The Caretaker of Lorne Field by Dave ZeltsermanFor three hundred years the first born son of each generation of the Durkin family has become the Caretaker of Lorne Field. Being the Caretaker is a backbreaking job. Imagine a field the size of a football field and a half, now imagine weeding it of two inch high plants, three times a day. That’s how fast the Aukowies grow. They get harder and harder to weed as they grow bigger. And you don’t want to know what happens if the weeding isn’t done.
Unfortunately times are a-changing. The contract the Durkin’s have with the town, for the Caretaker to go out every day from the first thaw to the first frost and clear the field of Aukowies, is under scrutiny. Jack Durkin knows that he’s saving the world every single day, but the town, even his own family is beginning to doubt that the Aukowies are real.
This book is a great character study. You work alongside the Caretaker as he slaves through the pain of his aging body, the ridicule of all those he knows, and the burden of believing, knowing, that the fate of the entire world is on your shoulders. It’s a great story of tradition clashing with the modern world. Sometimes traditions exist for a reason…sometimes they are just traditions without a real reason at all…
