Itemize Books To The Singing Creek Where the Willows Grow
Original Title: | The Singing Creek Where the Willows Grow: The Mystical Nature Diary of Opal Whiteley |
ISBN: | 0140237208 (ISBN13: 9780140237207) |
Edition Language: | English |
Setting: | Oregon(United States) |
Literary Awards: | American Book Award (1988) |

Opal Whiteley
Paperback | Pages: 384 pages Rating: 4.24 | 791 Users | 145 Reviews
Identify Appertaining To Books The Singing Creek Where the Willows Grow
Title | : | The Singing Creek Where the Willows Grow |
Author | : | Opal Whiteley |
Book Format | : | Paperback |
Book Edition | : | Anniversary Edition |
Pages | : | Pages: 384 pages |
Published | : | February 1st 1995 by Penguin Books (first published January 1st 1976) |
Categories | : | Nonfiction. Biography. Autobiography. Memoir. Environment. Nature. Biography Memoir |
Representaion Toward Books The Singing Creek Where the Willows Grow
Long before environmental consciousness became popular, a young nature writer named Opal Whiteley captured America's heart. Opal's childhood diary, published in 1902, became an immediate bestseller, one of the most talked-about books of its time. Wistful, funny, and wise, it was described by an admirer as "the revelation of the ...life of a feminine Peter Pan of the Oregon wilderness—so innocent, so intimate, so haunting, that I should not know where in all literature to look for a counterpart."But the diary soon fell into disgrace. Condemning it as an adult-written hoax, skeptics stirred a scandal that drove the book into obscurity and shattered the frail spirit of its author. Discovering the diary by chance, bestselling author Benjamin Hoff set out to solve the longstanding mystery of its origin. His biography of Opal that accompanies the diary provides fascinating proof that the document is indeed authentic—the work of a magically gifted child, America's forgotten interpreter of nature.Rating Appertaining To Books The Singing Creek Where the Willows Grow
Ratings: 4.24 From 791 Users | 145 ReviewsNotice Appertaining To Books The Singing Creek Where the Willows Grow
Part of the 2015 Reading Challenge: A book written by someone under 30This is one of those books I feel like everybody should read. Opal has such an innocent and fresh look on life; I loved how she thought and wrote, as it makes you look at the world a little differently.Opal not only takes you back to the world of a child, but she does it in a way that makes you appreciate the small moments and the goodness of the world. With those moments of bad, you see her try to understand in her own wayPrecocious Opal and her lyrical manner of speech will steal your heart away and transport you to the green lush forests of Opal's simple world. Her language and descriptions are other-worldly - as if she speaks "in translation" from her unfettered mind to the written page. I rank this as one of the most moving reads of my life. I believe that the version I read was adapted by Jane Boulton, but the Gutenberg Press has the original version, along with the editor's preface and a picture of the
This isn't actually the edition I read: I found a hardcover edition sometime around 1987, published in Palo Alto, I think, likewise edited by Jane Boulton [which is why I chose this one for my review], that had at the end a summary of Opal's history and the piecing-together of the diary at Mr. Sedgewick's home. I read it to my daughter at a girl-scout overnight, and when I looked up there were 20 girls sitting around us listening intently. It was truly enchanting, and I still find myself using

This is a really magical book to read - the diary and the forward and afterward make you feel like you know Opal Whiteley. It's emotional to read about what her life was like after she wrote this diary as a child, but the diary transports you to a world full of child-like wonder. It really is amazing that Oregon doesn't tout this as one of their state treasures as it describes the magic of the PNW very well. I don't think I will ever be able to find another book quite like this!
I must be turning into a sentimental old fool, given how much I enjoyed reading this sweet and affecting journal of a little girl in love with the natural world in the backwoods of 1900s Oregon. I ran across this after reading the children's illustrated version Just Opal and wanting to see more of the original journal.Equally intriguing is Opal Whiteley's further story -- the 100-year debate over the authenticity of her journal as a contemporaneous childhood record, over her own ancestry, and
The real diary of an unusual and gifted five-year-old living in an Oregon lumber camp in the early 1900s. Her diary was "adapted" by Jane Boulton, but I'm not sure exactly what this "adaptation" consisted of. Boulton says she broke the prose down into free verse, but what else did she do? In any case, this is a fascinating diary and the story behind it is fascinating as well. Opal lived in an unhappy home with an abusive foster mother, and her comfort and escape was in nature. She had many
who was Opal Whiteley? child prodigy, mystical nature writer, charlatan, fraud, illegitimate daughter of the Prince of Orleans, misunderstood child in turn-of-the-century Washington state, dangerous guy-magnet in colonial India, mentally unbalanced ward of an English institution, victim, or visionary? who knows. it's a mystery!so is this Diary. written - perhaps - by a wiser-than-her-years and rather disturbed 16-year old, the story of this young lady's life in nature and with her adopted family
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