Hill, Kirkpatrick. Bo at Ballard Creek.

Hill, Kirkpatrick.  Bo at Ballard Creek.  Macmillan/Henry Holt    2013  278p  ISBN 978-0-8050-9351-3    elem/ms   Hardback      VG  Historical fiction 

Two miners in Alaska are asked to bring a baby to an orphanage on their way to a new job.  They don’t like the looks of the place so they keep and raise the baby themselves. Most of the story takes place when Bo is about five and living at a camp called Ballard Creek and making visits to the nearby Eskimo village. 

The story provides a personal picture of life in a mining camp and the process used to mine gold at the turn of the century.  There is always some kind of excitement, from an airplane landing, to dog-team mail delivery, to a mysterious little lost boy.

From the end flap we learn that the author grew up in mining camps in Alaska and writes about the people and events she knows.  The scattered illustrations give a glimpse of the characters and enhance the story.  Children will enjoy the characters, their family life, their adventures, and the peek at Eskimo life that this title provides.  It’s a good, mostly gentle story about life in a mining camp, best for grades 3-6.   

Summary: Life on the Gold fields of Alaska and the Yukon territory at the turn of the century.  Baby Bo is taken in by two miners and raised alongside Eskimos in the mining camps.  Of interest to students grades 3-6.

Alaska Gold Rush-Fiction                                          --Joan Theal