More About Tales From The Redwoods Book

True Tales from Redwoods: a Kid’s True Adventures and Survival Among the Loggers in the 1940s is a unique blend of story, history and creative non-fiction that appeals to both young and old. Readers will laugh and cry learning true stories of loggers and Indians somewhere near the Lost Coast in Northern California.

Sharon is a gutsy young girl who struggles with the adult world of violence, alcoholism, poverty and ignorance. Rather than being crushed she meets her world with humor, strength and honesty learning to shoot, trap and ride horses. .Her story is similar to Jeannette Wall’s best selling memoir The Glass Castle transferred to a loggers setting and mixed with a blend of Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn.

“The winter rains and mud brings logging to a dead halt in Whitethorn. The Cat roads leading to the timberland turn into muddy quicksand and the loggers, log pond, the mill, the planing mill, and the cookhouse all sit idle until the rains stop and the mud dries. At this time, many of the men set their muscles to the rowdiest spells of poker, drinking and fighting.”

There is a growing market for books about loggers. Interest has soared as witness by the history discovery channel’s documentaries such as Axe Men and America Loggers.

On a recent trip to the heart of the redwood country, I learned from numerous bookstores thousands of tourists who visit every summer, eats up anything written about the life of the of the loggers. Every book dealer I spoke with was very eager to sell my book in their store.

According to the Humboldt County convention and visitors Bureau approximately 1.3 million tourist visits annually spending over $278 million dollars.

I am a retired school psychologist who has published in the California Alliance for the Mentally Ill Journal and women's voices. My blog, The Whitethorn Kid logger Journal, has been collected by the Mattole history society and filed for viewing for the public. My co-author Susan Dregey graduated from the top journalism school in the nation at the University of Missouri. She has been a feature writer in daily newspapers, was employed in editing text books and as an editorial assistant on major magazines.

copyright 2009 Sharon Porter Moxley