HATTIE BIG SKY by Kirby Larson

Bibliography
Larson, Kirby. 2006. Hattie Big Sky. New York: Delacorte Press. ISBN 0385903324

Plot Summary
Hattie Inez Brooks is an orphan by the age of five. After being jostled between distant relatives, she ends up with a cousin, Uncle Holt, in Arlington, Iowa. At the age of sixteen in 1917, Hattie receives a letter from her mother’s only brother, Chester Hubert Wright, leaving her 320 acres of land near Vida, Montana. Hattie, tired of being the charity case of others, travels to Montana to claim her land with the hope of finally having a place of her own to call home. There, she becomes a homesteader and learns about independence, family, hard work, and love.

Critical Analysis
The backdrop of this novel is the Montana prairie of 1917-1918. This time period is during World War I and the homestead movement, which Larson weaves together beautifully through Hattie’s first person narrative and letters that she sends to her friend Charlie and her Uncle Holt. This setting and the author’s writing style reveal the effects of World War I on America as well as the hard daily life of a homesteader. A universal and timeless theme of the need for love and a place to call home ties everything together.

Larson heavily researched her story and remains true to the life of a homesteader. In a note about the author, Larson is credited with spending three years conducting research and writing her novel. The Montana Memory Project (www.mtmemory.org/cdm) has many collections that attest to the truth that lies within the pages of this work of historical fiction. In fact, although Larson’s great-grandmother, who the story is based off of, was able to secure her claim on her land, Larson remains true to the times and causes her fictional Hattie to lose her claim. This was true for the majority of homesteaders.

Hattie is a character that is wise beyond her years and a much harder worker than anyone of today. I see her more of an inspiration and someone to aspire to being like instead of a real person. Although Hattie has few flaws in my opinion, her struggle is interesting, adventurous, and heroic.

Awards Won & Review Excerpts

• Cybil Award, 2006 - Finalist

• John Newbery Medal, 2007 - Honor Book

• Montana Book Award, 2006

• Booklist: "Writing in figurative language that draws on nature and domestic detail to infuse her story with the sounds, smells, and sights of the prairie, she creates a richly textured novel full of memorable characters."

• Kirkus Reviews: "This fine offering may well inspire readers to find out more about their own family histories."

• The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books: "With the literary Great Plains overpopulated by plucky 1800s girls on covered wagons, it’s refreshing to bring the homestead experience into the twentieth century and meet a strong-willed young woman who meets failure with dignity, shoulders her debts with good-natured resolve, and plans her future with cautious optimism."

Connections

• Explore more about Montana History through the Montana Memory Project:  www.mtmemory.org/cdm.

• Other books about frontier life:

          Conrad, Pam. Prairie Songs. ISBN 0060213361
          Conrad, Pam. Prairie Visions: The Life and Times of Solomon Butcher. ISBN                         0060213736
          MacLachlan, Patricia. Sarah, Plain and Tall. ISBN 0060241012
          Wadsworth, Ginger. Words West: Voices of Young Pioneers. ISBN 0618234756

• Books about World War I:

          Murphy, Jim. Truce: The Day the Soldiers Stopped Fighting. ISBN 9780545130493
          Morpurgo, Michael. Private Peaceful. ISBN 0007150067
          Skurzynski, Gloria. Goodbye, Billy Radish. ISBN 0027829219