Copper-Toed Boots by Marguerite deAngeli

I have been working on reading the deAngeli books for a little while now because I work at the Marguerite deAngeli library and it just seems appropriate to read them. Five days a week I walk past original drawings and a collection of artifacts that includes her Newbery medal. The house she was born in is on a corner that I drive past multiple times a week. Perhaps because of this and because I have spent most of my life living within 20 miles of Lapeer, which is our "city" out this way, I really enjoyed this book.

Copper-Toed Boots is a story of pioneer Lapeer. Like all of deAngeli's stories, it is simple. Shad is just a typical boy. Maybe he gets into trouble a little bit more but most of the time his intentions are good. I say most of the time because there is the incident with the calf in the belfry. A lot of the stories come from tales deAngeli heard growing up. They are rooted in Lapeer history. As fun as it was reading about Shad's adventures, I think I actually had more fun trying to place everything in Lapeer. Where does the Flint River get just deep enough to swim in near Nepessing Street? Where would there be an abandoned mill two or three miles Flint way?

I really did enjoy this book. It was a nice, pleasant read. It was exactly the type of book that I want to share with my children someday.