Jo and Rangi are best friends, but their grandparents aren’t because of something that happened a long time ago. And when Jo’s grandmother comes to stay on the farm for a while during the summer, problems blossom like wildflowers after a rain.
To top it all off, her grandmother nurses hatred in her heart for Jo’s best friend, and his entire family. Hatred that is returned in kind by Rangi’s grandfather for Jo, and her family.
When the feud between the older generation becomes too much, Jo and Rangi set out to uncover the real reason for the all the problems. The truth turns out to be something they would never have imagined in their wildest dreams.
Summer of Dreaming is a special adventure set in the lush, rolling countryside of New Zeland. Written by veteran author, Lyn McConchie and accompanied by a special introduction by Julie E. Czerneda, it is a timeless story of two friends that every family should have on their bookshelf.
Jo’s grandmother continues an ancient family feud with Rangi’s great-grandfather. And when Jo is distressed and hugely embarrassed by her grandmother’s unpleasant accusations against Rangi, her best friend, when she sees them together, the children set out to discover the truth of the dispute.
Jo’s grandmother has always insisted that the local Maori chief murdered the small sister of her ancestor. While Rangi’s great-grandfather is equally firm that the chief would never have killed the child, and that Jo’s grandmother is covering up the real truth, that her ancestor stole two great treasures from the tribe and sold them. These treasures were not only worth a lot of money, but to the tribe they were its heart, a source of spiritual power and their loss was devastating.
Jo and Rangi begin their hunt for the facts behind the legends but living on isolated farms as they do, they are also involved in ordinary farm work. They ride their ponies to school each day, and over the course of the book have to deal with a serious flood that cuts off the farms, a ewe with twins that falls down a cliff, and pursuits such as riding, helping to check and repair boundary fences, caring for farm animals and keeping their homework up-to-date.
But while they do that they are also following the trail of events that caused the family feud, as they search out relevant articles in the now yellowing newspapers of that time, persuade Jo’s grandmother to talk of what she knows, and look up old diaries and letters in their search for anything that may give them a clue to the real story.
After months of seeking they find that while they have most of the facts, there is no way in which they can prove what really happened and it looks as if the dispute will continue. But something else intervenes and both children are called in a dream to leave their homes one night. Riding out of time and back across the years they will see the truth that they have looked for, and learn what really happened.
This book has three main areas of interest. One is the search for family history using local newspapers, family diaries, and letters. There is the farming background showing how in isolated rural areas different families are dependent on each other in times of emergency and how important it is for children to have learned common sense and responsibility. And then there is the consideration of some of the wrongs done in earlier eras and how those may be corrected if there is goodwill on both sides.
This is a book that will appeal to those interested in family history, in farming and horses, and in considering and learning from the mistakes the past to improve the future. It is the first of four books featuring Jo and Rangi and demonstrates that while New Zealand may be half a world away, those who live there are not very different.
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