Opinions of a Wolf

Summary:
Birdie’s just moved to Floridy from Caroliny to farm strawberries with her family.  But their neighbors, squatters headed by a mean drunk of a dad, won’t make life easy for them.

Review:
Rereading a childhood favorite is a dangerous endeavor.  However, last year rereading Reddy Fox went well, so when the ebook version of this Lois Lenski classic showed up on Netgalley, I just had to try it out.  I can see why I enjoyed it as a child, but I can’t really imagine adding it to the collection if I was a public librarian or, in the realm of more possibility, giving it to my nephew.

This is part of a series that Lenski wrote and illustrated in the 1940s about children living in different regions of America.  The thought process was that kids saw children around the world in literature but not the vastly different ways of growing up all over America.  A good idea, for sure.  I can totally see why these books, written in painstaking vernacular to boot, were popular back then.  They just didn’t age as well as they could have.  Or, at least, this one didn’t.

Unlike the Little House series where the problems and dramas and joys are relatable, Birdie’s family basically repeatedly lets the neighbors walk all over them.  There are also odd conundrums, such as how is Birdie’s family so working class and yet mysteriously has money?  Most bothersome, though, is the fact that the central conflict of neighbor worthless father is wrapped up overnight when he gets saved at a revival meeting.  Only the most evangelical of children will accept that as a fix.  Plus, it gives an unrealistic expectation to children that the serious problem of an addicted parent can be solved with some yelling from a preacher.  Not the most useful of message to be giving to children.

Although it’s not an unenjoyable read and the details of life in rural Florida in the 1940s are painstakingly accurate, it just simply hasn’t aged as well as other classics.  It is still well-written, researched, and illustrated, however.  I’d recommend it to adults with an interest in the history of American children’s literature.

3 out of 5 stars

Source: Netgalley

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