Strawberry Girl by Lois Lenski

Have you ever wondered what it was like to grow up in backwoods Florida in the early 20th century? Me neither. But, you can find out anyway by reading Lenski's famous, Newberry winner from 1946, Strawberry Girl.

The book follows the Boyer family as they settle in to a new house and tackle farm life next to a hostile family. The story reads almost more like a series of vignettes of young Birdie Boyer's daily life and misadventures.

As someone who grew up nearly a century later, I cringed at a lot of the practices back then, or even at the children's lack of common sense. (Who in their right mind sticks their arm in a rattlesnake's cage to save a rabbit?!) And it was interesting to be reminded that there was that important era in our country's history when the cattlemen fought the farmers over fences. Usually I only think about that in the context of old 40s westerns, but it happened all over the U.S.

Of course, every heroine needs a nemesis, and Birdie finds hers in Shoestring Soyer, who perpetuates the stereotype of uncultured, uneducated, spirited, backwoods male youth while capturing untamable animals, being loud and annoying, and generally contributing to chaos.

It's an interesting children's book--mostly because it has apparently been well-read for over 60 years! I'm not sure this is one I would pass on to my kids, but... To each their own…

~6/10~