The Ice Cream Bucket Effect

Louise E. Allin, a poet and short-story writer, is also an English instructor at Cambrian College.

Richard Thompson’s family followed the oil rigs across the northern
prairies. He has woven from this experience a set of tall tales and
yarns reminiscent of the popular Lake Wobegon series. Usually humorous,
sometimes silly, occasionally heart-tugging, and always nostalgic, the
collection tickles the imagination. He might be describing a hula-hoop
contest or the time Colonel Sanders came to town or the town of Toad
Spring (which is foiled by a bunch of sulphurous frogs) or eggnog saving
a newborn in the bush.

Typically, the hapless townsfolk battle their environment and emerge,
if not victorious, at least with a grin. Either the “snow is falling
sideways at sixty miles an hour” or “[a]ny kid who was shy the price
of a bag of potato chips ... could duck through the fence, crack a hunk
of rock salt off the block and be sucking salt for the rest of the
afternoon.” To set the mood, Thompson offers a chapter of simple (and
sometimes comical) recipes that have filled stomachs happily for
centuries: Chicken in a Bologna Nest, Fried Porridge, Dragon Milk, or
Sugar Sandwiches.

This is a treat for the whole family, a book that begs to be read aloud
so that the chuckles can warm a cold night.