When the 1918 influenza epidemic hits Duluth, Minnesota, Marven Lasky's family decides to isolate him from the disease. They choose the unlikely scenario of sending their 10-year-old Jewish son to a French Canadian logging camp far from the train station in Bemidji. Fortunately Marven has a head for numbers and figures out how he can become useful in other ways, too. Marven weathers the winter, and he also finds ways to adhere to some of the dietary rules observed by his birth family. The author's father actually was sent by his family to such a logging camp experience to escape influenza. Hawkes' paintings were rendered in acrylic on acid-free museum board and provide a strong sense of frigid landscapes, large lumberjacks and a small strong-willed lad. (Ages 6-9)

When the influenza epidemic strikes Duluth, Minnesota, in 1918, Marven's parents send their son far away from the danger of the disease. But a logging camp in the great north woods?
A true story of a small Jewish boy and a bearish French-Canadian lumberjack . . . and how they became friends under the most unusual circumstances.