Review by Booklist Review
Belle is a young eastern Colorado pioneer enthralled by her new home. Her older sister Carrie is not quite as happy she loved their old home in green, heavily settled Iowa. The life of dry-earth farmers in the early 1900s was exceedingly tough, and the family of nine struggles. When illness claims the girls' mother and younger sister, the future seems precarious, especially Carrie's hope to go to college and become a teacher. Plucky Belle, though, won't give up, and a community of disparate settlers a lonely hermit, a generous ranching family, a lively bachelorette homesteader comes together to help. Perseverance, that eternal ethos of settler sagas, is personified in Belle, who even schemes at matchmaking. The standard plot points of many pioneer stories are touched on: plagues of locusts, blizzards, and even a solitary bad guy scared off by intrepid heroines. Dallas, a prolific author of adult westerns and a Spur Award winner, has written a story young readers drawn to historical fiction like the Little House series will find satisfying.--Cruze, Karen Copyright 2018 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 4-6-In the early 1900s, the Martins move to Colorado, where Father plans to earn free land by farming government acreage for five years. Twelve-year-old Belle and her family endure a series of harrowing events: baby Sage survives an encounter with a rattlesnake; Belle's sibling Becky dies, as does Mama; a blizzard threatens the entire family; and an invasion of grasshoppers must be fought off. Later lighter moments, such as Belle playing matchmaker for her widowed father, lessen the tension. The author's careful attention to historical detail can be found in her vivid description of the Martins's "soddy" home. A cast of believable characters with distinct personalities brings this slice of U.S. history to life; particular attention is given to how the difficulties of frontier life impact the children. The Martins neighbor Lizzie, an independent woman who homesteads alone and offers the Martins valuable support, is a strong and memorable character. VERDICT Dallas's latest work of historical fiction (Red Berries, White Clouds, Blue Sky; The Quilt Walk) conveys the importance of family and the value of neighbors helping one another. A fine selection where fiction about white U.S. frontier life is in demand.-Lynn Vanca, Freelance Librarian, Akron © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
The difficult, weather- and nature-dependent life of farming on the Colorado frontier is the theme of this middle-grade novel centered on twelve-year-old Belle, whose family takes part in the government homesteading program in 1910. Reminiscent of the Little House series, hardships are paralleled with the loving support of family and neighbors struggling and succeeding together. Glos. (c) Copyright 2019. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A close-knit family endures the rough life of farming in Colorado in the early 20th century.Hail, snow, locusts, sickness, deaththe list of setbacks encountered by the Martin family as they try to earn their homestead by farming the dry ground of Colorado is a long one. But they can depend on one another for love and support, and they rely on their friendly neighbors for everything from food when times are especially tight to a helping hand in a snowy emergency. And it's not all hardship. There are fun parties, plans for college, and holiday celebrations. Told from the point of view of 12-year-old Belle, who is pleased to discover that their nearest neighbor is a woman on her own, proving that women can be independent homesteaders, the details of rural American life are rendered with care and precision in Dallas' third novel for children. The story occasionally offers events that feel too convenient and even saccharine, as when neighbor Hans Kruger saves the children from a snowstorm and thus proves himself to be a kind and generous soul, far from the dangerous German immigrant most thought him to be. A white cast of characters populates this book set in the 1910s, with obvious parallels to the Little House series.A traditional addition to the genre of frontier living. (Historical fiction. 9-11) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
