Synopses & Reviews
Youngsters will love reading about the misadventures of Sam, a fictitious eight-year-old boy from Seldovia, Alaska, who slips in and out of trouble--but always learns something in the process. In book one, Sam wants to find the biggest clam ever. He's digging so hard that he doesn't notice when the tide comes in. Will Dad get back with help in time? Come along with Sam on each exciting adventure as he discovers the wilderness right outside his door in Seldovia, Alaska. Read all the books in this growing series, The Misadventures of Seldovia Sam.
Review
Beginning readers will enjoy Sam's adventures, because he always seems to find mischief, even when he has the best intentions. The illustrations bring Sam and his dog, Neptune, to life for readers and will help those struggling with the story to better understand it and the characters that Springer has created.
Sam is a delightful young person who will draw beginning chapter book readers into his rugged life in the Alaskan wilderness.
----Lynn Evarts, Book Reviews, ForeWord magazine
Synopsis
"Alaska is so big that if you could lay it on top of the continental United States, it would cover one-fifth of all the other states. And there really is a place called Seldovia. It's about 250 miles south of Anchorage. But there are no roads to get there. To reach Seldovia you have to fly in a plane or take a boat. Some of the place-names in Sam's stories are real; others are made up. Like Sam's parents, lots of men and women in Seldovia fly Bush planes and fish commercially. Is there a real Sam Peterson in Seldovia? Not by that name. But there's a little bit of Sam in all the kids of Seldovia, just as I suspect there's a little bet of Sam in you." ---Susan Woodward Springer
About the Author
Susan Woodward Springer grew up in a fishing village on the coast of Maine. She attended college in Maine and Vermont, and moved to Alaska in 1985 where she developed the series, The Misadventures of Seldovia Sam. She loves the outdoors and spent many years exploring the backcountry around the real town of Seldovia, Alaska before relocating back to the continental United States.
Her previous publications include Seldovia, Alaska: An Historical Portrait of Life in Herring Bay (Blue Willow, Ind. 1997). And an environmental education color book commission in 1995 by Alyeska Pipeline Co. Her text and interactive pen pal program featuring Alaska schools, titled Alaska…Pure Poetry, is part of Alyeskas environmental education program and was selected by the Smithsonian Museum gift shop to complement the Alaska Pipeline exhibit. A portion of the authors proceeds from The Misadventures of Seldovia Sam have been earmarked for the Alaska Childrens Trust.
Susan Woodward Springer, an artist and writer currently lives in Boulder, Colorado.
Amy Meissner completed her undergraduate degrees in art and textiles in Nevada and spent several years as a clothing designer in the United States and Canada. Amy received a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing at the University of Alaska Anchorage, while focusing on her artwork in her spare time. Besides her existing illustrations in the expanding series entitled, The Misadventures of Seldovia Sam, she has illustrated three other childrens books.