97 Words
Whether it’s helping to whitewash a barn when you’re afraid of heights, hoeing endless rows of vegetables, or driving a tractor to prepare for spring seeding, there’s plenty of work to be done. Visits with family and friends, trips to the woodlot, baseball games, skating, or a once-yearly trip to the beach, they are all interesting aspects of farm life. All of these activities and more provide endless times of hard work, relaxation and fun. Once Upon a Sandbox is a narrative in poetry and prose about life on a family farm in the 50s and 60s.

122 Words
A marvellous family friendly book that will lift your spirits. Once Upon a Sandbox, by C. R. Wilker, is a warm and gentle memoir about family life on a farm. It is about the farm and the individuals, the personalities, and the ties that bind them to each other. Whether it’s helping to whitewash a barn, hoeing endless rows of vegetables, or driving a tractor to prepare for spring seeding, there’s plenty of work to be done. Through this collection of prose and poetry, reflect on the realities of farm families, their connection with community, weather and economy, as well as being stewards of the land from which they make a living. This is a fine story to which anyone will relate.

C.R. Wilker's profile page

Bios for Carolyn Wilker – Once Upon a Sandbox
Short Bio:

Carolyn Wilker is a writer, editor, Toastmaster, and creative writing teacher. Inspired by the world and people around her, she writes stories that she often shares in her storytelling and speaking. An avid reader, photographer and gardener, Carolyn also enjoys music and theatre as well as spending time with her family and friends. She lives with her husband in Kitchener, Ontario.

Long Bio:

Carolyn Wilker grew up in rural Oxford County where she walked, rode her bike, or took the bus to school. She achieved Provincial Honours through her 4-H club participation, taught Sunday school, and babysat neighbours’ children.

From the time she was a young child, she wanted to be a teacher. After high school, she attended Conestoga College where she trained as a preschool teacher. She taught in Waterloo and Stratford then married and settled in Kitchener. All three daughters attended co-op preschool, having their mother nearby and occasionally as a substitute teacher. From a craft business to custom sewing, to writing and editing, Carolyn has gained valuable experience as an entrepreneur.

As a member of the Record’s 2003 Community Editorial Board, she wrote about environmental concerns, writing and gardening. Publishing credits include articles, book reviews and poetry in Esprit, Glad Tidings, Canada Lutheran; devotionals in Eternity for Today and the Upper Room Devotional Magazine. Her poetry has appeared in Tickled by Thunder; Tower Poetry; Writers Undercover, Vol. X; Voices and Visions, Vol. 6; and Favourite Poems Contest anthology, in which her poem “The Editor Falls Asleep” took First Honourable Mention. Her poem, “Waiting Room,” tied for third place in the Inscribe Christian Writer’s Fall contest in 2008. Her creative non-fiction piece, “Anticipated Visits,” was published in The Wisdom of Old Souls, and her poem “Sails on a Quilted Sea” in Grandmothers’ Necklace in 2010.

While writing, Carolyn took online courses from Ryerson University’s publishing program. In 2006, she was a member of the proofreading team for the award-winning Africa Bible Commentary. Working as a freelancer, she has edited and proofread book-length manuscripts, business newsletters, website content, and the Powerful Women magazine.

Anticipating the need to speak or lead workshops, Carolyn joined Toastmasters in 2004. Later, she joined the Baden Storytelling Guild. She has led workshops for writers and Toastmasters, taught business writing at Conestoga College, and told stories at Open Story Night in Baden and in other public venues.

Through reading Home and Country magazines and publications of the Oxford County Women’s Institute and Federated Women’s Institute, Carolyn gained a deeper understanding of the goals and accomplishments of women in her community and across Canada through the Women’s Institute, and the organization’s nurturing of 4-H programs. She hopes the Women’s Institute can continue its positive contributions far into the future.

Carolyn and her husband live in Kitchener, Ontario, where she writes, edits and teaches Creative Writing. She enjoys gardening, photography, scrapbooking and spending time with her family and friends.

Review by Belinda Burston

Once Upon a Sandbox captures a vanishing lifestyle once typical of Canadian culture; the family farm.

The author shows how a strong foundation was built into families through their relationship with churches, the Women’s Institute, and through 4-H clubs, as adults invested in children, passing on knowledge and values. Read about the Tavistock Fall Fair and experience its smells, sounds and excitement, so typical of fall fairs across Canada.

The prose is interspersed with poems that paint vivid word pictures of memories, among them the sandbox that inspired the book title. Near the end of the book, the poignant, One Last Moonlight describes the once proud farmhouse standing silent and empty, on its last night before being demolished by the wrecking ball.

The book’s namesake poem describes how little children in the sandbox, “played out life in sand and water.” Those words could be a metaphor for the uncertainty of the farming lifestyle, but this jewel of a memoir will help readers remember its importance. Carolyn Wilker writes articles, creative non-fiction, poetry, devotionals, and book reviews. She lives in Kitchener, Ontario. Once Upon a Sandbox is shortlisted in The Word Guild 2012 Canadian Christian Writing Awards in the Book: Life Stories category. Carolyn Wilker’s website: http://carolynwilker.ca/book.shtml

Once Upon a Sandbox is available from Hidden Brook Press website at www.hiddenbrookpress.com.

Belinda Burston has written book reviews and interviewed authors for Maranatha News. Belinda loves to read non-fiction books on leadership, health and psychology as well as biographies. She also enjoys a well-written historical novel. You can visit her website at www.whateverhesays.blogspot.com