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Monday, November 30, 2020

A Long Road on a Short Day, written by Gary D. Schmidt and Elizabeth Stickney, with illustrations by Eugene Yelchin. Clarion Books, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Raincoast, 2020. $23.98 ages 8 and up

 

"Papa nodded, and Samuel ran to find them. 
They were all black as night and hard to see
in the shadows, so Samuel and Georgie knelt
down and Samuel held out his hand. But the 
kittens arched their backs and hissed and ran 
against the back of the stall -
"

When Mama expresses a wish for a cow with brown eyes, Papa and Samuel set out to search for the cow that will provide milk for the new baby and Papa's tea. Papa takes his best knife with him. The two trudge away from the farm on a snowy January morning. Papa warns that it is going to be 'a long road on a short day', and cautions Samuel to keep up the pace. 

At the first farm they visit, Papa trades his best knife for two tin lanterns. After a short visit, they are on their way again. At their next stop, Papa trades the two lanterns for a book of poetry, already knowing the right person for his next trade. From Widow Mitchell he accepts a pitcher, which he then happily offers to Dr, Fulton for a sheep. On they go, as daylight turns to darkness, always trading for the next best thing. Samuel manages to keep up to his papa despite the long trek. Will they finally find the right thing to trade for a cow - the brown-eyed one that Mama has her heart set on? 

There is enough suspense, with the trades and the growing storm, to keep readers fully engaged in this skillfully written family story that evokes a rural time and place when life was quite different than it is today.  The chapters are short, with perfect pacing. Samuel and his father are both willing participants in the winter adventure. Mr. Yelchin's artwork takes readers back to an earlier time when bartering was often the way people got what they needed when they didn't have the money to pay for it.  

This would make an ideal family read at Christmas time. 

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