Hear from Past Learners
"The style is unique, the characters real. This story stands alone as a fine mosaic of an immigrant’s lifetime."
– Bernice Rabe, author of children's books
"The reader is invited into a very special time and special world. It offers promise and delivers well. To walk through almost half a century with Marten Hofstrand is to know far more of the man and the kind of people who came to this country."
– Joan Smutny, Director of Programs for the Gifted at the National College of Education in Evanston, Illinois
"My whole (7th grade) class thought the book would be boring. Boy, were we wrong! I liked the part when Marten and Ella had to get married on another day because the photographer couldn’t make it. Almost every time Marten wrote to Bengta, Ella was in to the family way. Maybe you could have a secuel (sic)."
– C. H., New Sweden, Maine