“I raised the container over his head and watched the pencil shavings fall.”

Lela Atwood Peterson’s childhood school had no plumbing, no hot lunches, no computers, bus, or telephone. Her lessons went beyond reading and writing however. School involved basket socials, unsupervised recesses, drowning gophers, and prayer. Once, after a moment of misguided mischief Lela’s teacher locked her in the bathroom. She worried about flunking, saw how alcoholism and death affected her classmates, and worked tirelessly to always do the right thing. Through true North Dakota grit and perseverance, lifelong learning resulted: how to deal with difficult people, the treasure of true friends, the power of imagination, the exhilaration that comes from giving to others, and the precious effect forgiveness can have on one’s life. In PENCIL SHAVINGS, Lela details her eight years of attending a one-room country school out in the middle of nowhere. But even in a place of desolation, the value of a prairie education has sustained her for a lifetime.