Darby Hiebert as a 5th grade reader...

As a fifth grader, I was already an avid reader. I read everything and anything I could get my hands on: The Little House on the Prairie series, Judy Blume, Swiss Family Robinson, The Hobbit, etc...

My biggest memory was that in 5th grade, my parents send me to England to stay with friends and go to school for six weeks. I left on April 12th and returned May 30th. While there I went to school with the older of the two girls of the family with whom I was staying. Her name was Lorna. (Please know that this family I was staying with were friends of my parents when they were all first married, and they often joked about trading children later on. The English couple decided they wanted to raise their children English, so when the time came, they moved back) Lorna's teacher, Mrs. Cook, often had me read outloud to her; Heidi was her favorite. I thought it a bit silly at the time, but I loved the story!

One of the day trips that my English family took me on was to some local hills where we hiked and picnicked, and climbed a big tree with a branch on which we bounced up and down. It turns out that these hills, or downs as they were called, were the very downs that inspired Richard Adams to write Watershipdown. (I don't recall seeing any rabbits, but whatever!) As a parting gift, I was given a copy of the book, and in the front, the map was marked with the different places we had hiked, picnicked, and bounced, even the farm where we had ridden the gate open to let cars through. This is still one of my favorite books, and I have so many clear pictures in my mind of the hills, the farm, and the wood where the story takes place.