Changes for Kirsten

The first part of the story has Kirsten helping Lars set up and check his trap lines. They stay out too late, though, and are in danger of getting lost in the forest. They find a door in front of a cave and go in, only to find a man (Old Jack) dead in the cave. They resolve to bury him when the weather turns warm enough to dig in the ground, but meanwhile they take all the hides he had (he has no relatives that could take them).

The hides were needed since Kirsten had befriended a raccoon and taken it into their house. It got lose, knocked a lamp over and their house proceeded to burn down. Fortunately another family that they knew, that had a much nicer home, was planning to move to Oregon so they sold their home to Kirsten's family, and Old Jack's furs brought in enough money so Kirsten's father could pay for the house.

What's somewhat odd in this book is that Kirsten basically disobeys her mother by bringing the raccoon into the house, and that leads to the destruction of the home, yet nothing is ever said about the raccoon causing the destruction nor about Kirsten being the one who brought the raccoon into the home. Usually such an act in these books will have some kind of reaction from the parents, but this time there is nothing.

It's also very convenient that Old Jack just happens to be dead which allows them to take the furs which happen to be just what they need to pay off the house. Even that was another coincidence, that their house burned down just as this other family was planning to leave their own home.

The last volume of the series is a little bit contrived, I think. Not up to the standard of the normal final-book-of-the-series that the other series have.

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