Looking back at the entries I have posted, are ready to go, and the books on my pile of 'books to read' I see there have been and are lots of horse books. Perhaps I am revisiting my childhood when those were the only books I wanted to read. Saddlebags for Suitcases: a Wartime Ride Across Canada, by Mary Bosanquet is another tale about someone who went for a long, very long ride. It's just prior to WWII (it actually starts while Mary is on her ride). Although she is British, she decides a ride across Canada would be a grand adventure, and something to remember should the world really fall apart. She starts on the west coast, where she figures horses will be cheaper. She rides across the mountains, and the prairies. She makes the local newspapers so often gives speeches at schools or churches. She has no fear about asking a home owner for shelter at night. Along the way she meets many families who came from England and they share memories of their faraway home. Beautiful writing, of an old style .... the first chapter being an excellent example ... "After an Adventure" does not mean when the adventure is over, but seeking an adventure!

One of the first things the pioneers did as they settled a new area was establish schools. Read all about that history in One Room: Schools and Schoolteachers of the Pioneer West, by Gail L. Jenner. There are pictures, a few poems, and some wonderful memories of those who attended them. Of course, they tried to establish order, and discipline, and even a dress code. Until someone realized how hard it was for the girls to wear dresses when they had to ride a horse to school! New Mexico had a school for the deaf as early as 1887.

Perry warned me about this book. Said it read like the best adventure fiction (but is non-fiction). It does! It did! Indianapolis: the True Story of the Worst Sea Disaster in U.S. Naval History and the Fifty-Year Fight to Exonerate an Innocent Man, by Lynn Vincent and Sara Vladic is the amazing story of a ship that was torpedoed just prior to the end of WWII. The higher ups decided the captain was at fault and are determined to have that decision stand. Those that were there think otherwise. An 8th grader thinks otherwise, too (what 'til you read about him, wow!). Even the commander of the ship that sank the Indianapolis thinks otherwise. Here is adventure on the high seas as well as high drama in the court room at it's very best.

Reading Hermit With Dog