The Store-bought Doll
Author: Lois Meyer
Publisher:
Published: 1983
Total Pages: 28
ISBN-13: 9780307020444
DOWNLOAD EBOOKChristina receives her first store-bought doll and finds her old rag doll superior in a number of ways.
Posts
Childhood on the Farm
Author: Pamela Riney-Kehrberg
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
Published: 2023-01-13
Total Pages: 320
ISBN-13: 0700635181
DOWNLOAD EBOOKAs the United States transformed itself from an agricultural to an industrial nation, thousands of young people left farm homes for life in the big city. But even by 1920 the nation’s heartland remained predominantly rural and most children in the region were still raised on farms. Pamela Riney-Kehrberg retells their stories, offering glimpses—both nostalgic and realistic—of a bygone era. As Riney-Kehrberg shows, the experiences of most farm children continued to reflect the traditions of family life and labor, albeit in an age when middle-class urban Americans were beginning to redefine childhood as a time reserved for education and play. She draws upon a wealth of primary sources—not only memoirs and diaries but also census data—to create a vivid portrait of midwestern farm childhood from the early post–Civil War period through the Progressive Era growing pains of industrialization. Those personal accounts resurrect the essential experience of children’s work, play, education, family relations, and coming of age from their own perspectives. Steering a middle path between the myth of wholesome farm life and the reality of work that was often extremely dangerous, Riney-Kehrberg shows both the best and the worst that a rural upbringing had to offer midwestern youth a time before mechanization forever changed the rural scene and radio broke the spell of isolation. Down on the farm, truancy was not uncommon and chores were shared across genders. Yet farm children managed to indulge in inventive play—much of it homemade—to supplement store-bought toys and to get through the long spells between circuses. Filled with insightful personal stories and graced with dozens of highly evocative period photos, Childhood on the Farm is the only general history of midwestern farm children to use narratives written by the children themselves, giving a fresh voice to these forgotten years. Theirs was a way of life that was disappearing even as they lived it, and this book offers new insight into why, even if many rural youngsters became urban and suburban adults, they always maintained some affection for the farm.
Pansy and the Promise
Author: Stanley Ross Rule
Publisher: WestBow Press
Published: 2014-10-29
Total Pages: 229
ISBN-13: 1490856331
DOWNLOAD EBOOKA spiritual awakening happens to ten-year-old Pansy Hunt when her parents launch out on a covered wagon adventure from Lincoln, New Mexico, to Galveston Island, Texas, in the year 1900. Along the trail, Papa shares campfire stories with Pansy about her unique family history. Stories like Pansys great-great grandmother, who is captured and raised by a warring Indian tribe, only to be rescued seven years later by a brave Indian scout. Stories that teach her about trusting God in the most impossible circumstances imaginable. These tales combine with real adventures along the trail to develop Pansys spiritual understanding that God promises He will never leave us nor forsake us. Letters and photos at the end of the book reveal that these adventures are drawn from the true life and family history of Pansy Virginia Hunt Rule. Pansy and the Promise is written for young minds to easily grasp the concept of Gods grace, mercy, and strength in a story of adventure, mystery, and intrigue.
Go Back with Me
Author: Nina Holland
Publisher: WestBow Press
Published: 2020-05-22
Total Pages: 190
ISBN-13: 197369171X
DOWNLOAD EBOOKMagdalene Snow is a bitter, middle-aged women. When riled, she is thought to likely shoot her rifle at animals and people alike. She leads a solitary life and wants nothing more than to be left alone in her self-imposed exile. She speaks to no one and scorns any overtures from local residents who come too near her small cabin. She came to Birch Mountain to escape an abusive husband and her only desire is for security and solitude. However, what she finds is something quite different. A small child named, Blue, determines to enter into Maggie’s world with, or without, an invitation. She is persistent and fearless in her maneuvers to get acquainted with any newcomers. In the beginning Maggie determinedly resists the overtures of the troublesome little girl, but over time she is won over and discovers a joyous life which she never knew existed. She gradually finds great peace and acceptance in dwelling on that same mountain for the remainder of her days. In fact, her great desire to be alone when she first arrives on Birch Mountain, comes to pass only after she has grown old. Due to progress, the people of her world have either moved away, or passed away. In the late 1940’s the community in the foothills called Fancy Knoll, ceases to be, and Maggie alone remains. As a tribute to Blue, she sets her mind to write the stories of the local people who have lived in the area, either as she shared them herself, or as they were told to her. These are the stories of one community and are written to preserve the lives and culture for a future generation. Maggie’s tales are the stories of the people of Fancy Knoll.
The Education of Little Tree
Author: Forrest Carter
Publisher: UNM Press
Published: 2001-08-31
Total Pages: 236
ISBN-13: 0826316948
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe Education of Little Tree has been embedded in controversy since the revelation that the autobiographical story told by Forrest Carter was a complete fabrication. The touching novel, which has entranced readers since it was first published in 1976, has since raised questions, many unanswered, about how this quaint and engaging tale of a young, orphaned boy could have been written by a man whose life was so overtly rooted in hatred. How can this story, now discovered to be fictitious, fill our hearts with so much emotion as we champion Little Tree’s childhood lessons and future successes? The Education of Little Tree tells with poignant grace the story of a boy who is adopted by his Cherokee grandmother and half-Cherokee grandfather in the Appalachian Mountains of Tennessee during the Great Depression. “Little Tree,” as his grandparents call him, is shown how to hunt and survive in the mountains and taught to respect nature in the Cherokee Way—taking only what is needed, leaving the rest for nature to run its course. Little Tree also learns the often callous ways of white businessmen, sharecroppers, Christians, and politicians. Each vignette, whether frightening, funny, heartwarming, or sad, teaches our protagonist about life, love, nature, work, friendship, and family. A classic of its era and an enduring book for all ages, The Education of Little Tree continues to share important lessons. Little Tree’s story allows us to reflect on the past and look toward the future. It offers us an opportunity to ask ourselves what we have learned and where it will take us.
The Fall of a Sparrow
Author: Kent Koppelman
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2020-11-25
Total Pages: 175
ISBN-13: 1351863398
DOWNLOAD EBOOKIn this book, the author describes his attempt to create a meaningful and satisfying grieving process following the death of his 19 year old son, Jason, in a car accident. The narrative confronts the harsh reality of death from the hospital to the cemetery and the many mundane yet painful decisions that must be made. For those who must cope with an unexpected death, the grieving process becomes a struggle to express one's love and at the same time say goodbye.
A Hard Row to Hoe
Author: Marie S. Glover
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Published: 2015-04-07
Total Pages: 298
ISBN-13: 1496957881
DOWNLOAD EBOOKA Hard Row to Hoe is a narrative novel that stems from the memoirs of its main character, Ree, born in 1941. The story is based on her recollections from the around the age of four years old to the end of the decade. The story gives a concise view of the time, history, and southern setting in which the story unfolds. The story tells of how Ree slowly learns about life under the watchful eyes of her mother, doting grandmother, and their profound religious teachings. Although shes inquisitive, the excessively protective nature of her parents and grandmother always kept her curiosities at bay. However, despite their concerns, this rather sickly, quiet, and curious child senses theres more to life and utilizes every given opportunity to learn about people outside her secluded world. Sheltered in a world of blackness, she realizes her skin is black, and shes very happy being black because everybody she knows in her little world is kindhearted and nonjudgmental. It was only when she finally ventures out into the greater society that she realizes what it means to be a little black child in America. Shockingly, her aspirations temporarily floundered when she faced the harsh reality that not all people accepted her blackness. Ree learns life can be hard and very painful and that it incorporates many different kinds of painmost devastatingly, the pain of rejection. By the storys end, she has become so resolute it dulled the pain of an unaccepting world. Assuredly, she knows the moral teachings of her mother and grandmother would always be there to help her overcome the stigmas that have been attached to black skin. It is said: theres nothing new under the sun. Subsequently, everything that goes around comes around. Moral principles that have spanned the decades are embedded within the lines of events, which will provide many teachable moments, just as its gripping conclusion will provide timeless answers to age-old problems.
Windows of Life and Death
Author:
Publisher: Dorrance Publishing
Published:
Total Pages: 188
ISBN-13: 1434945197
DOWNLOAD EBOOKUnder the Tree
Author: Susan Waggoner
Publisher: Abrams
Published: 2021-06-22
Total Pages: 251
ISBN-13: 1647006171
DOWNLOAD EBOOKFilled with more than 100 illustrations—nostalgic art, vintage photographs, and evocative advertisements When? Can’t I open just one? Please? The minutes, the hours, the eons of waiting—and wondering. What’s underneath the shiny silver paper? Behind the enormous red bow? Under the tree? Who doesn’t remember what it was like to be a kid at Christmas? And who hasn’t yearned to go back in time to recapture that special feeling? Well, we can’t turn back the clock, but we can do the next best thing. We can bring a bit of the past into the present. In Under the Tree, Susan Waggoner, author of It’s a Wonderful Christmas, takes a loving, nostalgic look at the toys and gifts that made the postwar American Christmas the big deal it was. Under the Tree revisits gifts both large and small, from Mr. Machine and the Kenner Easy-Bake Oven to Moon Rocks, Silly Putty, Sea Monkeys, and other delights that stuffed our stockings. In addition to the fascinating stories behind each toy, the book is bursting with cultural history, quotes, and lore—all wrapped up with more than 100 full-color vintage illustrations. For anyone who’s ever been a kid at Christmas, Under the Tree will be as irresistible as a kiss under the mistletoe.
Tharon Ann
Author: Jennifer Brookins
Publisher: Willow Grove Press
Published: 2015-05-16
Total Pages: 309
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOK"Tharon Ann" is a memoir of one woman's life, from orphan, to actress, to mother, to seeker, as the book's byline summarizes. It is written in several voices as her life progresses; the first, her childhood, a voice reminiscent of Faulkner, Williams, and other southern writers; the second, that of an actress who takes us with her into the world of movies, theatre, and television; the third, of a wife and mother who as a single parent, along with her small boys, puts us into the "Old Chevy with a suitcase tied to the top" trekking cross-country to a new life; and finally, the fourth about the richest part of her life, which allows us access into a fantastic journey of the spirit, with openness, humor, and charm. The book is more than a memoir in the traditional sense. It is a road map, a guide on determination, on achievement against all odds on that thing called hope.
