Lasso Your Heart [Hardcover]

Betty Cavanna (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 184 pages
• Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press (June 1952)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0664320899
• ISBN-13: 978-0664320898
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,646,259 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Story Still Relevant, July 7, 2007

By 

Tulip Town Traders - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lasso Your Heart (Hardcover)

Written over fifty years ago, this coming-of-age novel for young teens still holds up amazingly well. The plot is a simple one involving a sleek city girl, her younger, unsophisticated ranch girl cousin and the complications that arise as they take some last steps toward adulthood. And of course, romances ensue.

The costumes, customs, and mores are naturally dated since they reflect life in the early 1950's, but from the perspective of the new millennium this can be looked at as a period piece or historical fiction. The themes, however, are universal and are handled so deftly that they manage to be educational and not sappy. The characters are nicely-drawn, they evolve, and they are likeable.

This might be an interesting, creative reading assignment for a homeschooling parent. Topics for discussion could include the differences in clothing, entertainment, travel, etc. between then and now. A rich vein to explore would be the ethical dilemma faced by a character who makes a promise that becomes a huge burden and the satisfying, adult way she chooses to resolve the conflict.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gentle 1950's girls' story, November 14, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Lasso Your Heart (Hardcover)

Prue Foster has recently moved to a Pennsylvania farm from a Texas ranch, and is having a hard time adjusting to life in the East. When she is invited to stay at her cousin Cissy Rountree's Main Line Philadelphia home for Cissy's debut, Prue is sure she will be uncomfortable there. However, Cissy and her parents are so warm and welcoming that Prue starts to relax and enjoy herself. Cissy's debutante party starts off beautifully, but near the end of the festivities, the Rountrees receive a tragic phone call: their older daughter Lea's husband, a pilot, has been killed in a plane crash.

Cissy goes to stay with Prue at the Fosters' farm for the rest of the summer while her parents bring Lea home from Holland where Lea and her husband had been living. During this time, the girls become friends, and both find romance: Prue with Colin Grey, a friend of Cissy's, who has a mutual interest with Prue in literature; and Cissy with Mac Price, a college student from Texas who has a summer job as the Fosters' ranch hand.

Then, Cissy, after swearing Prue to secrecy, confides that she and Mac are planning to elope. Prue worries about the hastiness of their coming marriage. How can she convince them to wait and do the right thing?

This is a sensitive, beautifully-written story. There are some wonderful scenes to set the mood: the excitement of the preparations for Cissy's debut; the sudden shock of the family tragedy; Prue's comforting Cissy one night after she finds Cissy weeping under a tree; and Prue's being torn between keeping Cissy's marriage plan secret and trying to prevent the elopement.
The birth of a beautiful foal, Pandora, to Prue's mare, Feather, is a sensitive affirmation of the continuity of life. Although this book was written in the 1950's, it still touches emotions that are true today. Worth seeking out.