"Jim Kjelgaard"

Kevin Coolidge

Brrrr…. It’s a cold winter night with a chilling North wind knocking upon the door and frost etching patterns on the windows. I curl up under a thick pile of blankets with one of my favorite outdoor books in one hand, and my flashlight in the other. I squint in the dim light, and I can imagine I am in the deep, dark woods with my faithful dog beside me. My mom yells for me to get my butt to bed. I have school tomorrow.

Yep, some things change. I’m older now, and I can eat cereal for dinner, stay up past my bedtime, but I still love reading books. I still love a good children’s book. One of my favorite authors, Jim Kjelgaard, once stated that in writing for young adults, you had to write up to them, because they know when they are being preached to, and won’t be receptive to anything that doesn’t interest them.

James A. Kjelgaard imbued each of his many books for children with his two great loves: nature and dogs. Although born in New York City, he grew up in Potter County Pennsylvania. Combining his personal experiences of the woods and wilds he knew as a boy and the animals he came to know and love, he wrote many popular children’s stories until his untimely death at forty-eight.

As a young man, he held various jobs-trapper, laborer, surveyor assistant, but at the age of twenty-eight, he decided to focus his energies on writing stories for children. His first book, Forest Patrol, concerns the efforts of a young man to go to forest ranger school and is set in the hills of rural Pennsylvania.

His favorite breed of dog was obviously the Irish setter, which is prominently featured in his most popular books Big Red, Irish Red and Outlaw Red, Son of Big Red, but Kjelgaard featured many other dogs in his books-a greyhound in Desert Dog, a collie in Double Challenge, a bloodhound in A Nose for Trouble, a golden retriever in Storm, a Siberian husky in both Snow Dog and Wild Trek, among others. He went on to write about other animals in some of his later books-such as moose, foxes, and deer. But he never forgot man’s best friend, the dog.

There’s a timeless appeal in his stories. I love the straightforward approach to the relationship between man and nature. His human characters are involved in vocations that are closely related to the out-of-doors, and his well-researched insight into these nature- involving careers, make them an excellent resource for young readers that are both interesting and entertaining and colorful.

Finding a great author you love to read is like finding a buried treasure, without having to wear the eye patch. You find them where you find them, but sometimes you have to dig. You may find one from California, or Great Britain, in the dusty corner of your parents’ attic, or you may even find one that’s from your own neck of the woods who knows of trees and streams, and rolling hills and the loyalty and love of dogs. But you’ll excuse me; I have to finish this chapter before my flashlight batteries die. Some things never change….