The Cabin Key

While opening her family's generations-old vacation cabin, a little girl delights in her favorite sights and smells.

Grade 1-3-A young girl visiting her family's cabin in winter describes events from her mother and grandparents' times there as she shares in the chores of getting ready for the night. The many children who have not experienced the pleasures of cabin-camping without electricity, indoor plumbing, or running water will come to understand them better through Gloria Rand's warm text and Ted Rand's realistic acrylic illustrations. The double-page paintings frame the narrative and give off the gentle light of lantern-lit spaces. His pictures of wildlife and of the rustic interiors are particularly charming. Readers who have treasured the first-person narration, family story, and illuminated dark paintings of Jane Yolen and John Schoenherr's Owl Moon (Philomel, 1987) will see clear connections here. With its themes of stability and security, as well as details about life in earlier generations, The Cabin Key will find a place in social-studies units. It might also promote discussions about camping experiences, school science camp trips, or other times spent in the woods.
Barbara Chatton, College of Education, University of Wyoming, Laramie
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In chatty, conversational prose, a girl describes her family's enjoyment of their cabin in the woods. Gloria Rand (who previously collaborated with her husband, Ted Rand, on Prince William) achieves a hushed immediacy with a first-person, present-tense narration. The youngster leads readers on a tour of the house and its surroundings as she performs her chores. She stops to recount family stories, occasionally interrupting herself to continue with the task at hand. "I hope a bear doesn't come out of hibernation early and surprise me! I better get back to the cabin." The lengthy text is laden with old-fashioned homey details-a hand-cranked phonograph, an icebox, stories before the fire. Ted Rand also conveys a sense of bygone days in his crayon and acrylic artwork-kerosene lamps cast a cozy glow over homemade quilts and rough-hewn beams. At times, the nostalgia factor is somewhat forced; however, the book succeeds in creating a sense of place. Ages 3-8.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Ages 5-8. As a young girl unlocks the door to her family's log cabin in the mountains, she describes the sights, sounds, and smells of this favorite place. Despite the lack of indoor plumbing, central heating, and most modern conveniences, her family has enjoyed the vacation retreat throughout the seasons for four generations. She relates tales of the cabin, too: the bear that stole food from the cooler in the creek, the elk that came to the porch to eat, and the candle-lit igloo built one Christmas Eve. The crayon and acrylic illustrations portray a winter visit, but the use of yellow light in several pictures lends a warm, secure feeling to the presentation. Younger children will enjoy the details of rustic life (using outhouses, hauling water, cooking over an open fire); older children may be inspired to write stories of their own families' special places. Kay Weisman