"Bo at Ballard Creek" by Kirkpatrick Hill caught my eye because, first and foremost, I heard a patron in the library describing it as a heartwarming and disarming modern version of "Little House in the Big Woods" a tale I greatly enjoyed oh-so long ago. Like "Little House," "Bo at Ballard Creek" is more a series of episodes than a straight story.
Set in a 1920's mining camp in Ballard Creek Alaska, "Bo" portrays one year in the life of our young, sweet, narrator Bo as she encounters and describes both daily life in the camp, and a string of small happenings such as the first time an airplane visits the camp, a run-in with a grizzly, and befriending an abandoned boy. And, having lived in that frontier known as Alaska for a spell as well as having studied the state's history, I can safely safe that "Bo at Ballard Creek" depicts all of this in a manner that is authentic and yet wonderfully and naively upbeat.
Yet "Bo at Ballard Creek" is not just a comforting and rose tinted throwback. Instead, Hill presents his intended audience with a highly valuable lesson about family. For Bo is an orphan being raised by two papas as she describes them. Now this isn't the modern twist you may be thinking of but is instead a true to life depiction of the historical gold mining reality. Some of those that rushed to that untamed wilderness naturally didn't have a missus and just as naturally, some of these solo adventurers made the wise decision to throw their lot in with others for all kinds of reasons. In "Bo at Ballard Creek," the given reason is safety and camaraderie. Arvid and Jack, the two papas, have formed a team to keep each other company and wisely, to keep from getting killed in that wild, untamed, not-yet state.
And it's a good thing they did because when Mean Millie, a "good time girl" dumps her unwanted baby in their arms, they will need all the help they can get to raise baby Bo as she is dubbed. Help arises of course, in the form of every single individual in the mining camp and eskimo village that the Ballard Creek mining camp lies next to. It is this depiction of that old saying "that it takes a village to raise a child" that "Bo at Ballard Creek" brings home but just like the tale itself, it does so in a manner that is both genuine and yet idealistic at the same time and it this combo, this ability to be true yet buoyant that makes "Bo at Ballard Creek" a great read for all ages.
