Gr. 4-7. When 11-year-old Annabel's parents lose their savings in 1878, they sign a three-month river contract: Annabel's father and a team of lumberjacks will shepherd logs downstream; Annabel and her mother will cook in a floating bunkhouse, the Wanigan. At first Annabel hates the Michigan cold and discomfort, and she fights with Jimmy, the chore boy. But gradually, as the weather warms, so does her enthusiasm for the surrounding woods, the tall tales and songs, and even the work. Whelan, the author of Homeless Bird, winner of the 2000 National Book Award for Young People, offers a wholly satisfying adventure of the nineteenth-century North Woods. Life on the river includes timber pirates, illness, and logjams; and readers will enjoy the skillful suspense, historical detail, and Annabel's distinct, fully realized voice. Gillian Engberg
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Review
“[Annabel is] an immensely likable and fully realized character, one with whom readers will readily sympathize.” —Publishers Weekly
“A romantic adventure in the best tradition by a master of such stories.” —School Library Journa on Parade of Shadows
“Whelan has crafted yet another fine work of historical fiction with a likable and strong-willed heroine.” —Kirkus Reviews on Parade of Shadows
From the Inside Flap
Before the spring of 1878, 11-year-old Annabel Lee had never even heard of a wanigan. But she and her mother are now stranded on the small floating cookshack for three months while her father and the other loggers move their timber down the river to the mills at Lake Huron. With a constant threat of forest fires, timber pirates, and log jams, it's a perilous journey, especially for a delicate girl who'd rather read poetry than live in the rough company of loggers. But the Au Sable river and its shores soon reveal their beauties. And by the time the wanigan nears Lake Huron, Annabel can't imagine waking up without a brand-new surprise outside her window each morning. In a novel of rugged river adventure and evocative nature writing, Gloria Whelan brings 19th-century history—and one girl's summer river journey—to life for young readers.
From the Hardcover edition.
From the Back Cover
pring of 1878, 11-year-old Annabel Lee had never even heard of a wanigan. But she and her mother are now stranded on the small floating cookshack for three months while her father and the other loggers move their timber down the river to the mills at Lake Huron.
With a constant threat of forest fires, timber pirates, and log jams, it’s a perilous journey, especially for a delicate girl who’d rather read poetry than live in the rough company of loggers. But the Au Sable river and its shores soon reveal their beauties. And by the time the wanigan nears Lake Huron, Annabel can’t imagine waking up without a brand-new surprise outside her window each morning. In a novel of rugged river adventure and evocative nature writing, Gloria Whelan brings 19th-century history—and one girl’s summer river journey—to life for young readers.
From the Hardcover edition.
About the Author
Gloria Whelan is a poet, short story writer, and novelist best known for her children’s and young adult fiction. Whelan has been writing since childhood and was the editor of her high school newspaper. Many of her books are set in Michigan, but she also writes about faraway places based on her travels abroad. In 2000 she won the National Book Award for her young adult novel Homeless Bird. Her other works have earned places among the American Library Association’s Best Books for Young Adults, the International Reading Association’s Teachers’ Choices and Children’s Choices, Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People, and Los Angeles’ 100 Best Books. Whelan has also received the Mark Twain Award and the O. Henry Award. She lives in Detroit, Michigan.
