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Summer of the Drums
As the United States expands westward in the spring of 1832, the Trask family, along with several trappers, settle in the Blue River valley of the Wisconsin Territory, where they fight for their land and their very lives against the Indians. Reprint.
162 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1979
About the author
Theodore V. Olsen
75 books8 followersTheodore Victor Olsen (April 25, 1932 in Rhinelander, Wisconsin – July 13, 1993 in Rhinelander) was an American western fiction author.
Olsen's family immigrated from Norway in 1901. Theodore Olsen was born on April 25, 1932 in Rhinelander, Wisconsin. He went to school in Rhinelander and began to write in high school. He began a western novel at that time. Olsen went to college in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. He finally finished his novel, Haven of the Hunted, and it was published in 1956. Olsen also began to sell western stories to pulp magazines at this time. Though Olsen would occasionally travel west, he lived his whole life in Rhinelander and would use exhaustive research to help accurately portray scenes of the west in his stories.
Olsen was married to fellow western fiction author Beverly Butler.
Olsen died in Rhinelander on July 13, 1993, and several works were published posthumously.
Much of T.V. Olsen's family still lives in the Rhinelander region. They own a 300-acre (1.2 sq km) ranch with a century old farm house and dairy barn.
Olsen's family immigrated from Norway in 1901. Theodore Olsen was born on April 25, 1932 in Rhinelander, Wisconsin. He went to school in Rhinelander and began to write in high school. He began a western novel at that time. Olsen went to college in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. He finally finished his novel, Haven of the Hunted, and it was published in 1956. Olsen also began to sell western stories to pulp magazines at this time. Though Olsen would occasionally travel west, he lived his whole life in Rhinelander and would use exhaustive research to help accurately portray scenes of the west in his stories.
Olsen was married to fellow western fiction author Beverly Butler.
Olsen died in Rhinelander on July 13, 1993, and several works were published posthumously.
Much of T.V. Olsen's family still lives in the Rhinelander region. They own a 300-acre (1.2 sq km) ranch with a century old farm house and dairy barn.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 20, 2021
Drsný příběh z pohraničních bojů mezi osadníky a indiány, který se vymyká primitivní manichejštině mayovek a čtenáři nabídne skrze individuální příběh jedné rodiny docela drsný pohled na rozporuplnou kolonizaci rudého kontinentu.
August 31, 2016
Summer Of The Drums is a novel about life during the 19th century. The story focuses on one family during this time. The main character Kevin Trask is a fifteen-year-old kid living his life, hunting, providing for his family along with his father, two brothers, sister, and mother. This however, changes when their homestead is attacked by Black Hawk, and his band of Sac followers.
The setting of this book starts off in the spring of 1832 in the untamed United States. The Wisconsin territory in the Blue River Valley, to be exact. About halfway through the story it changes after they’re attacked by the Sacs. Now feeling unsure of whether or not their home was safe to stay in, after Ben Trask had died due to the attack. They move to fort Prairie du Chien about halfway through the story due to Ben’s death, and their Father’s concern for their family.
The protagonists in this story include, Kevin, Ben, Theron, Ena, Amos, and their mother. Ben dies about halfway through the story, which causes Theron, overcome with guilt to go and join the war against the Sac indians. However, the rest of our crew go to the fort to stay safe. Once they’re at the fort, Captain McCree and his lot of soldiers are helpful, and welcome them along with anything they need. To-mah is weird, however, with him starting to hate Kevin and his family at first, then having a mutual respect for them at the end.
The antagonists include mainly the Sac indians, of which we only read of one encounter that they had with our group, and two fur traders called Henniger and Valois. Henniger and Valois develop a grudge against Kevin’s father which comes into play in the rising action of the story. And as we already know, the Sac indians who attacked their homestead and killed Ben.
The conflict in the beginning of the story is the Sac indians attacking the Homestead and killing Ben, which everyone felt guilty for, especially Theron seeing as how he was the one who accidentally caused him to be shot and killed. After this, the conflict is Kevin dealing with To-mah and his injuries, Kevin also not knowing whether or not To-mah is lying about being related directly to Black Hawk, is especially scared by him. The third conflict I really came across was after they had gotten to the fort, where To-mah repeatedly tried to escape from Kevin and his family. The fourth and final conflict was after To-mah left to kill Valois and Kenniger, which caused Kevin to follow him, unknowingly stopping To-mah from completing his mission and getting the both of them caught and almost killed.
The rising action was them going to the fort, and then after arriving there, the multiple troubles they had experienced with Valois and Henniger. Especially so after To-mah left to kill the both of them. To-mah and Kevin were caught however, and then were drug around by the two men, the two boys finding their plans and how they’d been selling whisky to the indians, which was a huge crime at the time, which could lead to the revoking of your trading license and a large sum. The end of the rising action was when they were left at the indian camp, with the indians drunk off whisky where they’d die unless it was for there other indian friend who found them.
The climax of the story is when they escape from the indian camp and return back to the fort with news of what happened and what the two traders were doing and dealing with the indians. Captain McCree had sent a whole search party to look for the two boys, and they definitely came back from that experience closer than before, and I’d almost say the two of them were friends at that point.
The falling action was decent, it was just them settling back to the fort and talking with others, trying to figure out where the place that the two traders who had tried to kill them were hiding at. The family’s indian friend helped the troops and showed them where to go while Kevin and To-mah stayed back to cool off. Kevin’s family was ecstatic to see the two of them return, Kevin’s mother scolding To-mah for going out like that. While they were telling him to settle down, all Kevin could think of was getting the two traders.
The exposition was alright, nothing big other than what To-mah said to Kevin in the last page of the book. Kevin got off a boat after speaking with To-mah, and talked to Lieutenant Davis who noticed a cut on his arm. Afterwards, To-mah called to him, saying “Cawn!”, and “Si-say!”. Which in their tongue means friend, and brother respectively.
There were a few secondary characters that stood out, such as Captain McRee and Black Hawk, who I thought would’ve been a more prominent character in the book, seeing as how he’s discussed so much. But nothing about him, or his character is present, there are no scenes with him, which I was kind of disappointed by because of how good of a character he seemed to be, with him on a righteous path to take back the land taken from him by the white men in an unfair deal.
Overall there weren’t that many quotes that stood out to me, and I did think that there should have been more than there was. Some of them I can vaguely remember, but nothing comes to mind when I think of quotes from the book, nothing really stuck to me as interesting or memorable which I was disappointed by, quotes being a good thing for me in my own reading experience. I like to have at least a vague memory of some major event that happened in the story, and I felt like this book didn’t provide enough of it.
The book was alright in my eyes, it did capture the feeling and setting of the 19th century, but I feel like it was just bland. It lacked substance and felt a bit incomplete, even though the ending was nice. Overall, I give it a solid three out of five stars, because I feel like it captured the setting of the west, but didn't do much with it.
The setting of this book starts off in the spring of 1832 in the untamed United States. The Wisconsin territory in the Blue River Valley, to be exact. About halfway through the story it changes after they’re attacked by the Sacs. Now feeling unsure of whether or not their home was safe to stay in, after Ben Trask had died due to the attack. They move to fort Prairie du Chien about halfway through the story due to Ben’s death, and their Father’s concern for their family.
The protagonists in this story include, Kevin, Ben, Theron, Ena, Amos, and their mother. Ben dies about halfway through the story, which causes Theron, overcome with guilt to go and join the war against the Sac indians. However, the rest of our crew go to the fort to stay safe. Once they’re at the fort, Captain McCree and his lot of soldiers are helpful, and welcome them along with anything they need. To-mah is weird, however, with him starting to hate Kevin and his family at first, then having a mutual respect for them at the end.
The antagonists include mainly the Sac indians, of which we only read of one encounter that they had with our group, and two fur traders called Henniger and Valois. Henniger and Valois develop a grudge against Kevin’s father which comes into play in the rising action of the story. And as we already know, the Sac indians who attacked their homestead and killed Ben.
The conflict in the beginning of the story is the Sac indians attacking the Homestead and killing Ben, which everyone felt guilty for, especially Theron seeing as how he was the one who accidentally caused him to be shot and killed. After this, the conflict is Kevin dealing with To-mah and his injuries, Kevin also not knowing whether or not To-mah is lying about being related directly to Black Hawk, is especially scared by him. The third conflict I really came across was after they had gotten to the fort, where To-mah repeatedly tried to escape from Kevin and his family. The fourth and final conflict was after To-mah left to kill Valois and Kenniger, which caused Kevin to follow him, unknowingly stopping To-mah from completing his mission and getting the both of them caught and almost killed.
The rising action was them going to the fort, and then after arriving there, the multiple troubles they had experienced with Valois and Henniger. Especially so after To-mah left to kill the both of them. To-mah and Kevin were caught however, and then were drug around by the two men, the two boys finding their plans and how they’d been selling whisky to the indians, which was a huge crime at the time, which could lead to the revoking of your trading license and a large sum. The end of the rising action was when they were left at the indian camp, with the indians drunk off whisky where they’d die unless it was for there other indian friend who found them.
The climax of the story is when they escape from the indian camp and return back to the fort with news of what happened and what the two traders were doing and dealing with the indians. Captain McCree had sent a whole search party to look for the two boys, and they definitely came back from that experience closer than before, and I’d almost say the two of them were friends at that point.
The falling action was decent, it was just them settling back to the fort and talking with others, trying to figure out where the place that the two traders who had tried to kill them were hiding at. The family’s indian friend helped the troops and showed them where to go while Kevin and To-mah stayed back to cool off. Kevin’s family was ecstatic to see the two of them return, Kevin’s mother scolding To-mah for going out like that. While they were telling him to settle down, all Kevin could think of was getting the two traders.
The exposition was alright, nothing big other than what To-mah said to Kevin in the last page of the book. Kevin got off a boat after speaking with To-mah, and talked to Lieutenant Davis who noticed a cut on his arm. Afterwards, To-mah called to him, saying “Cawn!”, and “Si-say!”. Which in their tongue means friend, and brother respectively.
There were a few secondary characters that stood out, such as Captain McRee and Black Hawk, who I thought would’ve been a more prominent character in the book, seeing as how he’s discussed so much. But nothing about him, or his character is present, there are no scenes with him, which I was kind of disappointed by because of how good of a character he seemed to be, with him on a righteous path to take back the land taken from him by the white men in an unfair deal.
Overall there weren’t that many quotes that stood out to me, and I did think that there should have been more than there was. Some of them I can vaguely remember, but nothing comes to mind when I think of quotes from the book, nothing really stuck to me as interesting or memorable which I was disappointed by, quotes being a good thing for me in my own reading experience. I like to have at least a vague memory of some major event that happened in the story, and I felt like this book didn’t provide enough of it.
The book was alright in my eyes, it did capture the feeling and setting of the 19th century, but I feel like it was just bland. It lacked substance and felt a bit incomplete, even though the ending was nice. Overall, I give it a solid three out of five stars, because I feel like it captured the setting of the west, but didn't do much with it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 16, 2018
Volím hodnocení 3,5 hvězdičky. Knížku jsem četla kvůli knižní výzvě a jsem za to opět ráda, že se tak stalo. Knížka je kraťoučká, ale velice zajímavá a pro mě hodně netradiční téma, válečný konflikt mezi bělochy a indiány. Nikdy jsem nebyla velký fanoušek "Mayovek", ale toto bylo pro mě moc povedené. Kniha je v podstatě (a velmi zjednodušeně) o tom, jak se z nepřátel mohou stát přátelé... Knížku doporučuji k přečtení, myšlenku i hloubku má.
December 10, 2018
Review
Always a fan of TV Olsen. Well told story with good story line and likeable credible characters. Told with economy and pace, lacking the endless justification of the whites L'Amour goes on for.
Always a fan of TV Olsen. Well told story with good story line and likeable credible characters. Told with economy and pace, lacking the endless justification of the whites L'Amour goes on for.
June 27, 2020
I really enjoyed this book. My first by TV Olsen, every character is tightly woven and the story is so gripping. I highly recommend this Historical Western to all readers, I’m hooked.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews