Bala Boy

"All my life, in kindergarten and grade one, I walked to school with Terry and Jimmy, and now I was far away, going to a new school, on another planet." Or so it seems to seven year old Daniel McGrew who, in April 1946, begins his odyssey to young manhood in the picturesque village of Bala. Among the 400 souls in the town are the ever inebriated Athol Bentwhistle, cross eyed Fire Chief Noseworthy, and the irascible Principal of the two room schoolhouse Mr. Wiliwack.

Danny and his friends Tommy, Ed, and Fergus are shaped by each other, the town folks, and the Reverend Harry Bickerdyke who is aided by the Bishop of Algoma, in the struggle for their young souls. The beautiful lady teacher Miss Lindisfrom unknowingly tugs the boys in the opposite direction. Daniel is persuaded by the ever smiling Mr. Grimgrin to take on a newspaper route. By walking miles to deliver 7 newspapers each winter day he unconsciously merges with both the local people and the harsh but beautiful Muskoka lake country.

Against the ever present background of the fortunes of the Toronto Maple Leaf hockey team Daniel and his schoolmates survive battles with the summer peoples 'outhouses', encounters with a one armed one legged hockey goalie, and even a 'drownded' man. Dan is accosted by his 'evil cortex' which usurps his voice in debates with Reverend Harry, in which the 'E.C." plays the devils advocate and leaves Dan to face the consequences.

Nothing however prepares Daniel for the impact of a beautiful girl, Eeriau, who arrives to dominate his fifteen year old life. At the end of the rollercoaster summer of 1954 Daniel has learned startling information about himself, about his own family, and about life. It is no longer 1946. "We had changed."

This is a rollicking good story that is gentle, abrasive, funny, and poignant in turn, but always interesting.