• Age: 12 to 18
• Grade: 7 to 12

Memories of a northern childhood. Aldred Neufeldt grew up in the small Mennonite community of Horse Lake, northern Saskatchewan, in the 1940s—a place considered by everyone else to be “the boonies” and a time when the devastating effects of the Great Depression were still being felt. Though times may have been tough, it was a childhood of wonder and discovery, nurtured by energetic and resourceful parents who expressed their Christian faith and community values through deeds more than words.

Neufeldt recounts what it was like to live in the log house built by his father; run along deer trails in the nearby Nisbet Forest Reserve; walk to school on the old Carlton Trail; model home-sewn fashions inspired by the latest Eaton’s catalogue; navigate the social dynamics of a small one-room school; and come to understand how the diverse personalities that made up his extended family—from hardworking pioneer grandparents to an infamous distant cousin accused of murder—helped to shape his own identity.

Told with zest and a keen eye for humorous detail, Horse Lake Chronicles immerses readers in a way of life now scarcely remembered, and in doing so invites us to reflect on our own origins and pathways to adulthood.

Aldred Neufeldt was born on a Saskatchewan farm in 1940. A lover of music and education, he earned graduate degrees in psychology from the University of Saskatchewan and the University of Hawaii, returning in 1965 to Saskatchewan’s pioneering reform of mental health services. These threads were woven together in a career in transforming profession-centred mental health and disability programs into person-centred support services. Aldred is a Fellow of the Canadian Psychological Association, and Emeritus Professor at the University of Calgary. His previous books include Celebrating Differences, In Pursuit of Equal Participation, Disability and Self-Directed Employment, and Supportive Care in the Congregation. He lives in Toronto with his wife, Erna; they have four children and eight grandchildren.

Aldred Neufeldt's profile page