The Cookcamp by Gary Paulsen: 06/22/06
One of my favorite contemporary authors of juvenile fiction is Gary Paulsen. My most recent read by him is The Cookcamp, a book that I devoured in a couple of hours on Tuesday night.

Here is the review I wrote for my BookCrossing journal:

Excellent book! As with the other Paulsen books I've read, this story weaves together the adventure of living at a construction camp with the bittersweetness of being without family and the loss of loved ones. In this story a young boy (probably between the ages of 4 and 6) lives with his grandmother near the close of WWII while his mother settles some personal affairs. Throughout the boy must balance the excitement of living somewhere new with homesickness he is feeling. Meanwhile the grandmother must come to terms with her sense of loss for lost siblings and lost children as she watches her grandson grow.

I ended up rating the book a ten out of ten stars.

For books like The Cookcamp that I thoroughly enjoyed and that perhaps touched me in some sort of emotional way, I want to make sure the book travels to someone else who wants to read it or may take something extra away from reading it. One way I can do this is by RABCKing the book (a random act of BookCrossing Kindness, taken from the Danny Wallace Book, Practice Random Acts of Kindess) to another BookCrosser who has wished for it. In this case, I found only one person who had requested The Cookcamp so I sent a PM and received a lovely response. I won't go into the details of it beyond saying that she was very happy to receive the book and had been going through some tough times. I feel like the book has used me to find the person who needs it most.

The Wheel Store:
Ian decided it would be safer to purchase a new tire before taking Sean to preschool. The mini-spare wasn't handling the road well and the preschool is on a steep hill that is scary in regular car with four functioning tires. So while he and Sean headed off to buy a new tire at what Sean dubbed the "wheel store" I telephoned the school to let them know that Sean would be late.

From the sounds of things, Sean had a great time during his adventure. He had one bit of a scare when the mechanic drove the car into the garage when Sean had his back turned. He had left his Pikachu strapped in the front seat of the car and was really worried when it and the car were suddenly missing. "What happened to our car!" he exclaimed. Ian then took Sean into the waiting room which has a window view of the garage. From there they watched the mini-spare being taken off and the new tire being put on. Sean also entertained himself and others in the room by counting the tires on the wall.

As it was well past the school's breakfast when the tire was on, they got breakfast at Baker's Square before finally going to school. Sean had his usual funny face pancake breakfast but had hoped Ian would share one of his pancakes too. Ian forgot and ate both his pancakes for which he got a loud scolding from Sean: "Daddy, you have to remember to share!"

Steps: 4500