BIBLIOGRAPHY
Larson, Kirby. 2006. HATTIE BIG SKY. New York: Delacorte Press. ISBN 0385735952
PLOT SUMMARY
Larson has written a historic novel set in the early 1900’s in Eastern Montana. Hattie Brooks or Hattie Here-and-There has been shuffled around to different relatives since she was orphaned at age five. She had never had a place to call her own, that changed when she received a letter telling her she had inherited her late uncle’s homestead. At sixteen years old she packed her belongings and boarded a train for Vida, Montana. The story is of her adventures in learning what it means to be a homesteader and a neighbor.
CRITICAL ANALYSIS
This book will give students a glimpse into living as a homesteader in the early 1900’s. This book does not sugar coat the details instead it describes very realistically what life was like. Describing how Hattie had to go out in the blizzard to milk the cow and how people were helpless when they were sick because there weren’t doctors in every town.
Larson, Kirby. 2006. HATTIE BIG SKY. New York: Delacorte Press. ISBN 0385735952
PLOT SUMMARY
Larson has written a historic novel set in the early 1900’s in Eastern Montana. Hattie Brooks or Hattie Here-and-There has been shuffled around to different relatives since she was orphaned at age five. She had never had a place to call her own, that changed when she received a letter telling her she had inherited her late uncle’s homestead. At sixteen years old she packed her belongings and boarded a train for Vida, Montana. The story is of her adventures in learning what it means to be a homesteader and a neighbor.
CRITICAL ANALYSIS
This book will give students a glimpse into living as a homesteader in the early 1900’s. This book does not sugar coat the details instead it describes very realistically what life was like. Describing how Hattie had to go out in the blizzard to milk the cow and how people were helpless when they were sick because there weren’t doctors in every town.
Larson shows that she did a thorough job researching for this story. It is based on her great-grandmothers story. Her grandmother did not keep a journal, but she read many other journals to piece together this story. This story also rings true of the times by bringing in the anti-German sentiment. In the “Author’s Notes” section she states that the mob incident with Mr. Ebgard actually occurred.
Students will be able to identify with Hattie as she tries to make it on her own. They will also relate to the fact that it isn’t always easy to be friends with people who others discriminate against.
REVIEW EXCERPTS
BOOKLIST Starred Review: “authentic first-person narrative, full of hope and anxiety, effectively portrays Hattie's struggles as a young woman with limited options, a homesteader facing terrible odds, and a loyal citizen confused about the war and the local anti-German bias that endangers her new friends.”
BOOKLIST Starred Review: “authentic first-person narrative, full of hope and anxiety, effectively portrays Hattie's struggles as a young woman with limited options, a homesteader facing terrible odds, and a loyal citizen confused about the war and the local anti-German bias that endangers her new friends.”
SHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL Starred Review: “Larson creates a masterful picture of the homesteading experience and the people who persevered.”
CONNECTIONS (found in the “Further Reading” section)
*For further reading about Montana in this time period
-Presser, Marvin. 1997. WHEN YOU AND I WERE YOUNG, WHITEFISH. Billings, MT: Montana Historical Society Press. 0917298438.
-Lucey, Donna. 2001. PHOTGRAPHING MONTANA 1894-1928: THE LIFE AND WORK OF EVELYN CAMERON. Mountain Press Publishing Company.
*Learn more about World War I at www.firstworldwar.com*Learn more about your own family and state history at www.usgenweb.com
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