Hardscrabble

by Sandra Dallas

Overview

2020-2021 South Carolina Book Awards
2019 Wrangler Award for Outstanding Juvenile Book Winner
2019 Spur Award - Western Writer's of America Finalist

In 1910, after losing their farm in Iowa, the Martin family moves to Mingo, Colorado, to start anew. The US government offers 320 acres of land free to homesteaders. All they have to do is live on the land for five years and farm it. So twelve-year-old Belle Martin, along with her mother and six siblings, moves west to join her father. But while the land is free, farming is difficult and it's a hardscrabble life. Natural disasters such as storms and locusts threaten their success. And heartbreaking losses challenge their faith.

Do the Martins have what it takes to not only survive but thrive in their new prairie life? Told through the eyes of a twelve-year-old girl, this middle-grade novel from New York Times-bestselling author Sandra Dallas explores one family's homesteading efforts in 1900s Colorado.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781585363766
Publisher:	Sleeping Bear Press
Publication date:	09/15/2018
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	264
Sales rank:	565,882
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.70(d)
Lexile:	680L (what's this?)
Age Range:	9 - 10 Years

About the Author

Sandra Dallas is the New York Times bestselling author of the middle-grade novels Hardscrabble, The Quilt Walk, Red Berries, White Clouds, Blue Sky, and Someplace to Call Home. A member of the Colorado Authors’ Hall of Fame, she is the author of ten nonfiction books and seventeen adult novels, including The Last Midwife, Prayers for Sale, The Diary of Mattie Spenser, The Persian Pickle Club, and Little Souls. A former Denver bureau chief for Business Week magazine, she is the recipient of three National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum Wrangler awards, four Western Writers of America Spur Awards, and six Women Writing the West WILLA Awards. She lives in Denver and Georgetown, Colorado. Visit her at www.sandradallas.com.

Table of Contents

Chapter One: Coming to Colorado Chapter Two: The Girl Homesteader Chapter Three: Visitors Chapter Four: Killing Bedbugs Chapter Five: Killing Snakes, Too Chapter Six: Lizzie’s Secret Chapter Seven: Belle Goes to Town Chapter Eight: A Homesteader Party Chapter Nine: Mrs. Spenser’s Gift Chapter Ten: A Colorado Christmas Chapter Eleven: Staying with Lizzie Chapter Twelve: The Intruder Chapter Thirteen: Becky Chapter Fourteen: The Blizzard Chapter Fifteen: The Rescue Chapter Sixteen: Mama Chapter Seventeen: Three Walnuts Chapter Eighteen: A Surprise Celebration Chapter Nineteen: Hank Comes to Mingo Chapter Twenty: A Hard Summer Chapter Twenty-One: Carrie’s Sacrifice Chapter Twenty-Two: Mrs. Spenser Comes Calling Chapter Twenty-Three: Belle Meddles Chapter Twenty-Four: Courting Lizzie Chapter Twenty-Five: Another Christmas Chapter Twenty-Six: Papa’s Surprise Epilogue Glossary Acknowledgements About the Author

Editorial Reviews

03/01/2018
Gr 4–6—In the early 1900s, the Martins move to Colorado, where Father plans to earn free land by farming government acreage for five years. Twelve-year-old Belle and her family endure a series of harrowing events: baby Sage survives an encounter with a rattlesnake; Belle's sibling Becky dies, as does Mama; a blizzard threatens the entire family; and an invasion of grasshoppers must be fought off. Later lighter moments, such as Belle playing matchmaker for her widowed father, lessen the tension. The author's careful attention to historical detail can be found in her vivid description of the Martins's "soddy" home. A cast of believable characters with distinct personalities brings this slice of U.S. history to life; particular attention is given to how the difficulties of frontier life impact the children. The Martins neighbor Lizzie, an independent woman who homesteads alone and offers the Martins valuable support, is a strong and memorable character. VERDICT Dallas's latest work of historical fiction (Red Berries, White Clouds, Blue Sky; The Quilt Walk) conveys the importance of family and the value of neighbors helping one another. A fine selection where fiction about white U.S. frontier life is in demand.—Lynn Vanca, Freelance Librarian, Akron

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