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| Canadian Summer by Hilda Van Stockum |
Happy Summer everyone!
I thought it would be fun to join the Vintage Kidlit Summer reading challenge hosted by Anna Rose Johnson and Faith Elizabeth Hough.
This week’s challenge is Summer Vibes, so I chose Canadian Summer by Hilda Van Stockum. My husband rescued this vintage copy from the library discard shelf. But the series, which includes The Mitchells, Canadian Summer, and Friendly Gables, has also been reprinted by Bethlehem Books.
This is the sequel to The Mitchell’s, which I read aloud to my kids many years ago. The Mitchell’s is set in Washington, DC during World War II. The mother of a large, boisterous family is trying to hold down the home front while her husband is a soldier. In Canadian Summer, father has returned, but the only place he has been able to find work is Montreal. He can’t find a house to rent anywhere in Montreal, so he moves the family to a rustic ski lodge in rural Canada for the summer, where they have no electricity, running water, or telephone. To add to Mother’s exasperation, all of their trunks have been lost on the way.
This is one of those rare children’s books with no orphans! Instead we have a large Catholic family of nine, including Granny. It reminded me very much of All-of-a-Kind Family.
I found a kindred spirit with the mother in this one who one moment feels like “one of those clever mothers in the Parents Magazine who are forever finding ways to improve their children,” and moments later after disaster ensues, goes back to the kitchen “wondering whether she was different from the Parents Magazine mothers or wether it was her children who were different.”
The family’s faith is embedded throughout in everyday ways from going to Mass with hilarious results to the kids praying when they are lost. There is also a beautiful moment when Peter asks his mother what she hopes he will be when he grows up, and she answers, “I want you to become men and women who are easily moved by God’s inspiration. I think there is nothing more beautiful in the world than a soul who is sensitive to the language of God, whether He speaks in nature, or in art, or through people, or whispers directly to our hearts. I think we are happy and alive just so much as our ears are open to His voice and our eyes to his handiwork. That is what I wish for you and that alone. Then I know you will choose the right way of life for yourselves.”
If you’d like to know more about Hilda Van Stockum, the Plumfield Moms podcast did a wonderful interview with her son here.
I'm so delighted that you are joining our challenge, LeAnna! Thanks for this delightful blog post. I'm planning to read Canadian Summer later in the challenge too. :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely review, LeAnna! Clearly it's time for me to re-read this; I read it as a child and loved it, but remember very little now. And I think I didn't appreciate it as much then as I would now, especially as a Catholic mother.
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