Growing up between 1909 and 1917, Berty enjoys the slow-rolling wheel of time on his Vermont farm and cannot understand his older brother's desire to see other parts of the world.

This book is nostalgia and family, staying and leaving, the time going by "like a slow song". Full of memorable language, you feel a boy's mixed emotions growing up on the eve of World War I. Good for older readers, or an extended or continued read aloud. ( )

This historical fiction picture book begins with a poem about life long ago. The rest of the book extends the poem into prose with a story about growing up in Vermont in the early 1900s. Use to teach children about writing with descriptive vocabulary, using metaphors and writing in the genre of historical fiction.