Customer Reviews

Mary On Horseback: Three Mountain Stories (Turtleback School & Library Binding Edition)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was lucky to visit the Frontier Nursing Service and prepare oral histories of some of the people whose lives were touched by Mary Breckinridge and others heroines of the FNS. Wells captures the ridges and hollers and the communities of this side of Kentucky in simple, moving vignettes.

MARY ON HORSEBACK by Rosemary Wells is a beautifully written account of how Mary Breckinridge devoted her life to helping people of rural Appalachia during the 1920's and 30's. In an area where there were no hospitals or doctors, Mary established a nursing service and saved the lives of many people. The story of her devotion and unselfishness is unique and worthy of praise, as is the author's style of writing. Wells does an outstanding job of capturing the dialect, emotions and soul of the mountain people of Kentucky. Black and white illustrations by Peter McCarty add to the beauty and authenticity of the book. People of all ages will enjoy this book. Younger children would love having it read to them. Middle school students can learn valuable lessons from reading it themselves, and it's complex enough to hold the attention of adults.

Mary Breckinridge (20th century nurse, leader, & visionary) set the standard for rural healthcare. Rosemary Wells' book takes 3 stories from the exciting life & times of a great American woman and brings them to children. This book is for all ages-young & old. I did a college-level biography on Ms. Breckinridge as I found her life and life's work so interesting (her autobiography is excellent & available through Amazon) This would be an excellent classroom reader grades 3-5 and a great read for anyone interested in history, great women, and Americans.

I thought that this book was an incredible testament of the human spirit! The title character completed her dream of caring for the poor people of the Kentucky mountains. This was done after Mary Breckinridge herself had undergone enormous personal tragedy. As an elementary school teacher, I plan to use this book as an example of the great things a person can do inspite of one's own circumstances.

Mrs. Wells' slim little biography of Mary Breckinridge, told in three moving vignettes, is evocative of Hemingway at his best. Each vignette is simply, beautifully told without a word wasted.

Breckinridge and her patients and nurses come so vividly to life in this little book that it looms in my mind as a much larger work. Mrs. Wells is a genius, and this book is one that would be easy to share aloud with audiences of any age.

I coordinate a 1st - 2nd grade Girl Scouts troop and the girls were enthralled with this story. Even after a long day at school, when they would much rather be roughhousing together, they sat still and were asking for more after each chapter. I highly recommend this book for elementary aged children - especially girls!

My husband works for the company that Mary Breckinridge began over 80 years ago. So when I heard of this book I had to include it in our collection. What a courageous woman.

Rosemary Wells is one of my favorite chidren's authors--she is a funny and gifted storyteller. My daughter and I have loved her Max and Ruby stories above all. However, this book I am wary of as the life and work of Mary Breckinridge are not things to be whitewashed for children. In order to create her domain in Appalachian Kentucky, Mary visited with traditional midwives and then wrote reports describing them as largely dangerous, dirty, unskilled in order to make the case for the establishment of the Frontier Nursing Service. She had no solid data that midwives, though no doubt a mixed group like any other, were in reality "dangerous" and, in fact, to this day no scholar has been able to prove that nurse-midwives provided better care than traditional midwives in the region. Many other factors have contributed to a reduction in infant and maternal mortalities. Her lack of solid data in the end, however, didn't matter as she had the authority and connections as a women of wealth and privelege to get the political and financial backing for FNS. To raise funds, she told wealthy donors that she was saving children of "pure Aryan stock." This sale pitch worked well for her as this was a time when many wealthy Anglos feared "race suicide" and desperately wanted more "white" babies to be born. Breckinridge's racism was also made powerful in her lifelong efforts to block African-American nurse-midwives from joining the profession's national organization. Sad, I know, but is it more disturbing to let our children know the whole story or to keep it from them?

This book touched my heart, as well as that of my 8 year old daughter. It is a beautifully told story of courage and overcoming grief for the good of others. I highly recommend this story to all, especially to those of us who call the wonderful Commonwealth of Kentucky home.

Great story for my grandkids as they just moved to Mongolia & see plenty of mountains & steppes & horses. Also fast service from the seller.