Customer Reviews

Alida's Song

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Alida's Song was a quick read. I thought it was helpful to have read Gary Paulsen's biography and know his background/upbringing. The story was very moving. Alida didn't make judgements on her grandsons homelife she just created a safe and caring homelife for him. This story is truely a treasure.

"This fourteenth summer started the same way and would have continued the same way except that in the first week after school was out he received a letter from his grandmother."

So begins the "boy's" summer with his grandmother on a small farm in Minnesota. This summer really would be something special and a far cry from the hard life with his drinking parents. "The boy," as Gary Paulsen calls himself in this semi-autobiographical story, finds himself absorbed in farm life. He learns to love the two bachelor brothers, Gunnar and Olaf, who employ his grandmother as their cook and regard her in the highest esteem. He learns to appreciate his grandmother's gentle but firm love.

In the rigorous day-to-day life he learns the danger of a flock of geese, how to milk cows, clean barns, groom horses, gather eggs, and on and on. It is a full life, with laughing and hard work. This is one of the summers he remembers fondly and knows, as an older man, that it was his grandmother's special gift of life to him.

The summer ends, but not before he shares a dance with his Grandmother Alida. They dance to a song written and played by Gunnar and Olaf in memory of "Alida and Clarence." It is a special moment to always be replayed in "the boy's" bank of memories.

This little gem of a book is termed a "companion" to THE COOKCAMP. While these two books can be read by themselves, together they are even more powerful. Paulsen's portrayal of the adult world through the eyes of a boy is both moving and poignant. This is an easy, quick read that will have appeal for readers of all ages.

--- (...)

"Alida's Song" is written by Gary Paulsen and I believe it is a great book. The book is about a boy whose parents were alcoholics and his grandmother was the only one who cared about him. After his grandmother sent him a letter to come work with her at a farm, he learned a new meaning for his life. The story's setting transforms from the trashy city life to a little happy farm. Many things happen at this great farm and it changes this boys life. This story shows many different relationships that are emotional and fun to follow. The author's realistic descriptions in the story make me be able to image the scenes in my head. He describes the boy's surroundings very well to give the reader a good idea of how it affects the boy's social life. The author shows the character's funny and emotional sides to help the reader get a better understanding of the characters. The author also keeps the ending very hidden and gives almost no clues of how the book is really going to end, which makes the story more interesting. Along with the story the author gives some information about how life was in the early 1920's to give the reader a clear picture. My favorite part of this is at the end when it all comes together. I would recommend this book to other readers because this story was very interesting and adventurous.

Jackie King
11/12/02
5th period

Although I am not much of a reader, Alida's Song, a book by Gary Paulsen, really caught my eye. Now I will tell you three reasons why this is the book for you. The first reason why you should read this book is it shows how a grandmother will do anything to help her grandson.. When she finds out her daughter and son-in-law are getting drunk and leaving their son hungry with no money, she brings him to the farm she works on to help out he learns a lot about his grandmother. There is also the compassion that he finds after he meets the Sirs' of the house. For example, as they are riding through the fields to get water from the well, he noticed few logs with beautiful faces while he is looking he notices one he said, "That is my grandma" Last, love is shared with his grandma and him. Every year there is a party thrown for Alida, and she can choose any man to dance with for her special song. She chooses her grandson because he turned out to be a special young man. Truly, I hope this is a book that you will enjoy as much as I did.

Gary Paulson here wrote a fantastic short-novel, which expresss his feelings on his life and how he was brough up.
This is a great book for all ages, except a little bt of drug and alchohol references.

Read this book for a few laughs, and tears as you take a journey through Gary's life and childhood.

Set in the early to mid 1950s, this book tells the story of a summer in the life of a fourteen-year-old boy whose parents were always fighting and often drunk. He nearly flunked the eighth grade like every grade before it and is in danger of being drawn into the gang life of the city where he lives. But he receives a letter from his grandmother Alida, who is working for the bachelor Nelson brothers on their farm in northern Minnesota and invites the boy to spend the summer there.
The first book by Paulsen which I read was Dog Song, which I found so revolting that I decided not to read any more of Paulsen's books. But Hatchet was recommended by several, so I read it and it is not bad. Then when I saw Alida's Song at a used curriculum sale, I picked it up. Aside from a few references to stealing, drinking alcohol, using tobacco, dancing (this would not be a problem for many people, but there are those of us who do have religious objections to social dancing), and swearing (the only actual instance of swearing is one use of "by god"--do authors really think that if they do not capitalize the word "god" that it really is not taking the Lord's name in vain?), this is not all that bad a book and does have good message to it.
It is identified as "a companion to The Cookcamp," an earlier book of Paulsen's that I have not read, of which it is said, "This short, lyrical novel concerns a five-year-old boy who is sent to the north woods of Minnesota to live with his grandmother, a cook for a rough-and-tumble road-building crew, because his father is off fighting in World War II and his mother has taken a job in a factory." Alida's Song apparently picks up the story some ten years later. I tire of children's books that present nuclear families as broken or dysfunctional, but those situations do exist and it is good that there are grandmothers like Alida who can step in and do something to help. The jacket cover calls it "a memorable novel about one of the most important and loving relationships in Gary Paulsen's life," so we might assume that while it is fictionalized, it is somewhat autobiographical. Common Sense Media said, "Parents need to know that clear writing and strong, wholesome characters are the trademarks of this pastoral novel." The book was reissued in 2001.

This book is about a boy that was named throughout the book as "the boy" that goes to his grandmother's work and comes to visit her and to work out in the farm with the two men that the grandmother cooks and cares for. The boy gets to experience the thrill of milking the cow and picking the weeds just like he wanted to do when he was younger and wanted to be like the men. So finally he gets to, now what does he do?

This book was very wonderful and reminded me of when I was young and then turned into a teenager with my grandmother always by my side to help me.

This book is about a boy that was named throughout the book as "the boy" that goes to his grandmother's work and comes to visit her and to work out in the farm with the two men that the grandmother cooks and cares for. The boy gets to experience the thrill of milking the cow and picking the weeds just like he wanted to do when he was younger and wanted to be like the men. So finally he gets to, now what does he do?

This book was very wonderful and reminded me of when I was young and then turned into a teenager with my grandmother always by my side to help me.

Although I am not much of a reader, Alida's Song, a book by Gary Paulsen, really caught my eye. Now I will tell you three reasons why this is the book for you. The first reason why you should read this book is it shows how a grandmother will do anything to help her grandson.. When she finds out her daughter and son-in-law are getting drunk and leaving their son hungry with no money, she brings him to the farm she works on to help out he learns a lot about his grandmother. There is also the compassion that he finds after he meets the Sirs' of the house. For example, as they are riding through the fields to get water from the well, he noticed few logs with beautiful faces while he is looking he notices one he said, "That is my grandma" Last, love is shared with his grandma and him. Every year there is a party thrown for Alida, and she can choose any man to dance with for her special song. She chooses her grandson because he turned out to be a special young man. Truly, I hope this is a book that you will enjoy as much as I did.

"Alida's Song" is written by Gary Paulsen. The book is about a boy whose parents were alcoholics and his grandmother was the only one who cared about him. After his grandmother took him under his wings, he learned a new meaning of life which helped him discover his potentials. The story's setting transforms from the harsh city life to a little happy farm. The author's realistic descriptions in the story paint a real life picture in the reader's mind. He describes the boy's surrounding environment very thoroghly to give the reader a good idea of how it affects the boy's social life and his survival methods. The characters are realisticly and fairly portrayed. The author shows the character's funny and emotional sides to help the reader get a better understanding of the characters. He doesn't use any offensive language; instead he uses vivid and clean words in his dialogue. The author also keeps the ending very hidden and gives almost no clues of how the book is really going to end, which makes the story more interesting. Along with the story the author gives some information about how life was in the early 1920's to give the reader a clear picture. I would recommend this book to other fellow readers because this story was very interesting and vividly written.