The Happy Land

Though this "autobiography" of a childhood uses different names, it may well be based on actual experience; it is as zany, disjointed, intelligent, and funny as reality seen through affectionate recall. Its protagonist is Provost Lathrop, an accident-prone, hard-pressed, genuinely enjoyable, precocious girl. Her family lives near the Western Canadian border, in 1927. Her father is a lawyer, with an unfashionable propensity for defending Indians; her mother is beautiful and strong-willed; her older sister has a fatal if innocent attraction for boys and men. Her trickster side-kick is Jimmy Roberts, the boy next door. Out of these familiar materials, and Provost's ebullient and harassed mind, emerge some remarkably funny misfortunes, adventures (both child and adult), and a high-spirited account of the recent old West, its small towns, law-courts, and summer camps. Off-beat, cheerful/serious, this book is enjoyable reading for adults or even teen-agers inclined to this sort of humor. (Kirkus Review)