I Thought You Brought the Can Opener and other Tales of Outdoor Adventure

Dan Rodgers
RDM Publishing (2005)
ISBN 0976603802
Reviewed by Michelle Anne Cox-Lomas for Reader Views (10/06)

Dan Rodgers grew up in a rural Mayberry-type community, during the 60’s and 70’s, where little boys had to use their imaginations to keep from being bored. And oh, what an imagination he and his Cousin Paul had!

“I Thought You Brought the Can Opener” recounts their experiences together and tells the tales of all of the grand mischief that they got into! I totally adored how their innocent little minds came up with some incredible, and sometimes not so innocent, totally hilarious schemes!

Dan Rodgers has an excellent way of pulling you into each story, and feeling like you are right there through each life lesson that they were experiencing. Sometimes you could feel sorry for the boys and all of the trouble that they got themselves into, but, the stories are so incredibly wonderful that you almost hoped that they would continue to get in trouble over and over again so that the stories would never end.

Dan and his Cousin Paul were outdoor adventurers with lots of time on their hands and lots of things to explore. His Mother, Aunt Mary, Uncle Lester, and their sisters could only shake their heads and come to the conclusion that boys will be boys, but these boys were best left outside to their adventures, and hopefully they wouldn’t bring their scientific experiments into the house – but, sometimes, they did anyway – which brings so much excitement and humor to these stories that I could hardly put this great book down.

Chapter after Chapter you will want to keep on reading and submerse yourself into their fantastic tales of adventure. Through the minds of little boys comes the great imagination of adventure, delight, and all of the mysteries of life. As for the trouble that they got themselves into, over and over again, that was a small price to pay for the amount of learning and fun that they had…and you will too… right along with them.

Being the mother of two sons myself, and also living in rural America, I could totally relate to this great book, not only from their Mother’s points of view, but also from the boys great sense of intrigue, imagination, and their desire for adventure. Its amazing how two little boys can creep out of the house at night, looking for UFO’s, so that they can capture one and save the world!   Ah, the innocence of childhood and how that time goes by so fast.

I totally adored this hilarious book, “I Thought You Brought the Can Opener and other Tales of Outdoor Adventure,” and I highly recommend it to everyone who nostalgically looks back upon your childhood and misses “the good old days.” And, to everyone who takes life “these days” a bit too seriously. A+++ Dan Rodgers! I hope you and your Cousin Paul still have some great adventures these days and will continue to all the days of your lives!

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