Hardscrabble

Reviewed by: Martha M
Children , History

Title: Hardscrabble
By: Sandra Dallas
Published: 2018
Call #: J Dalla.S

2019 Wrangler Award for Outstanding Juvenile Book Winner

2019 Spur Award – Western Writer’s of America Finalist

This is a nicely plotted, heartfelt Middle Grade Western that looks into the lives of folks homesteading in 1910 Colorado. Belle Martin is 12 years old and excited about the adventure of trying to farm the Colorado prairie. But when she and her large family arrive, the whole area has no trees and looks brown and unpromising. The Martins are hit by many disasters: grasshoppers, hail, blizzards, and disease away from any real doctors. However, times are changing; some of the settlers have cars and the women in the story are beginning to want more for their lives than their mothers had. A wonderful story of the West by an author who has won many Western awards. I was rooting for Belle and her sister Carrie!

Tags: western, middle grade