Strawberry Girl

Strawberry Girl

It has 19 and a half pages. It may seem long but it is not. It starts out when the Slaters are sitting on the porch. Mr. Slater just found out some new people from Caroliny moved in to the ole Roddenberry house. They are the Boyers. They start trouble right away. They Boyers plan to grow strawberries but the Slaters say the strawberries will die. The Slaters animals wreck everything including the strawberries. Animals start to die and the Slaters start a fire. The end is real good, so you should read it and find out what happens.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Escape to the back woods

I remember reading this book as a young girl and it still touches my heart today. Stories of candy pullins and eating sugar cane take me back to days gone by. Thank you Lois Lenski for providing a legacy for those of us wishing for a brief escape back to the back woods.

fresh and realistic look at pioneer life in Florida

Even in 1900, much of the state of Florida was still a wilderness being populated by settlers. Ten-year-old Birdie (Berthenia Lou) Boyer has moved to the old Roddenberry place in the palmetto backwoods of Florida with her father Bihu, mother, older brothers Bihu Jr. (Buzz) and Dan, big sister Dixie, little sister Dovey Eudora (Dove), and baby brother Robert (Bunny). The family plans to raise and sell strawberries and oranges. Unfortunately, their nearest neighbors are the Slaters. Mr. Slater drinks quite a bit. His older sons Gus and Joe beat up the teacher Mr. Pearce so they don't have to go to school. Mrs. Slater seems nice, but is afraid of her husband and always chiding the Boyers for being too "biggety." The little Slater girls, Essie and Zephy, alternately play with the Boyer girls and then ignore them. The other Slater boy, Jeff (Jefferson Davis), nicknamed Shoestring, is often defiant but always sad.
Mr. Slater has been raising cattle, and since he lets them roam loose to find foraging he doesn't want the area fenced off for farms, so he does several things in an attempt to drive the Boyers away. He runs his cattle over their strawberry fields (although after this Mrs. Boyer spreads flour over the field to make the Slaters think that the Boyers have spread poison). After the Boyer land is fenced, the Slaters cut the fences to let their hogs in. They poisoned the Boyers' only mule Semina. They even set a grass fire to burn the Boyers out. Will the Slaters ever change their evil ways? And will the Boyers decide to leave or stay? Mrs. Lenski wrote several historical novels, such as Indian Captive, and a number of regional novels, including Texas Tomboy and Prairie School, about the lives of children in different parts of the country. Strawberry Girl, the 1946 Newbery Award winner, is classed as a regional.
The story is based on interviews that were conducted by the author. It is a simple but fresh and realistic look at how a pioneering family in early twentieth century Florida had to suffer through the hardships of heat, drought, cold snaps, and storms, as well as trouble with feuding neighbors. As to language, there are a few euphemisms and the term "Lordy" is used as an interjection. The dialogue contains a lot of Southern colloquialisms and dialect that may be a little hard for some children to read but gives it the flavor of authenticity. The book shows the dangers of drinking while it encourages hard work and kindness toward enemies. There is a little bit of denominational thinking, but in the end Mr. Slater is converted at a camp meeting and lives a changed life.

School Material

As a future teacher I can see myself using this book in my classroom. It has many life lessons to learn from and it will help children see just how different life used to be, to what it is now.

This book was ok

I don't think that everyone would like this book I was deffinetly in the middle of not liking it and loving. some people might of loved it though.I think that it was to boring and it wasn't dramatic enough.The only dramatic part was probably that they couldn't grow crops at first........

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

hey i thought this was pretty boring!

Hello everyone my mother thought this was a pretty good book. I agree with her in some ways but i thought this was pretty boring otherwise all of lois lenski's books are awesome!

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

love strawberry

I read this book in 5th grade, many moons ago,I am ordering it now for my daughter.I hope she enjoys it like I did,no wands,no fairys,no dragons or guns,just a good ole story.

A good book for your library

Strawberry Girl is a well written story of how family life in the backwoods used to be. It tells of one particular family's adversities with their livelihood and their trouble-making neighbors. The writing is evenly paced, allowing the reader to become attached to the characters. It's alive and fresh and interesting.

This is a great story!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is a very interesting story on how this family makes a living!This is very interesting because all of the family crops could burn down and they still do this as a living!

very exciting

This book was very exiciting a real amazing story. You should definately read this book. if you do I hope you enjoy it.

An awsome book to read

This book was out of this world! I really enjoyed it. If you like to read spunky/fun stories, Read THIS book!

Strawberry Girl

It was a good book except for the part s like when Mr. Slater gets drunk and he shoots all the head off of the chickens or when the Slaters do bad things to the Boyer's animals. Besides those things the book is pretty good. It teaches kids lessons and it teaches kids what it was like in the old days. What I'm trying to say is Strawberry Girl is a good book for kids in about 4th grade and up.

Strawberry Girl

It gave a good idea about what it was like a long time ago. This book was also exciting because there is constant action and there is always somethink interesting going on. The story is about a little girl named Birdie and her family. They are farmers and the neighbors are constantly ruining their crops so the families start fighting and killing each others animals. The bad things about the book is it is a bad influence on little kids because of the drinking and violence, but I think the book had a spectacular ending! Don't miss this book

Strawberry Girl

It is about a sweet little girl and her family that moves to Florida. They meet up with some unfriendly neighbors. Birdie and her family try to grow strawberries, but their neighbors keep ruining the strawberries. They put up a fence to keep their neighbors out. Now that was a big mistake. The Slaters cut the fence and go right through with their cattle. Birdie's younger brother gets a spotted calf but the Slaters steal it. Mr. Boyer is really mad. Mrs. Slater is sick. The Slater boy asks Mrs. Boyer if she could take care of his mom. Will Mrs. Boyer help? Will the families become friends? You can find out if you read the book.

Strawberry Girl

I think that because when I read it, it gets me thinking about what it was like back then. There are some violence in it but I think that if kids are able to read the book it's probably okay. It also is a good book because it teaches you a new language. The neighbors in the story fight a lot they kill each others animals. I don't think the Boyers in the book want to cause any trouble though. Birdie gets real frustrated because her strawberries have trouble to survive. I like the ending because its a happy ending. I really like the book, and whoever else reads the book it think they'll like it.

The best book ever

I love this book I would recommend it to millions of people. I think Lois Lenski did the best job on this book.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Strawberry Delight!!!!!!

I read this book to my third grade class because I enjoyed it so much as a child. We live in Florida and not many children's books are written about our area.It is such an excellent book that my student's talked me into two chapters a day, not just one. The language is written pretty much the way we rural Floridian's still talk. The description of the landscape sounds like it could be written about our area. Birdie, the main character is about nine or ten years old so my student's related to her quite well. Anyone who reads this book will not be sorry for the time invested. It reads easy and light.

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