Description: Fair. Pages are clean and in good condition, yellowing of pages from age, no writing or highlighting on inside book pages, cover is well worn. read more
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Scholastic
Date Published: 1965
Description: Fair. No Jacket. Water Lines On Bottem Page Ends, Corners/Edges Worn, Spine Creased, Sm. Tears On Spine, Text Is Unmarked, Reading Copy. read more
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Signet Book
Date Published: 1983
ISBN-13:9780451122872ISBN:0451122879
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Satisfaction Guaranteed, fast shipping, please feel free to ask any questions! Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. Audience: Children/juvenile; Young adult. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Puffin Books
Date Published: 1997
ISBN-13:9780140384284ISBN:0140384286
Description: Fine. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 256 p. Intended for a juvenile audience. Intended for a young adult/teenage audience. read more
Edition: Reprint
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Scholastic
Date Published: 1962
Description: Fair. No dust jacket as issued. Tight book with no writing except owner name on last page; tanned pages; edgewear including 1.5 inch tear along back bottom spine.; 318 p.; Best-selling juvenile fiction about a homesteading family on the Nebraska prairie in the 1870s. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Scholastic Book Services
Date Published: 1970
Description: Fair. Light to Moderate Shelfwear Overall. Scuffed Covers, front cover torn & taped. Creased & taped Spine. Edgewear. Marks on back cover & first page. No Marks in text. pb06s01. read more
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Scholastic Book Services
Date Published: 1970
Description: Good. An average used paperback with wear, corner bumps, small creases, light stains, etc. Binding is tight but slightly cocked. Pages are somewhat yellowed with age. Free upgrade to First Class Mail. Careful packaging and fast shipping. We recommend PRIORITY MAIL for even faster delivery! read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Pocket Books Inc., New York City
Date Published: 1947
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Signed by previous owner. There is no wear or creasing to the spine. There is very slight wear to the corners of the cover. The lamination is worn on the edge of the back cover. 267 p. Pocket Book edition no. 470. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
Date Published: 1994-01-01
ISBN-13:9780803259225ISBN:0803259220
Description: Good. This book has tight solid pages and binding, pages are bright and clean. Message on 1st page, no remainder marks, no stickers. Cover has light edge wear, rubs, and dog-earred. We recommend EXPEDITED MAIL for even faster delivery! Careful packaging and fast shipping. read more
"I liked this book pretty well. I guess it was the author's intention to go through all of Abbie's life, but I think I would've liked the book better if it had ended sooner. I feel like I understand older people better, but that was another thing that I didn't like about this book. I was only half way through and Abbie was only in her early forties and already, she was being considered old by her neighbors, children and the author(or at least it seemed that way to me).
Since I have been given an English assignment to keep a journal of the books I read and give a short synopsis of each one, from now on I will be writing a synopsis of each book I read: At the age of 8, Abbie Mackenzie travelled with her family to Iowa from Illinois. At nineteen, she married Will Deal, and they moved to unsettled Cedartown Nebraska. During the hard years that followed, she raised five children and helped with the growth of her Cedartown. After the death of her husband, she continued making sacrifices for her children and helping others in the community till her death at the age of 80."
"I can really relate to this book at this time in my life. A theme in this book was the wind. The wind keeps on blowing and we can't grasp it, time keeps on ticking and we can't stop it. That's where I can relate. This whole summer and really my whole life so far seems to have gone by so quickly! But, the difference is that I have a firm foundation to stand on. The winds of time, pain, broken relationships and death cannot blow away my trust in God. The really nice thing about God is that He doesn't change. Even when everything else in my life goes birzirk, God stays the same. God still holds me in his right hand, and nothing can make me fall out.
This book also reminded me that everything I do that is not for Christ will be burned up. It truly will be blown away, and it won't matter at all to anyone for eternity. That's why I need to put everything I have into working for God, in His plans and perfect timing.
Another thing that struck me about this book was this woman's unswerving devotion and self-sacrifice to her family. Truly admirable."
"I read this book for a book group and it is also the state of Nebraska book choice of the year--being a story about a pioneer family moving to and settling in Nebraska.
Since I, myself recently moved to Nebraska because of my husband's work, I did find myself sympathizing with Abbie at the beginning as she tried to convince her husband that there was nothing to go to Nebraska for and her lack of excitement about the move. I too, never thought I'd ever live in Nebraska, but like Abbie, a century later I'm thoroughly enjoying it.
I've had trouble deciding what rating to give this book. I was disappointed at how much time the book covered, from Abbie's childhood clear until her old age and death. I thought it was a little much to cover in a 250 page book. I felt like I was reading a lot of brief descriptions summarizing what happened over a 5 or 10 year period without going too deep into a plot or taking time to let me fall in love with the characters. The second half of the book also had so many characters (with all of Abbie's children, grandchildren, and even great-grandchildren) I often got confused with the relationships and keeping track of who was who, but that might also be due to my level of sleepiness while reading.
Other times throughout the book the "clock" so to say, would stop for a while and the author would actually take time to tell about a specific event in detail with dialogue between the characters. I seemed to like those scenes much more than the descriptions of the passage of time.
I found it humorous how often the author described or mentioned Abbie's "tapered fingers". I didn't quite understand why the author liked using that description so much. I found myself chuckling each time it was mentioned over and over.
Overall, not a bad book but not a great one either. I've read other pioneering stories that I have enjoyed much more."
1. Nebraska: Having relatively recently moved to Nebraska and still feeling like a foreigner here, I just loved and appreciated how the book describes how Nebraska goes from an uncivilized territory to what it is today. The pioneers who established Nebraska gave so much to establish the state. They suffered years of bad crops and poverty and I just have to suffer through bad weather!
3. Motherhood: It made me want to enjoy my child more now, while he is still young and under my care.
Favorite quote about motherhood: Abbie's youngest child Gracie just told her that her life had been so "narrow", because she never traveled much. Abbie replies on pg. 198,
"You know, Gracie, it's queer, but I don't feel narrow. I feel broad. How can I explain it to you, so you would understand? I've seen everything... and I've hardly been away from this yard. I've seen cathedrals in the snow on the Lombardy poplars. I've seen the sun set behind the Alps over there when the clouds have been piled up on the edge of the prairie. I've seen the ocean billows in the rise and the fall of the prairie grass. I've seen history in the making... three ugly wars flare up and die down. I've sent a lover and two brothers to one, a son and son-in-law to another, and two grandsons to the other. I've seen the feeble beginnings of a raw state and the civilization that developed there, and I've been part of the beginning and part of the growth. I've married...and borne children and looked into the face of death. Is childbirth narrow, Grace? Or marriage? Or death? When you've experienced all those things, Grace, the spirit has traveled although the body has been confined. I think travel is a rare privilege and I'm glad you can have it. But not every one who stays at home is narrow and not every one who travels is broad. I think if you can understand humanity...can sympathize with every creature...can put yourself into the personality of every one...you're not narrow...you're broad."
4. AGING: As the main character grows old, she expresses how people begin to speak to her as if she is stupid. They say she is different. She says that she still feels the same in spite the fact that her body is changing.
Favorite quote about aging on pg. 243: "How they (Abbie's children) thought of her bodily comfort, --always her physical needs. Not one every said, "Are you sad, Mother?" or "How does your mind feel?" or "Does anything hurt your heart?"
NOTE TO SELF: When I'm old and decrepit, I want all my kids to read this book.
Here's another great quote: "Why did an old woman seem always to have been old? Why didn't they realize that some day they, too, must hold a rendezvous with Age?"
5. Time: The author emphasizes how fast time flies by and how history repeats itself. I especially thought it fun when the same sayings are used when different people go off to fight in three different wars. It was very believable, considering the fact that father passed it on to son and so on.
A lot of other big concepts are brought up and discussed, as well, though this is a very easy book to read."
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