberry farming in the piney woods.
As an adult, my connection with Lois Lenski is one I identify with, particularly as an author/artist; there is a kindred spirit. Lois was a wife, mother, author/artist who would not give up her career in place of family. She insisted she could do both, which is remarkable for her lifetime. Lois accurately researched her material and culture, speech patterns, and minute detail of daily life according to her regional and historical novels. She wrote, “Speech cannot be overlooked,” I immediately thought of Zora Neal Hurston, who felt the same way in her writings.
Have you read any of Lois Lenski’s books? Do you have a favorite? If you could choose one book you read as a child which impacted your life –What would it be? I would love to hear about your favorite children’s book.
http://www.loislenskicovey.org
http://loislenski.omeka.net
