The Fields of Wonder

**Fields of Wonder: Adventures of Tommy Voss** by Gilbert Brewington is a warm, nostalgic novel set on a Nebraska family farm during the summer of 1968. It follows nine-year-old Tommy Voss, a boy whose boundless imagination transforms ordinary rural life into epic adventures inspired by the movies and television shows of the era.

Tommy lives with his practical mother Margaret, hardworking father Glen, bossy older brother Daniel, energetic little brother Mikey, baby sister Emily, and loyal collie Buddy. His closest companion is best friend Andrew Kipling. Together the boys turn the farm's cornfields, pastures, barn, pond, gravel roads, and nearby woods into stages for grand make-believe.

Each chapter captures a new adventure drawn from the media Tommy loves:
- African jungles after watching *Wild Kingdom*
- Matador battles with steers and later goats
- Pirate ships in the hayloft
- Cowboy shootouts and outlaw hunts on horseback
- High-speed car chases on a red bicycle after seeing *Bullitt*
- Treasure hunting inspired by *Tom Sawyer*
- A homemade circus in the barn
- Playing doctor after real vaccination shots
- Stock-car racing excitement
- Detective work in the style of *The Saint*
- Tarzan vine-swinging
- Oil-well firefighting after watching John Wayne's *The Hellfighters*
- A final exploratory trek into "The Frontier" before school begins

The story gently balances pure childhood joy with small moments of growth-Tommy's uneasy realization after wounding a feral cat, the real danger of a charging steer, and the bittersweet awareness that summer is ending. Through it all, family bonds, brotherly teasing, and deep friendship remain constant.

Told with affection and vivid sensory detail, *Fields of Wonder* celebrates the power of imagination, the freedom of rural boyhood in the late 1960s, and the way ordinary places can become extraordinary when seen through a child's eyes. It is a loving tribute to the simple, adventurous summers that shape a lifetime of memories.