Far up in the valley lies a farm called Langerud

I'm old, so I remember when all books at the public library looked like this.  A tattered linen hardcover, no back cover or dust jacket to tell you what it's about.  All you could do is look at the title and take your chances.

A Norwegian Farm had been on my wish list for years, but it took a long time to find a copy that didn't cost $100.  When it arrived, I saw (as happens so often) that it was a library discard.  This always makes me sad, since it means it was thrown away to make room for the latest installment of Diary of a Wimpy Kid.  However, their loss is my gain.  Written (in Norwegian) by Marie Hamsun in 1933, it tells the story of a family with four children living on a dairy farm in a remote valley in Norway.  There's no conflict, really, just a year in the life of ordinary children in a very different environment from our own.

The fictional family has two boys and two girls, but it is the boys who really shine as the protagonists.  Apparently Marie Hamsun based the story on her own children, and it certainly shows.  My own boys laughed hysterically through the story, seeing themselves in the harebrained schemes of Ola and Einar.  Whether they are risking life and limb sledding down the mountain in a barrel, trying to become rich by selling their possessions to each other, or executing a spectacularly poorly-planned fishing trip, they are real boys--always slightly bewildered when their crazy ideas don't match up with reality.  

I liked how much responsibility the boys are entrusted with: at only eight and ten, they are expected to manage an entire herd of cows on the summer pasture up the mountain.  Do they screw up, get lost, lose track of cows?  Absolutely.  But they never expect anyone else to bail them out.  I also appreciated the treatment of their city-dwelling cousin who comes to visit.  I kept expecting the brothers to prank their irritating cousin and give him his comeuppance, but they always treat him as a friend, even though he never really stops being annoying.

One small note: though the plotline ends happily, there is an orphan girl who is forced to run away from her abusive foster mother.  It didn't bother my children, but a very sensitive child might be troubled by this.  

Copies of this book are few and far between, but keep your eyes open for this gem.

Rating: A