Green - Valerie Carr

'Initially I wrote Green for my three children who were regularly entertained by tv, videos and computer games. In my childhood I had entertained myself for free. I thought I would just write about six pages of things I did when I was young, but the narrative needed some background and some description and it somehow just grew and grew into Green. So join me in an adventure back in time, and run with me up the strath, listen for bird song, smell the lowers and feel the confusion, the stubbornness, the sadness but mostly the fun of being a child in the country. Taste what it's like to be young again!' This autobiographical account of childhood in the '50s and '60s centres around Latheronwheel, a small village in Caithness. Brimful of anecdote, it is neither slushily sentimental nor dreamily nostalgic, but an evocation of country life and a child's relationship both with adults and nature. Green also covers subjects like education, religion, animals, snow, sea, sunshine, family, monsters, bitter cold, biting sea breezes, indecision and black despair. It is a child's view of the world - a child who despises adult advice, a child who is sensitive to nature, a child who is still green.