//published 1941//
Forest Patrol was one of the few Kjelgaard books I hadn’t read before. It’s free as a Kindle book on Amazon, so that was a win. I actually really enjoyed this story about a young man (of course) who yearns to become a forest ranger and who is working as a trapper to save money to go to school. However, opportunity comes before then – the chance to work as an interim ranger for a year, as the regular ranger has been given a different assignment for that time.
I quite like this frontspiece
John makes a good protagonist. Like most of Kjelgaard’s heroes, John is hardworking, industrious, honest, and determined. He understands that he has much to learn, but also knows his strengths. While the book sometimes meandered into the territory of a lecture on the responsibilities of a forest ranger in the 1940’s (luckily, that’s rather interesting in and of itself), overall he sticks to just the story of John’s day-to-day life as he learns about and comes to love the land he’s been given to guard and protect.
While Forest Patrol is not as action-packed as some of Kjelgaard’s stories, I still found it interesting and a worthwhile read, and a book I’d like to eventually add to my hard-copy library. 4/5.
The Aroma of Books 