Starbuck Valley Winter

Susan Kemp is a high-school teacher in Kingston, Ontario.

First published in 1943, Starbuck Valley Winter occupies a well-deserved
spot among the classics of Canadian children’s literature. Roderick
Haig-Brown was one of North America’s most popular outdoor writers. In
this welcome reissue of the 1943 classic, he combines the gifts of the
master storyteller with a deep insight into the problems and concerns of
a boy on the threshold of maturity. His sense of the outdoors is
unmatched, his writing redolent with the scent of pine and fir, the
rushing of swift, dark rivers, and the rhythms of nature.

Starbuck Valley Winter tells the story of a 16-year-old orphan who
lives with his aunt and uncle on Vancouver Island. Having quit school
(like most of his peers), he is eager to spend the winter trapping
marten in Starbuck Valley and to use the money he earns to buy a
commercial salmon troller. When his family tries to get him to take a
more reliable job at the local sawmill, the boy and his friend set out
for the wild and uninhabited valley of the Shifting River. Their winter
odyssey in the woods adds up to a book that is every bit as exciting and
meaningful as Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe. Highly recommended.