The Summerfolk

Do you remember the book We Were Tired of Living in a House by Liesel Moak Skorpen with the imaginative 1969 illustrations by Doris Burn?  Well if you need a little refresher on a post that gets frequent hits, click here: We Were Tired of Living in a House illustrated by Doris Burn (c. 1969).  I just love the Doris Burn illustrations in that story!  The kids do too and pour over them for hours.
 
So imagine my delight in finding Doris Burn's The Summerfolk at our local used bookstore!  Then imagine my disappointment that our local library doesn't carry a copy.

Folks, I have good news:

1. You can purchase The Summerfolk written and illustrated by Doris Burn (c. 1968) off amazon.com or half.com (I am in no way gleaning any profits from these websites in passing along this information) for a mere $7.
2. I'm going to post several illustrations as well as the opening storyline to give you a taste of this delightful summer read:

Burn's story begins: Willy Potts' house was on a sand dune.  In back of the house was a swamp, but in front the sand led all the way down to the sea.  Although the house was little more than a shanty, Willy and his dad, Joe Potts, lived there both winter and summer, for Joe Potts was a fisherman.  All winter long, life seemed to go along nice and steady for Willy and Joe Potts.

next page:  But all summer long--well, that was another kettle of fish.  Every summer, strange people came from the city for a holiday beside the sea.  These strangers were called summerfolk. . . .

meet Fedderly, "a strange new breed of summerfolk"

"Have you ever been to Rosebud's Stately Wain?" asks Fedderly.

We Were Tired of Living in a House

Original, Doris Burn's illustrated cover

In my personal opinion, it's a tragedy and outrage that the Doris Burn's illustrated edition of We Were Tired of Living in a House (c. 1969) hasn't been republished!  Here Liesel Moak Skorpen crafted a clever story:
                     We were tired of living in a house.
                     So we packed a bag with
                     sweaters and socks and scarves
                     and mittens and woolen caps.

title pages

But what has made this story so positively, absolutely delightful are the charming and imaginative illustrations of Doris Burn.  Yes, yes, yes there's a 1999 reprint illustrated by Joe Cepeda.  But I ask you: why improve upon perfection?!  It completely eludes me as to why it would be an option.  Just look at these illustrations:

We liked our tree . . .

We liked our pond . . .

Burns makes living in a tree or on a pond or near a cave or by the sea look so appealing that I was ready to pack my own bags (the tree bit is my personal favorite)!  Either way, and I'll submit to either edition, this is a summer must read, for in the end it's another wonderful story reiterating the time proven fact that there's no place like home.