Customer Reviews

Grasslands

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This book shows the real west from a kids point of view. The good, the bad, and the ugly all mixed in with the sensitivity of an author who has roots in the area. I enjoyed the book tremendously and it revealed many new aspects of the prairie life that CLint Eastwood movies failed to mention. Its a refreshingly frank view of the real hardships on the prairie that gives me even more respect for the grit and determination of the early settlers.It was clearly well researched and fact based. More importantly, since its targeted to kids - I gave this book to my nieces and nephews as a Christmas gift. They couldn't put it down and were asking for 'the rest of the story' which Ms Seely provides in Last of the Roundup Boys.

This book was a good read, but there were also disappointments. Myself, living in Kansas, I felt the reader was some how putting Kansas down, from the boy's point of view. I suppose I don't really like what it was like back then, but, as a Kansas citizen, I am proud to live here in the vast prairies, and flat lands. To me, it seemed like Thomas' father only wanted him to come live with him, because he needed another farm hand around the place. In this short story, two young children also die. Thomas' half baby brother, from whooping cough, and a neighbor girl, who was only three, and got lost on the prairie. I guess in this day and age, we don't like to think about the bad things in life, and are not use to it when it comes to reading stories.
Otherwise, it was a good book, and you do learn a lot about the Kansas prairie.