The Swamp Robber (Sugar Creek Gang, Book 1) (Volume 1)

This is the series that introduced me to the infectious hold of books. I simply couldn't wait for the next "Sugar Creek Gang" book to come out, and my parents and grandparents knew as much, using my consuming desire as a device for motivating other "good" behaviors, like practicing the piano, taking care of Trixie (my dog), saying my prayers each night (my father was a preacher). I soon became conscious of an underlying Christian theme (primarily in the subplot involving Little Jim and his wayward alcoholic father. At times the religious message struck me as a bit thick (today I would say "didactic"), even as an 8-year-old, but for the most part it's sufficiently subtle, or interwoven into the narrative, not to interfere with the rapid pace of the story and the well-rounded portraits of each of the characters.I started the series when I was 6 and, failing to get my son's interest with my old and musty books, I'm hoping that my grandson, who is now that age, will take to it as readily and completely as I did. There's one huge difference between the 2 of us that goes far beyond the religious affiliations of my own and my daughter's family. When I started reading this book in Loves Park, Illinois in the 1940s, there was no TV! In fact, there were no prolific, omnipresent screens of every size and shape. As a teacher I unavoidably noticed the difference, and the ever-widening gap, between my experience and my students'. For some time I tried to meet students half way with screenings of the classics, computer programs, and even e-mail literary contests in "real time." I'm afraid the education received was mostly my own--about texting, chat-room prose, and social "connectivity" through Facebook and its many wannabes.The problem is not necessarily one of video literacy replacing book literacy, or of videos replacing books. It's one of "fast time" replacing "slow time," or of "instant meaning" replacing the joy of discovery that is inseparable from the reader's own laborious composition of meaning from an author's sentences, a process in which the author and reader share almost equally. (In "film texts" that hold the power to reveal us to ourselves through their striking epiphanies, the same is true--often requiring many repeated reruns of the same 5 minutes of footage before Hitchcock's "liebstod" in "Vertigo" comes together with a riveting power comparable of Wagner's "Tristan and Isolde.") The pianist Bill Evans once said that, with respect to the appreciation of music, the layman has the advantage over the musician or music critic. The "naiveté" that the professional must strive for in order to hear the freshness and vital life that define a genuinely inspired piece of music are already in the layman's possession! I'm afraid that present-day media essentially robs the layperson of the advantage that once was his.Attention spans are not as long, close (or "critical") reading is rarely employed and, most disturbing of all, young people aren't taught, or required, to question not simply texts but their likes and dislikes until they can defend these preferences and aversions with reasoned arguments (I can just see Socrates, the most persistent proponent of questioning as the key to all learning, rolling in his grave!). The Sugar Creek Gang series led me almost directly into the more accessible poems of the great Romantics (Shelley and Keats, Wordsworth and Coleridge, Blake and Byron) and from there to Grace Metalious' "Peyton Place" (which I wound up having to defend before both an English teacher and, as a result of her reporting my "book report," my parents). Sometime before the end of high school, the transition from the Sugar Creek Gang books to Jack Kerouac's "On the Road" came as a necessary rite of passage.If anyone has reservations about these books because of the pervasive, underlying (though occasionally explicit) religious theme, I hope my experience might be a touchstone to the universal, archetypal pattern of the stories--about journeys begun and halted, family relationships, the difficulties of growing up, and, most importantly,, the thirst for adventure and exploration (along with sassafras tea) that we hope to see in every young child. The religious slant rarely interferes with the momentum of the narrative and is always subordinate to a larger moral vision that "informs" but does not "fashion" the larger world of the fiction .The author's personal background appears to be that of a Baptist with fundamentalist leanings (think: slightly to the right of Jimmy Carter). But were the author Jewish or Islamic, Hindu or Buddhist, it should make no difference. The values that the characters are challenged to grow by are common to all great religions--the need for open and honest communication, empathy and learning to love one's "enemy," respecting all of God's creation (it seems clear that the author had read Faulkner's short story "The Bear" as well as the quintessential narrative about growing up, "Catcher in the Rye").If the parent has any objection to such values, perhaps "The Sugar Creek Gang" is not for them. For this reader the stories were ceaselessly captivating and, upon adult reflection, formative. In some respects, I still count myself member of that gang, fighting for peace, justice and the American way. When I got to Shakespeare's "Henry IV, Pt.1," I couldn't contain myself upon finding myself at home with Falstaff and his riotous company (which made my students' boredom and, worse, apparent lack of comprehension concerning the entire episode humbling--surely I must have "set it up" poorly for my students). Then I attempted teaching "Tom Jones," a lengthy but lively and "naughty" novel that had held my attention in high school. I gave up upon discovering that in place of reading Henry Fielding's text, students (at least my better ones) were reading the summary in Spark Notes!The English language is not only the most influential but the most supple, malleable, mutable, chameleon-like, and expressive of all. Whatever story someone chooses to read or to teach, the biggest mistake is to attach primary importance to all of those "literary terms"--things like plot, story, denouement, tone, atmosphere, setting, character (even, I'm almost tempted to say, "irony"). Essential to the reward of any text is an understanding of its language--which includes its grammar and structure, denotation and connotation. Meaning is a function of form as much as content. If the reader can traverse the landscape of a story by Dickens, Thackeray or Flannery O'Connor, the road to conquest is underway. Now comes the next step--"irony"--so essential to all serious literature--requiring the reader to subvert his own understanding of the literal meanings of what has been read! The meaning of the literary work, or rich text, is usually opposite to the reader's first understanding. With the "Sugar Creek Gang" books, I had not arrived at that stage--but their "fundamental" scaffolding, I now have little doubt, prepared me to exercise the critical practices that characterize all close reading.[My wife's recent reading of the book tells me that I've underplayed the Christian "message," which is far more pervasive and "louder" than I had remembered. The author's audience is clearly white Christian boys, who had better accept the Lord Savior into their hearts--or else! OK, so it's ethnically narrow, racially homogenous, theologically reductive, exclusively centered on the patriarchal voice, sexless and not a little sexist (mothers "wait" on their family's table and are referred to "the little lady"). Far from "indoctrinating" me, the books provided a worldview that gave meaning to my deviations from it! Pianist Bill Evans says that in the opposition between layman and critic, the advantage is always the layman's. He can listen and respond to the music without bringing an "agenda" to the program; the critic, on the other hand, has to "struggle" to attain the naiveté that is already the layman's. I was so caught up in the narrative, so anxious for the next book's release, that the didactic digressions about what I must do to get into heaven were beside the point. I was there already.]

Although written for an earlier generation, the themes deal with the same sorts of difficulties children face today: getting along with others, being kind to those who are different, parents with problems of their own etc. Adults reading along with their children will find good roll models and see parents handling discipline in a loving way. The children are heroes, but have flaws. God is important, and teachings from His Word are threaded throughout the story without being preachy. The reader sees how faith and walking with God intertwine in daily life. My grandchildren love the adventures in this series. The values presented are rare in today's fiction for children.

Great memories reading this to my kids as I remember my parents read.these books to us when we were kids.

My son said these books were so good. He literally finished the first book in 1.5 days and I had to purchase the other 6. He finished those super fast and now I have to purchase part II.

I have the full collection of the "Sugar Creek Gang" books. This one is the first book in the series. They are really wholesome stories that my children and I love. I am extremely picky about what goes into the minds and hearts of my children, and this series of books makes the list.

I was considering using this with my 4 - 5 grade girls in reading enrichment class. I didn't choose it because it was written more for boys than girls.

This is a great book with a mystery and most importantly help kids grow in their faith. I think this is a great series.

This was bought for my son and his book club. He loves it! Most boys love adventure and this book stimulates the imagination.