READERS' COMMENTS ABOUT SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL

Nothing makes an author happier than to hear from readers how much they liked their book. I am gratified by the good response I continue to get from readers of my book SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL: Growing Up in the 1950s at North East Neighborhood House, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Some of the comments are from friends and classmates, but many are from people I have never met. Some grew up in Northeast Minneapolis like I did, but many grew up elsewhere but share similar experiences. Here are just a few of the comments:

North East Neighborhood House

Your book allowed me to relive precious moments of my childhood. I loved every word and didn’t want it to end.

Your early life experiences, although unique from the Settlement House aspect, mirror many of our own--a stamp collection, a Schwinn bike, a Brownie camera, June Allyson paper dolls, the corner store for sweet treats and the freedom we had to just hop on our bikes and go anywhere.

I loved all the photos!

Another glowing facet of the book is that her parents' dedication as social workers is beyond admirable.

Throughout the book I was struck by the riches to be discovered in the memories of a modest life.

I learned so much about you—but also about the Settlement House!

I can relate to playing outside until the streetlights came on, shopping at a small neighborhood grocery store, ice skating on an outdoor rink in the park…

As I read, there were many eureka moments…. And of course the skating—all day long—entirely on our own—no parents hovering to make sure we didn’t fall.

For me, Camp Bovey provided father figures, learning to appreciate nature, camping, canoeing, and swimming…

I too am a Hodagger!

The Hodag, mascot of Camp Bovey (formerly Camp Hodag).

BOOK SALES BENEFIT CAMP BOVEY, Article in the Northeaster Newspaper

Many thanks to reporter Alex Schlee for his excellent article in the May 3rd issue of the Northeaster Newspaper in Minneapolis about my book signing event on April 18th at East Side Neighborhood Services. (See my post of April 29th on this blog for my report of the event.)  Alex's article begins:

Of all the things Caroline Scheaffer Arnold remembers from her youth living at the Northeast Neighborhood house, the recreation programs offered there stand out the most. Among the memories of her childhood, those of Camp Bovey shine particularly bright. The settlement house’s summer campground in northern Wisconsin occupies a joyful place in her mind as well as in several chapters of her recently published memoir, “Settlement House Girl” (featured in the April 3 edition of The Northeaster). 

Camp Bovey is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, coinciding neatly with the release of Arnold’s book in December last year. Though “Settlement House Girl” doesn’t predominantly focus on Camp Bovey, Arnold still regaled fans with tales from her time there at a book signing and celebration of the camp at East Side Neighborhood Services (ESNS) on the evening of April 18. 

For the rest of the article click HERE. As Alex points out, celebration of Camp Bovey's 75th year continues, including an outdoor dance party at ESNS called "Beats for Bovey" scheduled for June 15th. Check the ESNS/Camp Bovey website for updates and more information.

Settlement House Girl is available online at Amazon, or you can buy copies of the book at Eat My Words bookstore on 13th Street in Northeast Minneapolis.

Signing books at ESNS. Photo by Alex Schlee, Northeaster Newspaper

CAROLINE ARNOLD'S WISCONSIN CONNECTION

 

Caroline Arnold, author of The Terrible Hodag and the Animal Catchers (Boyds Mills Press, 2006), grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and spent her summers in northern Wisconsin at Camp Bovey, near Solon Springs.  Stories of the Hodag, a scary beast with a head of an ox, feet of a bear, back of a dinosaur and tail of an alligator, were told around evening campfires and are among Caroline's earliest memories.

Camp Bovey is operated by the East Side Neighborhood Services in Minneapolis, where Caroline’s father, Lester Scheaffer, was director from 1948 to 1966. He founded Camp Bovey, then called Camp Hodag, in 1949. Caroline first went to Camp with her family, and then as she got older as a camper and a counselor. Camp Hodag, was first used as an outpost camp by Camp Nebagamon, a boys’ camp on Lake Nebagamon, in the 1930s and 1940s.  Tales of the Hodag are also told at Camp Nebagamon.
Caroline remembers summer trips from Camp Bovey to Rhinelander, Wisconsin, to see the original home of the Hodag, and where a giant statue of the Hodag greets visitors as they enter town. One of those trips coincided with Lumberjack Days and the chance to see log rolling, tree climbing and other lumberjack feats.

Stories of the Hodag and the lumberjacks are a regular feature at the Camp Bovey campfires. Each teller gives his or her own twist to the stories. One of Caroline’s favorite stories tells how the Hodag helped the lumberjacks to get rid of a mean boss man.  In her first children’s book about the Hodag, The Terrible Hodag, published in 1989, Caroline retold this story. The Terrible Hodag and the Animal Catchers, is an original tale in which the lumberjacks help the Hodag. “I wanted to turn the tables and give the lumberjacks a chance to return the favor to the Hodag.”
Caroline began writing books more than forty years ago when her children were young.  Since then she has published more than one hundred and seventy books.  Most of them are about animals and the environment. “My childhood experiences in the outdoors in northern Wisconsin developed my love of the natural world. Whether I write fiction or nonfiction, that passion for nature is the source of my ideas.”

Caroline Arnold now lives in Los Angeles, California. In 2015, she visited Camp Bovey with her family so her children and grandchildren could enjoy "rowing, fishing, swimming in the sun" and hear about the Hodag in the north woods of Wisconsin, as she did when she was their age.

Caroline and her brothers, 1951

AUTHOR VISIT AT ECHO HORIZON SCHOOL, Culver City, CA

With librarian Claudette Brown at Echo Horizon School

I had a great time last Monday with the first and second graders at Echo Horizon School in Culver City. California. Many thanks to librarian, Claudette Brown for inviting me and for preparing the students for my visit. I loved their imaginary creatures inspired by my Hodag book! Each student had created their animal using the activity sheet downloadable from my website.

The children were very responsive to my presentation, asking lots of questions and answering mine. I was impressed that they all knew the terms “diurnal” and “nocturnal” when I showed them my Day and Night books.

I thank Children’s Book World for making my books available for purchase and signing. On my way to the school I picked up the books that had been ordered and signed them so that they could be delivered to the students after my talk.

As a bonus to my visit I happened upon a caterpillar on my way into school. (It was crawling along the sidewalk.) I picked it up, put it in a jar,  and shared it with the children—a perfect supplement to talking about my book Butterflies in Room 6. I brought it home where it has since made a chrysalis. Over the next two weeks it will metamorphosize and become a beautiful Mourning Cloak butterfly.

Mourning Cloak butterfly

AUTHOR VISIT AT THE WPC PRESCHOOL, Los Angeles, CA

Earlier this week I had a wonderful visit with the children and teachers of the WPC Preschool in Los Angeles, my first since the pandemic. (Before that I had been making a visit every year--an annual event suspended during Covid.) It was great to be back and to have the opportunity to share both my new books and favorites from the past. 

I met first with the younger children, sharing Planting a Garden in Room 6, Wiggle and Waggle, Noisy Time for Zoo Animals and my folding book, Who Has More? Who Has Fewer?. They enjoyed my Wiggle and Waggle puppets, helping to make the sounds of the zoo animals, and counting the eggs and chicks in the folding book.

I then met with the older children sharing Wiggle and Waggle again, A Zebra's World, several of my bird books, Keeper of the Light, and finally reading The Terrible Hodag and the Animal Catchers, a tall tale. We sang the Wiggle and Waggle song, went on a lion hunt, rang my small bell as I showed them the illustrations of the giant fog bell at the lighthouse. We also measured wingspans and learned about the Hodag, a giant creature with the "head of an ox, feet of a bear, back of a dinosaur, and tail of an alligator."

Many of my books are in the preschool library and I was glad to see them being used in the classrooms. It was a fun morning. Many thanks to the teachers, to the preschool director Bri, and to Heidi in the office for making it another successful visit.

AUTHOR VISIT: Reading THE TERRIBLE HODAG to the ESNS Preschool in Minneapolis

Showing the picture of the Hodag on my Camp Bovey sweatshirt to the ESNS preschool.

My first trip to Camp Bovey, the ESNS camp in northern Wisconsin, was when I was four years old. Then it was called Camp Hodag and as we sat around the campfire at night, my father told stories of the Hodag—a creature with the head of an ox, feet of a bear, back of a dinosaur, and tail of an alligator. I remembered those stories and when I grew up and became a children’s book writer, I wrote some of them down.

Ole Swenson meets the Hodag.

Last Friday, I visited the preschool at ESNS in Minneapolis and read my book THE TERRIBLE HODAG to the three and four-year-olds. They were just as fascinated with the Hodag as I had been when I was four. One of the children had even gone to Camp Bovey with his family and was proudly wearing his Camp Bovey t-shirt with a picture of the Hodag on the front.

Camp Bovey.

My father, Lester Scheaffer, was the director of ESNS (East Side Neighborhood Services) for 18 years and founded Camp Bovey in 1949. I thank Margie, the preschool director at ESNS for inviting me to read to the children. Long ago, I too attended the ESNS nursery school, then housed at Northeast Neighborhood House.

THE TERRIBLE HODAG in Spanish, available on Amazon.

THE TERRIBLE HODAG has long been out of print in hardback (although you may be able to find it online as a used book, or in your library) but you can find a digital version of the book on Amazon in both English and Spanish.

MAKE A HODAG SCULPTURE WITH CLAY

Clay sculpture of a Hodag

What creature has the head of an ox, feet of a bear, back of a dinosaur, and tail of an alligator? The HODAG! You can read stories about the Hodag in my books The Terrible Hodag and The Terrible Hodag and the Animal Catchers. (The Terrible Hodag is also available on Kindle in Spanish as El Terrible Hodag.)

The Hodag is the mascot of Camp Bovey, the camp for children and families in northern Wisconsin operated by East Side Neighborhood Services in Minneapolis. 

At the recent Night Under the Stars celebration of Camp Bovey at ESNS, children had the chance to make their own Hodags with clay. 

You can enjoy doing this project too! Remember, that even though the Hodag might look scary, it is really a friendly creature who loves the forest.

 

A NIGHT UNDER THE STARS, Celebrating Camp Bovey

Family fun with live music, food trucks, crafts, singing, dancing.

I learned to love nature at Camp Bovey, the summer camp for kids and families of Northeast Minneapolis, located in the woods of northern Wisconsin. Come celebrate–in person or in spirit--at A Night Under the Stars with G.B. Leighton on October 1st at East Side Neighborhood Services and help the next generation of Camp Bovey families enjoy high quality experiences in nature. Every donation helps! Proceeds will go towards the Camp Bovey restoration campaign. Click HERE for the link to tickets/donations.

Camp Bovey

Camp Bovey is operated by East Side Neighborhood Services in Minneapolis and was founded by my father when he was the director. My first visit to Camp Bovey was in 1949 and I went there every summer after that until 1966, when our family moved to California. I went swimming, fishing, boating, made lanyards in the craft cabin, played Capture the Flag, and sat around the campfire listening to stories about the Hodag, a creature with the head of an ox, feet of a bear, back of a dinosaur, and tail of an alligator. The Hodag is the camp’s mascot. After I became a children's book writer, the Hodag became the subject of two of my fiction books.

Visiting Camp Bovey in 2018. Wearing my staff sweatshirt, saved from 1966.

I have been involved in a fund raising effort to make much needed upgrades to keep Camp Bovey the wonderful place it has always been for kids and families of Northeast Minneapolis. I’d love to have you participate. 

THE TERRIBLE HODAG. Its Origins in Rhinelander, WI

As a child, I spent my summers at a small camp in northern Wisconsin, originally called Camp Hodag, now called Camp Bovey. In the evenings we sat around the campfire telling stories of a huge creature with the head of an ox, feet of a bear, back of a dinosaur and tail of an alligator--the terrible Hodag! When I grew up and became a children's book writer I wrote some of those stories down. One of them, The Terrible Hodag, is available as a Kindle book on Amazon. It is also available in Spanish, El Terrible Hodag.

The original Hodag stories were invented more than one hundred years ago in the logging camps of Rhinelander, Wisconsin. In an article written by Emily Bright for the Wisconsin Life blog in 2016, you can read how practical joker Gene Shepard created the Hodag and perpetuated the myth until he was finally debunked by an investigator from the Smithsonian Museum. She writes, "Rhinelander still has the hodag as its mascot for the city and the high school. Hodag statues line downtown like a cow parade with fangs. ....Thanks to Gene Shepard, Rhinelander is unique—and proud of it."

In the summer of 2006, I visited Rhinelander and took the photo below of the Hodag in front of the Chamber of Commerce greeting visitors as they drive into town.

 

AUTHOR VISIT to WPC Preschool, Los Angeles, CA

Two weeks ago I made my annual visit to the Westwood Presbyterian Preschool in Los Angeles, California, making two presentations–one to the three-year-old classes and one to the four-year-old classes. With the three-year-olds I read A Zebra’s World and we went on a “Lion Hunt” together. I also read Wiggle and Waggle while one of the teachers wore my Wiggle and Waggle sock puppets and acted out the story as I read. With both groups of children I shared my new book, Butterflies in Room 6. In a week, they will be getting their own caterpillars and raising their own butterflies, just like the children in my book. Then they will let them go.

It has become a tradition that I always end my visit with the four-year-olds by reading The Terrible Hodag and the Animal Catchers. Each time I come to the description of the Hodag, the children join me to chant that the Hodag has the “Head of an OX, Feet of a BEAR, Back of a DINOSAUR, and the Tail of an ALLIGATOR.” As the story ends, the children are all relieved to learn that the animal catchers go back to the city without the Hodag, and that the Hodag continues to live in the forest. “It is his home, and where he belongs.”

Author Visit at Olson Elementary School, Verona, Wisconsin

Props for my program at Olson School, Verona, Wisconsin

Two weeks ago, on March 16th, I had an excellent visit to Olson Elementary School in Verona, Wisconsin, in the Madison Metropolitan School District. I spoke to four groups of children grades kindergarten through fifth grade using the Smart Board in the library to show my slides. All of the students had been able to read some of my books before my visit so they were well prepared and excited about the program. I thank librarian Sheri Boser for organizing my visit and preparing the students. At the end of each program I had a short question period and I was impressed by the good questions the students asked. During the lunch period I had a chance to walk the halls and see some of the art projects and other activities the students were doing, which included paintings in the style of Kandinsky by kindergarten students and a pen-pal project with children in Mexico tracking the migration of monarch butterflies.

This visit to Wisconsin was particularly meaningful for me because of my Wisconsin connection. Although I grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota, I spent my summers in northern Wisconsin at Camp Bovey near Solon Springs. This is where I learned to love nature and watch wild animals and where we told Hodag stories around the campfire. As a child I also traveled to Kenosha, Wisconsin, on the shore of Lake Michigan, to visit my grandparents and cousins. So, to find my books read by children in Wisconsin today was especially satisfying.

AUTHOR VISIT at Echo Horizon School, Culver City, CA

With Librarian Claudette Brown in the Echo Horizon School Library

On Monday, I had an excellent visit with second and third graders at Echo Horizon School in Culver City, California. Librarian Claudette Brown had done a super job of preparing the students by acquainting them with a wide variety of my books. Soon the students will be doing their own research projects. I met with the students and their teachers in the beautiful school library. I began with several activities and my slide presentation and concluded by reading my tall tale about a “mixed-up” animal, The Terrible Hodag and the Animal Catchers.

Then, after making a list of various real animals for inspiration, the students had a chance to create their own imaginary “mixed-up” animals using a worksheet I had provided. Claudette had also arranged with local bookstore, Children’s Book World, to order books that students could purchase for autographing. I am sure that long after my visit is over, the students and teachers will be remembering our day together. I know that I will! Thank you, Claudette, for inviting me!

Author Visits to LA's Best Young Authors in Los Angeles

I had two good visits with young authors a week ago at Wilshire Park and Harvard Schools in Los Angeles. These children are participating in the LA's Best after school young authors program and are making their own books.  I know it is inspiring for these young authors to hear from a "real-live" author such as me and to find out that they are doing many of the same things that I do when they are writing their books.  At both schools I gave my slide show to show my writing process.  Then at Wilshire Park the kids did a writing activity in which they created their own "mixed-up" animal after listening to me read my book The Terrible Hodag and the Animal Catchers.  At Harvard School the kids did a Wiggle and Waggle creative art project after listening to me read two stories from the book.
Thanks to California Readers for coordinating this program!

The Terrible Hodag: What Do YOU Think It Looks Like?

Recently, I did an author visit at Pilgrim School in Los Angeles.  Before my visit, the librarian had read aloud my tall tale, The Terrible Hodag and the Animal Catchers, to the students.  But she didn’t show them the illustrations in the book.  Instead, the children had to imagine their own version of the creature that has the head of an OX, feet of a BEAR, back of a DINOSAUR, and the tail of an ALLIGATOR.  Afterwards, the art teacher asked the first graders to paint their images.  She gave them large sheets of black paper (after all, the Hodag is said to be forty feet tall!) and white paint and large brushes.  They worked in small groups, each one producing an amazing, and different giant Hodag.  The finished products were mounted on the walls of the room where I gave my presentation, making us feel as if we were in the north woods where the Hodag lives.

I did not invent the Hodag.  The first Hodag was described in a newspaper article in the northern Wisconsin town of Rhinelander in 1893.  Then, in 1896, prankster Eugene Shepard, (who had instigated the earlier report) claimed to have captured a Hodag.  He displayed his “living” monster at the Oneida County fair.  Later, he admitted it was a hoax. Rhinelander still considers itself the home of the Hodag.  When I visited Rhinelander several years ago, I had my picture taken under the huge fiberglass model of the Hodag that stands outside the Chamber of Commerce.  This Hodag looks considerably fiercer than those portrayed in my books!

Through the years, tales of the Hodag have spread throughout the upper midwest.  As with all tall tales, the stories have evolved.  I first learned about the Hodag when I was a child and went to summer camp at Camp Bovey (originally called Camp Hodag) in northern Wisconsin and we told Hodag stories around the campfire at night.  I remembered those stories and after I grew up and became a children’s book author I wrote one of them down.  That story became The Terrible Hodag, illustrated by Lambert Davis.  He depicts the Hodag as a kind of taxidermist’s assemblage of body parts.

I then took the characters from the first book and used them to create my own story.  That became The Terrible Hodag and the Animal Catchers.  The illustrations in that book, by John Sandford, are black and white and evoke turn of the century woodcuts.

I love the way every artist, from the first graders to the illustrators of my books, has created their own unique image of the Hodag.  The Hodag has come a long way from the monster that Eugene Shepard “captured” more than a century ago.
You can learn more about the origin of the Hodag in Long Live the Hodag: the life and Legacy of Eugene Shepard: 1854-1923 by Kurt Daniel Kortenhof.

Favorites

What is my favorite book, animal, food, color, place to visit?  I often get asked these questions when I do school visits.
Of the books I have written, it is really difficult to pick just one, but among my favorites is The Terrible Hodag and the Animal Catchers. The Hodag is a creature with the head of an ox, feet of a bear, back of a dinosaur and tail of an alligator. It roams the north woods where lumberjacks cut down trees. I first learned about the Hodag when I was a child and went to camp in northern Wisconsin. My story is an original tall tale.
I love learning about animals because each one is different.  However, if I have to pick one as a favorite, it would be cats.  I have always had a pet cat. I especially liked writing about members of the cat family in my books about lions, cheetahs, and bobcats.
My favorite food is bread.  I like sweet breads, whole grain breads, quick breads like muffins and pancakes, bread sticks, flat breads, and just about any way that flour can be made into bread.  I like to eat bread and I like to make it too.
My favorite color is green.
Picking a favorite place to visit is really hard.  I have traveled all over the world and have been to every continent except Antarctica.  Every place is fascinating.  But, one of the places I have visited numerous times is Australia, so I think that would go on the top of my list.
What are your favorites?