Gabe: A Story of Me, My Dog, and the 1970s

Gabe: A Story of Me, My Dog, and the 1970s

Gabe: A Story of Me, My Dog, and the 1970s

Gabe: A Story of Me, My Dog, and the 1970s

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Overview

Coming of age in the Age of Aquarius.
 
Author Shelley Gill was seventeen-years-old in 1972 and a free spirit protesting the Vietnam War, marching for civil rights, and finding her way in a changing world. While volunteering in the medical tent at the first Rainbow Gathering in Granby, Colorado, Shelley met Gabe—a blue merle husky mix puppy abandoned by his owner. Gabe quickly became Shelley’s best friend and protector. They travelled the country together, hitchhiking to New Orleans, to Indiana, to New York City, to the Rocky Mountains, and eventually to Alaska, where they stayed.
 
Shelley Gill has lived full-force, grabbing life by the horns and not letting go. Her spirit and attitude are ever-present in this autobiography, which is a snapshot of a turbulent time in American history, as well as a love-letter to cherished dog.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781607346456
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Publication date: 04/19/2016
Sold by: Penguin Random House Publisher Services
Format: eBook
Pages: 64
Lexile: 810L (what's this?)
File size: 67 MB
Note: This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range: 8 - 12 Years

About the Author

SHELLEY GILL is the author of many children’s books, including Alaska, Hawai’i, Sitka Rose, Prickly Rose, and Big Blue. Shelley lives in Homer, Alaska.

MARC SCHEFF works as an illustrator, art director, curator, educator, and art evangelist. Marc lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Read an Excerpt

Gabe

A Story of Me, My Dog and the 1970s


By Shelley Gill, Marc Scheff

Charlesbridge Publishing

Copyright © 2016 Charlesbridge Publishing
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-60734-645-6


CHAPTER 1

The Rainbow Gathering

In July 1972 the Rainbow Tribe gathered for the first time since the huge 1969 rock festival known as Woodstock. On a mountaintop near Granby, Colorado, men with long hair, women in flowing skirts, and naked, happy children camped out, danced, and celebrated nature, peace, and diversity. I was there, too, doing first aid.

I left home when I was seventeen. Florida had nothing I wanted. The once-beautiful beach was polluted, and all anyone cared about was money. Girls were expected to be Barbie, or else. I didn't know where I was going, but I was looking for a more authentic life. The Vietnam War was ending — finally. Now it was peace, love, and rock and roll. The Age of Aquarius.

In 1972 I was volunteering in the medical tent at the first Rainbow Gathering, at Table Mountain near Granby, Colorado. Twenty thousand people were having a blast — except the ones who fell off the steep trail leading up to the plateau.

One crazy biker dude thought he was Evel Knievel and tried to jump his bike off a cliff. The jump went fine, but the landing was rough.

Sometimes people's dogs got hurt, too. One pup, a blue merle husk/ mix with yellow eyes, had a four-inch gash on his left hind leg. His owner left him at the medical tent, then wandered away. I sewed him up and made him a bed next to the crazy biker dude.

When the gathering ended, the people were gone, but the pup was still there. I named him Gabe.

When I Left Granby for New Orleans, Gabe came with me. We hitchhiked most o the way. Even as a pup, Gabe was a great judge of character. Before I got in a car, he would Leap onto the passenger seat and stare at the driver. If Gabe growled, we didn't take that ride.

CHAPTER 2

The Big Easy

Like kids from all over the country, I was drawn to New Orleans, with its warm weather and cool jazz blasting out of bars on Bourbon Street. The cheap food — gumbo, jambalaya, crab po'boys — was spicy. So was life in the French Quarter.

Once we made it to the Big Easy, I rented a cheap second-floor apartment in the French Quarter. My neighbor was Madam Dynamite, a huge woman with purple fingernails and lots of cats.

Gabe stayed home while I worked the night shift at a free medical clinic. We sewed up cuts, lanced boils, and delivered babies. Drugs were everywhere, so we also sat up with bad trips, held hands through withdrawals, and answered the crisis Line. On my fourth night at work, my new landlord called — there had been trouble.

I hustled home to find glass in the courtyard and the neighbors gathered below my window. My shutters were splintered, and there was blood on the ground.

Gabe?


(Continues...)

Excerpted from Gabe by Shelley Gill, Marc Scheff. Copyright © 2016 Charlesbridge Publishing. Excerpted by permission of Charlesbridge Publishing.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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