Dear Great Book Guru,  I am looking forward to the Scarecrow Gathering at the Children’s Library in Sea Cliff this Sunday, October 22 from 1 to 3pm.   Everyone is encouraged to bring a favorite scarecrow to the library’s front lawn and Mutual Concerns will have a basket for canned goods donations.  It sounds like a great autumnal afternoon and afterwards I would love an interesting book to read.  

Ardent Fan of Scarecrows

Dear Ardent Fan of Scarecrows,  I read a troubling book last week: HISTORY OF WOLVES  by Emily Fridlund.  Madeline- known as Linda by everyone other than her parents- is the sole remaining child from a disbanded commune.  She lives in a remote, decaying homestead in northern Minnesota.  Life is hard for everyone but particularly for Madeline.  Miles from her nearest neighbors and ostracized at school by her classmates, she finds her life suddenly transformed the year she turns fourteen.  A new teacher with a troubled past arrives and encourages her interest in the study of wolves  At the same time, a family moves in across the lake from her home and she is drawn to the young mother and son. She becomes the child’s babysitter or as the mother calls her “the governess.” Immediately, the reader senses something is terribly wrong but Madeline overlooks much either out of fear or adolescent narcissism.  When we meet Madeline as a grown woman in her thirties, we see how this one year so changed  her life and we are left to question – just as with wolves- when does the prey become predator? Recommended!