Eight stories capture the life of twelve-year-old Irene Hutto, growing up on a cotton farm in Texas in the 1930s, based on the life of Harriet Burandt's mother.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From School Library Journal
Grade 4-8. These selections read like stories a family would tell about one another, and, indeed, the incidents really did happen to members of the author's family. Irene, who is 12 and the oldest girl, is the center of each episode, but there is plenty of action from the rest of the clan. Irene, her six brothers and sisters, and her parents live on a cotton farm in Texas during the Depression, but there is scant mention made of the hard financial times. Instead, the stories deal with growing up, having adventures, tragedies, and being part of a family. The book begins with a suspenseful tale in which Irene and the younger children encounter a panther while swimming in the creek. The girl's quick thinking and pluck save them from tragedy. In another, an odious cousin who torments Irene to the point she wishes him dead mixes drinking and hunting with disastrous results. In an absolutely wild adventure, sister Lucy and young Aunt Belle ride out a hurricane and literally have their clothes blown off as they cling to doors used as rafts. There is even a bit of social commentary on the poor treatment of the mentally ill in one story. The characters leap off the pages. They are sweet, whiny, bold, scared, obnoxious, brave, dreamy, harried, caring, and loving. This rollicking good book can be tied into curriculum units on family and oral history, and the Depression. Great for reading aloud or alone.?Nancy P. Reeder, Heathwood Hall Episcopal School, Columbia, SC
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews
Texas in the 1930s is the setting for the eight episodes that make up this book. The central character, Irene Hutto, 12, is based on Burandt's mother and her life on the family cotton farm. Her ``adventures,'' most of which aren't very adventurous at all, range from having a neighbor boy put a dead mouse down the back of her blouse and racing the family mule team, to riding her horse to school, helping Mama with the cooking and baking, and visiting her grandparents. While the stories do give some idea of rural life in the past, there is almost no character development. Even though Burandt's enthusiasm for her subject comes through, readers end up knowing little about Irene and the rest of these stories' inhabitants. Marginal. (Fiction. 8-12) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A great family read-aloud!,
By A Customer
This review is from: Tales from the Home Place: Adventures of a Texas Farm Girl (Hardcover)
Our family loved reading this book aloud. Although the heroine is female, our boys, 7 & 8, wouldn't let us stop reading. It's exciting, adventurous, and tender.
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