Prairie Boy's Summer

by William Kurelek

Summer on the prairies during the Depression years was not a vacation from school; it was hard work.

Genres: Childrens, Canada, Picture Books, Nonfiction

Library Binding

First published January 1, 1975

About the author

William Kurelek (Wasyl), painter and writer, evangelist. Influenced by Bosch and Brueghel and by prairie roots, his Ukrainian heritage and Roman Catholicism, Kurelek's realistic and symbolic paintings record his historic culture and religious vision. The oldest of 7 children, he was expected to help run the farm. His lack of mechanical aptitude attracted harsh criticism from his father, as did his wish to be an artist. He studied at Winnipeg, Toronto and San Miguel, Mexico. In England (1952-59), he sought psychiatric help and was hospitalized for severe emotional problems, depression and eye pain. He converted to Roman Catholicism (1957), credited God with his healing, and began to paint the Passion of Christ according to St Matthew. This series of 160 paintings is housed in the Niagara Falls Art Gallery and Museum.
Returning to Toronto, he was established by the early 1960s as an important painter, alternating realistic works depicting his prairie roots with didactic series. In the 1970s he began to publish his paintings with simple texts. His books for children (A Prairie Boy's Winter, 1973; Lumberjack, 1974; A Prairie Boy's Summer, 1975; and A Northern Nativity, 1976) have become modern classics. His autobiography, Someone With Me (1973, rev ed 1980), ends with his marriage to Jean Andrews (1962). Kurelek was an outstanding artist with a unique idealistic and pragmatic vision. A modern Jeremiah, he painted a coming apocalypse - divine justice on a materialistic, secular society.

Reviews

[Manybooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now while in many ways, William Kurelek's A Prairie Boy's Summer is actually and indeed very much similar to his A Prairie Boy's Winter in general set-up and scope, and therefore should likely be regarded and approached as a companion piece (with twenty full page, full colour summer and for the majority of the post school scenarios summer farming themed paintings accompanied by textually heavy but always interesting and enlightening descriptions based on William Kurelek's own farming family boyhood on the Canadian prairies of the 1920s and 1930s), what has always struck me in A Prairie Boy's Summer with regard to both Kurelek's narratives and illustrations is that for farmer boys such as William and his brother John, summertime is in NO WAY EVER vacation time, but is a time for basically around the clock chores and much hard, often backbreaking toil (both on the fields and in the barn).

And in fact, aside from the painting of William and other local boys swimming (and stark naked, mind you) in the local swimming hole, basically ALL of pictorials of A Prairie Boy's Summer that do not deal with school, that take place come so-called summer vacation has commenced do present and feature scenarios of both field work and necessary farmyard chores (and as such, A Prairie Boy's Summer is actually and indeed very much different from A Prairie Boy's Winter, where aside from the required daily barnyard tasks, due to the fact that one does not and cannot work the fields during winter, there actually is also much more time and leisure to spend on such past-times as snowball fights, building snow forts, skating and the like). A great introduction to both summers on the Canadian prairies and also (and for me even more importantly) to the amount of work that farming generally always entails and demands (and from ALL members of the family), A Prairie Boy's Summer is highly recommended for both young and old (although I do leave the necessary caveats that Kurelek's text is most definitely wordy and dense, although still always approachable and uncomplicated in style and vocabulary choices, and yes, I guess I also should point out that the episode depicting and describing William and other local boys frequenting the swimming hole does indeed both textually and illustratively describe and show brief instances of general male nudity and that the boys have to keep their eyes open as sometimes their swimming place is visited by curious girls on their bicycles).

[gloriabluestocking · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just delightful, in every way. The illustrations and the text are equally illuminating and enchanting.

[Matthew RC · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just a delight. A gem of classic Canadiana. The art is beautiful and the stories unfold so easily. I read this hundreds of times as a child and my boys love it too.

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun book with vivid though to me clumsy illustrations by the author, who I believe is well known as a painter. Evocative of life decades ago on the Canadian prairies. "the floor of the sky." I shelved it in travel; it's not a guidebook but it does give a sense of place.

[Marcia Oster · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful pictures depicting the prairies. Great for Children's Literature.

[Tym · Rating 3 out of 5]

The illustrations were beautiful and brought back many wonderful memories but the writing was a bit of a chore

[Gale · Rating 2 out of 5]

LITERARY AND PICTORIAL VIGNETTES OF THE CANADIAN PRAIRIE

It only takes 30 minutes to read this charming book of 20 homespun illustrations with text on the opposite page, but do yourself a favor and savor it longer. Don't expect any plot, theme or character dveleopment, though, for this gem charms by its honest simplicity. Both Kurelek's SUMMER and WINTER books present a patchwork quilt of boyhood memories--preserving for posterity the joy and hardship of farm life on the Canadian prairie.

The acclaimed Canadian author/illustrator has captured the flavor of his carefree, rural childhood in the 1930's--freezing it in time for future generations to discover. Kurelek treats each topic with quiet dignity: chores, games, the weather, special occaasions and adult life (as judged by irrepresisble kids.) I even discovered to my delight that I had named my cat KITKA--not realizing that it means Cat in his native language. These two seasonal books prvide relaxing reads for those who want to escape the harried 21st century and nestle back
into a time of agrarian innocence.

(April 25, 2012. I welcome dialogue with teachers.)