For those of you unaware, this is a children's book written many years ago romanticizing America when it was untamed. Coming from a different era and a completely opposite background as not only the writer but the intended audience, this book came off as beautiful but tragic.
The MC is a boy in his early teens on the cusp of manhood living in middle Indiana back when it was sparse log cabins and even fewer dirt (mud most of the time) roads. As a biologist, the portrayal of the untamed wilds of Indiana sing a stunning song of nature. The angle of the book, as was appropriate for that time, was one of domination over that nature, of bringing her, through the many bears killed, to her knees.
While I love this side of Indiana, it is now lost, and reading about what I'll never see almost made me sad. You do want the MC to be successful, but I didn't want him to be at the same time, sort of like watching a lion chase a gazelle. You want both to win somehow.
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