PCPL program Tuesday offers closer look at the CCC Boys

The Putnam County Public Library will be hosting two free music and storytelling programs on Tuesday, March 13.

The programs will be hosted by Michigan-based author Bill Jamerson who will present his first program, "It's Daylight in the Swamps!", a 45-minute program for children ages 6-12. Jamerson will sing traditional lumberjack songs and tell true stories and hilarious tall tales about life in the old-time lumber camps.

Children are invited on stage to play games and win prizes. Jamerson takes the audience on a musical journey with songs about working in the woods, life in a bunkhouse, the hardships of river drives, the importance of camp food and the transition from the woods to farms.

Jamerson will share stories about some of the legendary animals that stalked the woods like the side-hill gulger, hoop snake, agro-pelter and hodag.

Beginning at 6:30 p.m. Jamerson will present an hour-long program titled "Dollar a Day Boys" that is for all ages. The program will include stories, video, reading excerpts and playing original songs about the Civilian Conservation Corps.

Jamerson has presented the program at CCC reunions, state and national parks around the country.

Jamerson's novel "Big Shoulders" follows a year in the life of a 17-year-old youth from Detroit who enlists in the CCC in 1937. The enrollee joins 200 other young men at Camp Raco, a work camp in Michigan's Upper Peninsula run by army officers.

It is a coming-of-age story of an angry teenager who faces the rigors of hard work, learning to get along with a difficult sergeant and coping with a bully.

The camps not only revitalized the state's natural resources but also taught the young men job skills and discipline. In his talk, Jamerson will share many stories he has picked up from former CCC Boys he has met over the years and will discuss some of their work projects in Indiana. He will sign books after his talk.

For more information about the programs, persons may call the library at 653-2755 or visit the website: billjamerson.com.