Letters to the Valley: A Harvest of Memories

Letters to the Valley is a collection of letters that appeared in Mas Masumoto's column in the Fresno (CA) Bee. The letters contain some original work, as well as letters based on stories from his earlier works. Mas is a consummate storyteller and uses the medium to relate life experiences and connections from stories of simple things, a peach, or a T-shirt, for example. The letters are to relatives, his children, neighbors and acquaintances. Among the most poignant are letters to his parents and children relating the lessons he's learned and his hopes and fears. A taste of "Letters" will likely leave you wanting to read more.

Excellent very personal approach to life in the San Jaquine Valley. The art work integrated into the letters made the book even more enjoyable.

Through letters to his dad, neighbors, friends and sons, Mas Masumoto has show us a glimps of organic farm life in California. Farm life is hard, long hours during harvest seasons under the hot Valley sun, in return, it gives little financial rewards. What makes Mas choose such hard way of life: the family tradition, a good harvest after hard labor, memory of good, delicious, mouth watering sun crest peaches, the smell of his father's shirt, or the values that he will pass on to his sons. I am not sure, but I sure taste the sweet, delicious sun crest peach and feel the joy after seeing people savoring his labor of love. After reading this book and other books from Mas, I feel the urge to shop more organic products and help out local farmers. This is a good read for us city folks who never experience the hard life of farming and wish we also have memories of good delicious fruits picked at the perfect time, not riped from a truck.

"Past Tents: The Way We Camped" by Susan Snyder (director of Access Services in The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley) is a photographic and descriptive history of family outings during the first years of the automobile, and of campgrounds and campfires against the backdrop of the Sierra Nevada, of the special gear and `helpful' hints for vacationing in the newly formed state and national parks and forests. "Past Tents" is a work of nostalgia, memory, and a yesteryear that saw the beginnings of ordinary people being able to sample and experience the extraordinary outdoors. An informed and entertaining history of early camping in the American West, "Past Tents" is superbly enhanced with historic photos and makes a welcome and much appreciated addition to academic and community library Popular Culture and American History collections.