WHEN THE SERGEANT CAME MARCHING HOME

“Early in the summer of 1946, an infantry sergeant returned from the war and ruined my life by forcing me to move from our comfortable basement apartment in Wistola, Mont., out to a farm in the middle of nowhere.” Ten-year-old Donald immediately begins secretly saving money to run away to Hollywood. How can he be expected to live without friends, movies, indoor plumbing and electricity? The nearest neighbors are a family of girls. Sergeant (his dad) says he can’t have a dog until they can afford a German Shepherd. Donald’s only friend is his six-year-old brother, Pat, who happens to love farm life. But Miss Scott, his new teacher, is awfully pretty and talented, and nothing beats playing hockey all winter. Bringing to mind the works of Robert Newton Peck and Jean Shepherd, Canadian Lemna’s first American publication is a welcome addition to the transplanted-city-boy genre. Each chapter is a self-contained episode, making this a perfect bedtime book full of heart and more than a few laugh-out-loud moments. (Fiction. 8-12)