Bucket Walkers

Book excerpt: Julie's family has refined their love of hiking and huckleberries into the art, science, and sport of bucket walking. Whether food for the belly or food for thought, there's nothing better than heading out with an empty bucket and coming home with it full of berries—or at least, a good story to tell. The family usually gathers enough huckleberries to keep them in cobblers and pies all winter long, plus a good supply of narrative to feed on. On a misty summer morning in 1955, eleven children pile out of the family Plymouth and head into mountain pastures, exultantly free of parents, in search of huckleberries and adventure. Lovingly recalled decades later by Julie, the youngest of the Eleven, the resulting expedition threads through story and song, disaster, delight, angst and laughter. Julie and her siblings crisscross the mountainside, tangling those threads in a colourful muddle as eventful day turns into stormy night. The Eleven hope all will eventually sort itself out if they just stick to the Rules of Huckleberry Picking and look after each other. The six brothers and five sisters grow up a bit during their longest day, and inadvertently set off a chain of events that will impact their whole community before the summer unwinds.