Wilderness Winter

The Aiken Family #2

by Mary Wolfe Thompson

In this sequel to Two in the Wilderness, the author follows the story of the summer Tabitha and Zeke Aiken lived alone in the family cabin on their Vermont holding, with an account of the fall, winter and spring all the Aikens spent after the arrival of Ma, Pa, the twins and the new baby. They all kept busy building a shelter for the cow and enlarging the cabin, making some furniture and wooden dishes, acquiring pets, harvesting the corn and then "plumping" it, and smoking deer meat and tanning the hides.

One day, Zeke and Tabitha found a footprint in the woods and soon they discovered they had neighbors. However, the Aikens' pleasure as they made friends with the new family after so many months alone in the wilderness was marred when the fathers disagreed about how to build a mill for grinding corn they planned to construct jointly. How this quarrel was resolved and progress was thereby made possible toward the growth of a village winds up an interesting story about early pioneering in New England. It shows how such people had to be handy, hard-working, and able to foresee future growth, how it was a time for warm family relationships and friendships with others, as well as simple pleasures.

89 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1968

About the author

Mary Wolfe Thompson was an author of children's books. She was born in 1886 in Connecticut, the daughter of a doctor. She grew up in Trenton, New Jersey, and attended the New York School Fine and Applied Arts and did graduate studies at Columbia University.
She was listed as a notable author by Marquis Who's Who. She died in North Bennington, Bennington County, Vermont, in 1970.

Reviews

[Charli · Rating 3 out of 5]

My discovery of Two in the Wilderness led me to discover that there were two sequels! Although this keeps Tabby's point of view, the story is expanded to include her extended family which has made its way to Vermont from New Hampshire. For me, this is not quite as good as Two in the Wilderness. I missed the absolute survival element of the first book. I did, however, find the discovery of another family living nearby to be interesting.

[RCW · Rating 5 out of 5]

Childhood favorite, highly recommended if you can find a copy.

[Cynthia · Rating 5 out of 5]

New discovery and so very glad I found it. It comes from a true story in Colonial Vermont!! Fascinating