Customer Reviews

Man of the Family

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A reviewer asked for help regarding the names and volumes in this series. Here it is...

1. Little Britches

2. Man of the Family

3. The Home Ranch

4. Mary Emma & Company

5. The Fields of Home

6. Shaking the Nickel

7. The Dry Divide

8. Horse of a Different Color

Mr. Moody shares adventures of his life in this series. It's wonderful, but there is some foul language. Therefore, I would recommend reading the books aloud with older children (not for the preschool/early elementary crowd).

The 'Little Britches' series is every bit as exciting, historical, and fascinating as the 'Little House on the Prarie' series, and Moody has even outdone Laura Wilder in his characterization of great American values like hard work, independence, and respect.

Continuing on after the death of father in 'Little Britches', the second book in the series tells how the Moody family pulled together to survive in turn-of-the century Littleton, Colorado. From using stilts to become the best fruit pickers in town, to outsmarting the manager of the finest hotel in Denver, to trading free coal for a Christmas goose, Moody brings the reader right into this frontier family.

My children, ages 4 to 14, all sat in rapt attention as I read from this book, and every chapter was ended with cries of "just one more, Dad, please!"

When Ralph Moody's father dies in the early spring of 1910, he's eleven years old, the senior boy in a family of five, and determined to support his mother and siblings. It's a rocky road, for his mother, even though she declares she'll "depend on" him as "her man," is equally determined that he must stay in school--which means he's restricted to nickel-an-hour boy-jobs for most of the year. And so, despite the title, this book is less about Ralph's helming the family than about the family's pulling together to support itself. They start a "cookery route," selling Mrs. Moody's New England food to neighbors; the children pick fruit, and Ralph rides in match races, breeds rabbits, and hires schoolmates with horses to keep the cattle from the incoming trail herds out of the residential lanes, as well as discovering that it's possible to supply the family's entire need for coal simply by picking up what has fallen off the tenders of passing trains. Like his father before him, he proves to be a shrewd trader and a clever inventor who comes up with a device on which to dry and repair the lace curtains from Denver's Brown Palace Hotel when his mother gets the idea of offering her services as a contract launderer. And he and his brothers and sisters get a surprise when, six months after their father's death, their mother has a sixth baby.

Besides Mary Emma Moody, who stands solidly in the midst of her young family and exemplifies the best type of "widder woman," the two most unforgettable characters in the book are Sheriff McGrath, a widower who tries awkwardly to court Ralph's mother, and Jerry McEnerney, the Irish section boss who, for all his early bluster, soon becomes the boy's friend and quietly arranges for him to obtain over 100 used railroad ties to haul away and sell. And though there are setbacks and mishaps, such as the vividly described spillage of an entire wagonload of cookery, the Moodys soldier on, until it begins to look as if they will be able to stay indefinitely in Ralph's beloved Colorado. But then Mary Emma incautiously shares a secret with a neighbor, and is subpoenaed to testify before the Grand Jury. Fearing that she will end by sending an innocent man to the gallows, she decides there is only one thing to do: take her children and secretly flee out of state to live with her brother in New England. And so one phase of Ralph's life ends and another begins, to be told in subsequent books. But the West will call him back, and he will never be fully free of its spell.

This is a funny, warmhearted, inspiring tale of a family determined to make its way without seeking charity, of its friends and neighbors, and of the beautiful land it loves. It would make a splendid family readaloud, or a good book to curl up with alone if you love stories of the West and of people who don't give up.

Hooked by Little Britches, I am now reading the entire series. Although both Little Britches and Man of the Family are simply and unsentimentally written about the everyday dramas of a boy growing up in Colorado at the turn of the century, they surprised me by leaving me with a lump in my throat and anxious to read the next the installment in Mr. Moody's life. A good read and one that young people would enjoy and benefit from.

This is a great true story for ages 6-105. A little bit of cowboy language but going to the park is far worse. Action, adventure, joy, hardship, love of family & friends,... it's all there. Very eye opening. I'm so glad audio versions are coming out so we can enjoy them together on long car trips or when sick in bed. Worth the money.

Ralph Moody wrote stories of his own experiences that kept you interested with each paragraph wondering what was going to happen next. The stories are good, down-to-earth christian family entertainment.

I LOVED the first book Little Britches it was a wonderul book, but now i want to read the secound book and i dont know the right order to read them in. Can anyone help me?

Moody, Ralph. Man of the Family.

Norton: New York, 1951.

As soon as I started reading Man of the Family, I liked it because it takes you to the past.

One of the best things it does is creates good characters. Therefore you hate them, like them, but either way through that, you can make good connections. Also, what I really like is the dialog. The dialog is good because the characters talk different from us now and its fun to read with that in it. The book is never boring because of the realism in it. Your always asking what is going to happen, will the Moodys make enough money? Are they going to die? Its stuff like that that makes it interesting.

With the characters, dialog, and realism, Ralph Moody wrote a interesting book about himself in the past.

That poor little Ralph Moody was such a hard-workin' kid! (we need more of them around today) And he loves horses, so I just love this story. thank you thank you thank you!

I love these books, Ralph Moody is a great writer. I am hooked on them. The way life was and should be!