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SMALL WORLD—LONG GONE by Avis Carlson, with woodcuts by Herschel C. Logan 154 pages, The Schori Press, 1580 Maple Ave., Evanston, Illinois, 60201. $6.95.
I have only known several authors personally, some of them university professors, others professional writers, but one quality separates the mediocre writer from the good. A good writer lets you hear the sound of his or her voice come through the printed page.
Mrs. Carlson’s book has this quality. You have the impression you are sitting and chatting with her. But this quality alone would not account for the value of her slim book.
Small World—Long Gone is Mrs. Carlson’s account of her girlhood on a farm in Kansas. This is not, however, a book written for children, although many children will enjoy it. It is a history of life on a farm in a remote section of the country at the turn of the century. It is a story of the hard work of farm life, conflicts with her sisters, encounters with farm animals, the warmth of her family life, and her education in a small country school.
The subject matter in itself does not sound very interesting, but Mrs Carlson’s candor and the liveliness of her narrative make her book well worth reading. It is, also, a fine history, written without sentimentality or romanticization, of an important part of our past —a book worthy of the bicentennial year.
Mrs. Carlson, however, would not want her book to be made to sound pompous. Above all it is a delightful book to read, especially to read aloud.
At the beginning of this review I mentioned that Mrs. Carlson’s writing has a special “spoken” quality. Reading the book I stopped at almost every page to read a passage aloud. If your children enjoy being read to, they will love this book, and so will you.
Small World—Long Gone,in fact, has made me want to see the Flint Hills region of Kansas, and I hope for a second volume of Mrs. Carlson’s memoirs. Perhaps one which includes St. Louis.
Original photograph caption
Avis Carlson. The Paper, December 1975, page 3. Photographer not credited.
Originally published in The Paper, December 1975.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times1975_12.pdf, printed page(s) 3; PDF page(s) 3.
