99 of 104 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Berries for Birdie, November 3, 2004
This review is from: Strawberry Girl 60th Anniversary Edition (Trophy Newbery) (Paperback)
I hereby nominate Lois Lenski's 1946 Newbery Award winning book, "Strawberry Girl" for the Most-Misleading-Cover-Art-And-Title Award of the 20th century. Picking up this story, I was fairly certain that this tale would be a cutesy little number about a girl who picks strawberries for fun. On the cover, after all, you see a little blond barefooted child clutching a cache of yummy red fruit as she walks along in her sunbonnet. I was anticipating Strawberry Shortcake. What I got was "Tobacco Road" for kids. An oddly shocking delight.
Lenski prefaces this book with an explanation of Florida "Crackers". Personally, I've never heard this term used as anything but a base insult. Lenski, however, seems to think that the phrase is deserving of pride. Concentrating on the hardworking rural natives of Florida, she gives a little background on the history of these people in an effort to, "present vivid, sympathetic pictures of the real life of different Americans, against authentic backgrounds of diverse localities". In this case, Lenski interviewed "Crackers" on her own time and used their stories (watered down, as was appropriate) to write this book. The result is a seething concoction of barely contained violence and danger, centered on the lives of two very different Florida Cracker families.
The Boyers have just moved into the old Roddenberry house, and they've got big plans. Originally from Marion County, Carolina, the family attempts to settle into their new life and make friends with their neighbors. Unfortunately, those neighbors include Sam Slater. A nasty man with a penchant for drunkenness, Sam's just the kind of guy who doesn't mind causing his fellow man a bit of trouble once in a while. When the wild hogs and cows of the Slaters start eating the Boyer family's crops, tensions begin to rise between the two households. The Boyers are good hardworking people with pride and bright ideas. The Slaters could be categorized as white trash, never lifting a finger to feed their own animals and jealously coveting those nice things their neighbors have. Our hero of the story, Birdie Boyer, has her own problems dealing with Shoestring Slater, a boy roughly her age who's just as likely to brag or throw a snake on a girl's hat as he is help keep his father's pigs out of trouble or lament his own lack of education.
Lenski does an interesting thing with the beginning of this book. She begins it through the point of view of seven-year-old Essie Slater, leading you to believe that she herself will be the heroine of this tale. As you slowly come to the realization that her father is not the usual wise/good/loving pop found in most 1945 children's books, the text suddenly switches to the point of view of Birdie Boyer and Essie is never heard from again. Lenski's characters aren't as cardboard cut-outish as they first appear either. At the start, the Boyers seem good and the Slaters bad. Then odd occurrences make you begin to doubt this assumption. Mr. Boyer, in an attempt to teach Shoestring Slater a lesson, whips the boy harshly in front of his mother and sisters (who, understandably, are frightened and furious by this violence). Mr. Boyer is also prone to killing his neighbor's pigs if they get in his way, even sometimes cutting off their ears as a sign. He won't even create a path for Slater's cattle herd to reach the nearest water source, instead fencing up the area and getting mad when it's cut down. The Slaters also win your affection at odd moments. Birdie is quick to blame Shoestring for anything he does wrong, but the boy is a good egg in a bad situation. He has to juggle his family's expectations while figuring out for himself what the right and wrong actions he should take really are.
A lot of this book is enjoyable partly because it goes the "Little House On the Prairie" route and explains the day-to-day goings on of the Boyers' lives in interesting ways. In what other children's book will you learn exactly how to grind sugar cane and pull it for fun afterwards? Or the ins and outs of raising strawberries in naturally sandy soil? What other book explains the intricacies of Florida weather in the spring and summer? Or tells you how to create roses out of paraffin? Part of the charm of "Strawberry Girl" is in describing how the old Florida pioneers did it. Less impressive are Lenski's pictures. It was with a heavy heart that I discovered that Lenski considered herself an artist first and a novelist second. That's too bad because the illustrations in this tale are particularly poor. I just couldn't like 'em and I suspect they'll easily deter many a prospective boy reader with their girlyness.
For a surprisingly dour and sharpely written novel about roughing it, definitely try "Strawberry Girl". You might find that the ending suffers from being a little too pat (there's a happy finish there that jars with the realism of the rest of the text) but all in all it's still a very interesting read. For a good Florida based kid's book, both this and Carl Hiaasen's, "Hoot" are excellent choices. A sobering but enjoyable tale.
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81 of 95 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
questionable for 3rd and 4th graders, January 7, 2000
By A Customer
This review is from: Strawberry Girl 60th Anniversary Edition (Trophy Newbery) (Paperback)
Strawberry Girl seems innocent enough on the surface -- a book about a little girl and her family moving to a new house, planting new crops, and their hardships. However, the book has a strong overtone of fighting and feuding. The neighbors argue through the entire book. This book reminds me of "The Hatfields & the McCoys" for kids. The neighbors are constantly trying to "seek revenge" and "get even" with each other. Maybe I am just conservative, but I thought the book crossed the line a little for young children when the neighbors started killing one another's animals to seek revenge. I know this book was written in the 1940's and won the prestigious Newbery Medal, but not all books are timeless... some of them show their age and I think Strawberry Girl definitely shows its age with a plot that some parents and teachers might find questionable. There is a good "moral lesson" during the last two chapters, but still you will have to explain to your children why the neighbors killed one another's animals and why it is not right to do so and to seek revenge.
Another questionable act in the book is the drunkenness of the neighbor. He throws all of the families money away on alcohol and gambling. He loses his temper with his wife and his children, and he shoots the heads off of chickens one by one with a shotgun when he is drunk. Again, this one might be hard to swallow (no pun intended) with 3rd graders. The two older boys of this drunken man beat up the schoolteacher so badly that school has to be cancelled for weeks.
Another aspect of Strawberry Girl that makes it questionable is the language Lenski uses throughout the book. She uses an extreme southern (almost hillbilly-type) accent with each character in the book. After awhile it becomes tedious and difficult to read. I think it would be all right for 5th graders and advanced 4th graders. However, as a teacher of 3rd grade, I would have to say that most 8 and 9 year olds would find the language too difficult. It is challenging enough for readers this age to get through chapter books and to encounter so many new vocabulary words, but to have to deal with "I takened lessons way back in Caroliny when I was a young un and I ain't forgot yet. Hit makes me plumb happy to put my fingers on an organ again", may be just a little much for a 3rd grader.
My advice is to use this book as a read-aloud. You can read it to your children or your students. This will allow you to pronounce all of the southern dialog and you can explain as you go that there are better ways to solve differences then killing the neighbor's animals and so forth.
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17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
I think Strawberry Girl is a very good book., November 13, 1998
By A Customer
I liked this Newbery-Award winning book because it's creative and has old-Fashion English. I think Birdie is a neat character becuase she has breath taking adventures like when there is a forest fire and her sister is in her fort inside a tree. Also, I think it is sort of weird how people acted back then, it's just like now - people drink and bad things happen. If I lived in Birdie's time I think I would have a hard time because back then everyone had a hard time getting and earning money. In this book it is exactly the same. All together I think this book is really good and I would recommend it to people who like to read suspenseful books and who like to read about older times
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