Bo at Ballard Creek by Kirkpatrick Hill (review)

Young Bo is not quite old enough for school yet, but there's still plenty to do in and around her small Alaskan mining community. Her two fathers, Jack (an African-American cook/blacksmith) and Arvid (a Swedish blacksmith/tailor), make an unconventional but loving family for Bo, abandoned as a baby by her dance-hall mother, Mean Millie. Bo helps Jack in the cookhouse, taking care of the miners who come in for meals, plays with her best friend, Oscar, an Eskimo boy from a nearby native village, and visits with the residents of her surprisingly diverse community. Occasional excitements—a bear, sickness, an airplane, a bulldozer, an abandoned small boy—might seem tame by today's standards, but Hill's clear, lively narration and the fascinating details of everyday life in 1920s rural Alaska will engage the same kids who are thrilled by the Laura Ingalls Wilder books. There's a bit more grit here than in Ingalls' work, with occasional profanity and some veiled references to the "good-time" dance-hall girls, but it works to add authentic flavor to the story. Bo's two-father household, while unusual, comes across as entirely believable in this time and place, and the flexible definitions of "family" in Bo's community will resonate with many modern readers. This would make a marvelous readaloud selection, but it would be equally successful as an independent read for middle grade historical fiction fans; either way, kids will enjoy their time in Ballard Creek. Final art not seen.