The author [of Bee Tree and Other Stuff] celebrates his boyhood on a Vermont farm in a book that explores childhood memories of school, family and friends, hard work, the seasons, and death. A way of life and a philosophy of being are set forth clearly in a series of highly personal prose pieces, each followed by a related poem. The brief, informal comments are conversational in style and reflect the rural vernacular. Nostalgic, but not sentimental, they engender vivid, strong, sometimes earthy, often sensitive impressions of the land and the people who lived on it. Particularly moving are references to the author's father…. One can experience the smells and sounds of barns, the feel of winter, the beauty of autumn; death is met by both man and beast. Respect for discipline and hard work is given frequent expression, but there is also fun. (pp. 168-69)

Beryl Robinson...