Hardscrabble by Sandra Dallas - ADVISABLE

Hardscrabble by Sandra Dallas, 240 pages.  Sleeping Bear Press, 2018.  $16.  

Content: Language: G; Mature Content: G; Violence: PG.  

BUYING ADVISORY:  EL, MS – ADVISABLE  

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE  

Belle arrives in Mingo, Colorado with her ailing mother and brood of siblings to meet up with their father who has been starting their homestead while they moved from Iowa.  Even though Belle is only twelve, Belle and her older sister quickly fall into the mother roll and help around the farm.  They befriend a woman homesteader, Lizzie, who is a bright spot in their bleak environment and helps them figure out life on the prairie.  When Belle’s mother’s health doesn’t improve, Belle, her father and her sister feel hopeless and have to depend on each other and their kind neighbors to survive.  

Sandra Dallas does this setting (Midwest) and time period (1910) so well, whether she is writing for adults or middle readers.  I loved the Martin family and wanted them to succeed and was totally caught up in their struggle.  Two little things bugged me: first, there were times in the story that felt rushed (including the ending) and second, the back cover of the book refers to a hardship that the family faces in the last forty pages of the book which is anti-climactic.  That said, I really loved this historical fiction for middle readers.  

C. Peterson