Product Description

A boy provides a look at life on the prairies of North America and describes the effects of the climate on the people in the heartland of the continent.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #377149 in Books
• Published on: 2002-05-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 32 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781895714661
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From School Library Journal
Grade 2-6?Blazing skies in bright blues bounce from the full-page acrylic illustrations that face every page of poetic text in this piece about modern-day life on the prairie. Ripplinger's paintings are done in a realistic style somewhat similar to Andrew Wyeth's. In them, a young boy and his dog play through every season on farmlands, prairie fields, and country roads. He and his friends have a snowball fight in front of a large country house and board the school bus in a winter blizzard. The child walks in a creek bed in solitude and down the road beside his dad. For the most part, the accompanying verse is well written. The dialogue style works well rhythmically and makes for a possible story hour or program read-aloud. Adults would also enjoy this nostalgic piece that ends with the boy a grown farmer: "You see, my hair's mostly wind,/My eyes filled with grit,/My skin's red or brown,/My lips chapped and split." With its attractive format, this will make a nice additional purchase for poetry collections, though in prairie areas it might be a "must."?Susannah Price, Boise Public Library, ID
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Gr. 3^-5, younger for reading aloud. The initial premise of the poem--if you're not from the prairie, you can't understand wind, cold, grasses, and such--mellows out by the end as "you" and "I" agree to understand each other because we share the same sun. The colorful acrylic paintings, however, draw you in immediately rather than insist that you can't understand. Ripplinger's images catch the vastness of prairie living, with a strong sense of the flat expanses of the horizon, and the vastness of the sky. This is a world of children on the prairie, physically lying on the land, playing in the mud, walking through the snow. The book affectionately shows farm life on flatland, wherever the land is. Mary Harris Veeder

Customer Reviews

beautiful stories and pictures
this book is beautifully done. the words paint pictures and the pictures tell a story. i read it to my 3rd grade class and am planning to buy one for my 83 year old father for christmas!!

Heritage for the soul..for kids and adults
I am not a prairie native and loved how this book has shown me why the heartland has captured the hearts of so many. My three year old wants to check this book out from the library every time we go - I finally am buying our own copy and will probably use it as a coffetable book for awhile! The illustrations evoke memories as well as feelings my family has shared in small Nebraska towns. HOORAy for this book!

Great for teachers in South Dakota!
This is an awesome book! Coming from Eastern South Dakota (plains) it is just so perfect! I taught a lesson to students (4th grade) who live in Western South Dakota (the Black Hills) and we compared the two regions of South Dakota. We then wrote a poem that used the author's structure as a guide. We entitled the poem "If you're not from the Black Hills..." It went over great and the kids loved it! It also correlates to 4 state standards and probably many more! This book made me cry! Awesome!