Ron Phernetton is a forester who has worked for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service for 45 years. He spent his career restoring the disappearing longleaf pine ecosystem, home to a vas...показать большеRon Phernetton is a forester who has worked for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service for 45 years. He spent his career restoring the disappearing longleaf pine ecosystem, home to a vast array of endangered, threatened or imperiled wildlife species whose home is the open pine forest.
As Ron moved from place to place accomplishing his professional goals, his path crossed the lives of many children. Even before he dedicated his professional life to the environment, he became a mentor and source of encouragement to these children, just by giving them a guiding hand where ever they needed it. Ron's children included boys and girls from three years of age to twenty-something. He encountered them in school groups, church groups, organized and unorganized groups, formal and informal situations, including thirteen trips on the Appalachian trail, hiking and camping with boys ranging from eleven to twenty years of age.
Ron's association with all these kids, along with his own memories of growing up, led him to single out a small segment of these lives as the subject of this story: The troubles and conflicts experienced by boys around the age of twelve as they try to break through the barriers between childhood and adolescence.показать меньше