I was thoroughly inspired by reading this book. It seemed to me to be a little slow developing at the beginning, due to a fairly complex family history. Even this should be interesting to people who like history from the perspective of people who lived it. It is well organized, and provides a good description of the environment that nurtured this God-inspired writer. Janette Oke's life experiences are so easy to identify with, and her dependence on God so well portrayed that it is an inspiration to me. It is also fascinating to learn how one of my favorite writers arrived at her mission in life.

Gruchow certainly has an eye for detail. Growing up close to the Minnesota prairie he describes, I missed seeing some of the sights, flowers, and animals he describes. His multi-page description of a summer thunderstorm brought back so many memories as did his marsh descriptions. It is a nice short book that deserves to be savored. It is easy to read a section, put the book down and come back later and be right back on the prairie. The feelings I got reading this book reminded me of how I felt after reading Dakota by Kathleen Norris. Both brought back good memories of my growing up years in the Midwest.

I logged on just now to find the sequals or the "rest" of the story. Each one ended leaving me with a desire to know what was coming next. None of these were just "love stories"; they showed the shaping of characters through events and a reliance on God for answers and for acceptance. I enjoyed each story.

As someone whose grandmother and great grandparents were a part of the Barr Colony I was very interested to find out exactly what life was like for them when they came from England to Canada in 1903. The book answered all my questions and gave great insight into the conditions experienced by my grandmother and her family as they travelled across Canada and tried to make a home in the Barr Colony. At times I was a little overwhelmed by the amount of detail in the book, but overall I found it very interesting. It is particularly suitable for those who have a particular interest inthe Barr Colony.

This is a true story of a man in the South Dakota territory between end of the Indian Wars and the settling of the homesteaders. This will fill the void that this time period is seldom written about.

On the Way to the Melting Pot is Waldemar Ager's biting, satirical rebuttal to Israel Zangwill's popular 1912 play, "The Melting Pot." In its pages, we watch helplessly as Norwegian immigrant families race to outdo one another in Americanizing themselves, forsaking their Old World traditions, values and even language. It is, in fact, a point of pride for many of the families that their children are idlers who can not hold meaningful conversations with their Norwegian-speaking parents. In the Skare household, for instance, the children learned quite early that their mother did not understand their speech. "Mother became like a piece of household furniture--the most useful in the whole house, essential and incomprehensible." Into this milieu enter Lars and his fiancée, Karoline, two young Norwegians just off the boat; and through their eyes readers obtain a Lettres Perses perspective on immigrant life in a small American midwestern city.

Ager penned the novel in 1917, during the crest of the last big wave of European immigration, and at the beginning of America's decade-long spasm of xenophobia and "100 % Americanism." American doughboys had just gone to France to "Hang the Kaiser!" and a push was on at home to level German pride, cultural traditions and language. The anti-German fervor spilled over onto other hyphenated Americans as well, and Ager undoubtedly wrote Melting Pot in part as a reaction to cries of "English only." But if the book in any wise reflected the reality in most Norwegian-American homes, Ager's biggest battle needed to be waged for the hearts and minds of his countrymen. History has shown Ager to be the loser, shown that over the last eighty years, Norwegian family traditions have attentuated unavoidably into nothing more than an occasional "Uff da!" and lutefisk at Christmas. Ager tried his best, though, and as his Yankee nemesis, Theodore Roosevelt, was wont to say, he "fought the good fight." ~~ Lizbeth Ager

Here is another entry in nature writer Jean Craighead George's fantastic ONE DAY series. This one, unlike the other books in the series--ONE DAY IN THE. . .WOODS, ALPINE TUNDRA, DESERT, and TROPICAL RAIN FOREST--is written more dramatically in the present, and is a very satisfying introduction to the lively environment of the United States prairie. Henry Rush, a young photographer, gets to spend one day on the prairie to take a picture of a prairie dog doing a backflip. These comical little critters provide humor, while the buffalo of a nearby herd seem wise and noble. Suddenly, disaster strikes. A tornado is headed for the prairie, and Henry, the buffalo, the prairie dogs, and countless other creatures are in its path. The result is thrilling and tense. The illustrator's amazingly realistic drawings add to the excitement. This is a fine story about a lively environment from the author of JULIE OF THE WOLVES, MY SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN, HOW TO TALK TO YOUR DOG, and many, many more superb books about the environment.

As a young college student, Francis Parkman, the later noted historian of the early West, goes to the land of the Lakotas and experiences their life. This is a personal history of the travels of the author through the lands of the Lakota before the great American westward expansion. Tales of Indian life and their "wars" with each other. Also tells first hand of the author's maturation in this environment. Should be required reading for any "lover of the wild west" because "This Was The It Was".

This book gives an interesting overview of life in the northern regions of America (Canada) during the depression era. Included are favorite pastimes and games that the children played. This book was written with the youngest generation in mind but it will be enjoyed by the older generation for the memories it stirs. I'm of a middle generation and I enjoyed it because it gave me a closer look at my parents childhood.

Enjoyed his slice-of-life descriptions of people he spent time with. At first I was puzzle at the choices of characters, all men (incuding his father)and mainly those who did manual labor. Where was the rest of the town? Then I realized that he examining the people that he (and me) had least understood growing up.