Blackwater Ben
In the winter of 1898, thirteen-year-old Ben Ward leaves school to work as a cook’s assistant at the Blackwater Logging Camp, peeling potatoes, frying flapjacks, and dreaming of working in the woods with the other men. Peppered throughout with heart and humor, Blackwater Ben paints a vivid picture of the north woods of Minnesota at the end of the nineteenth century.
An interesting and highly enjoyable book about a little-known yet important part of American history.
Kidsreads
According to thirteen-year-old Ben Ward’s father, lumberjacks look forward to two things: mealtime and springtime. In the winter of 1898, Ben leaves school for a job as a cook’s assistant to his father at the Blackwater Logging Camp. As Ben spends long hours peeling potatoes and frying flapjacks, he dreams of working in the woods with the other men, felling trees, driving a team, and skidding timber.
While enduring a long, cold winter in a camp filled with outlandish characters, as well as an orphan boy named Nevers, Ben comes to understand himself and his family’s past. Peppered throughout with heart and humor—and including a glossary and afterword with facts about logging—Blackwater Ben paints a vivid picture of the north woods of Minnesota at the end of the nineteenth century.
An interesting and highly enjoyable book about a little-known yet important part of American history.
Kidsreads
Lively details about logging add depth to this warm, colorful historical novel.
Booklist
Blackwater Ben is fun. It’s accessible. It’s a short trip to centuries past that’s entertaining and amusing.
The Corresponder
