Books as good as Little Heathens

February 7, 2008 11:47 AM

More books like this -- My 82-yr-old mom loved "Little Heathens" by Mildred A. Kalish, about growing up on the Iowa farm in the Depression. What other titles would be enjoyable for her, along the same lines? Don't want anything too academic or historically detailed. Thanks!
posted by nancoix to media & arts (14 comments total)

Maybe The Egg and I by Betty MacDonald?
posted by Oriole Adams at 12:09 PM on February 7, 2008

Life Among the Savages and Raising Demons by Shirley Jackson (who wrote, most famously, The Lottery) are both quite good. Jo's Boys and Little Men, the sequels to Little Women, are about a house-load full of kids and their hijinks. Cheaper by the Dozen, etc.
posted by OmieWise at 12:24 PM on February 7, 2008

Little House on the Prairie is for children but it is a classic, and re-reading those books as an adult does bring a new appreciation and perspective.

Are you interested in books focusing outside the US? Blackberry Winter by Margaret Mead?
posted by DarlingBri at 12:36 PM on February 7, 2008

what about Angela's Ashes, or anything else by Frank McCourt?
posted by buka at 12:47 PM on February 7, 2008

"Bound for Glory" is the autobiography of Woody Guthrie, set in the dustbowl during the depression. A great read even if you don't know or care about Guthrie's musical legacy.
posted by robotot at 1:04 PM on February 7, 2008

I haven't read Little Heathens. But after reading the description and reviews on Amazon, The Boxcar Children immediately came to mind. The "most helpful" review on that Amazon page is a very good synopsis. It is a children's book; I adored it and re-read it every now and then. I haven't read any of the sequel, only no. 1.
posted by peep at 1:31 PM on February 7, 2008

The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio
posted by Sweetie Darling at 1:39 PM on February 7, 2008

I always enjoyed August Derleth's books about the semi-mythical small town of Sac Prairie in Wisconsin. The stories were all pre-depression and very enjoyable.
posted by JJ86 at 1:49 PM on February 7, 2008

A Girl Named Zippy by Haven Kimmel.
posted by naomi at 3:58 PM on February 7, 2008

The Orchard, by Adele Crocker Robertson. It's a memoir about a woman trying to maintain her family farm during the Depression, on her own. It is beautifully written and a great read.
posted by Kangaroo at 4:20 PM on February 7, 2008

Another beloved quasi-historical childrens book is The Great Brain, about rural kids in turn-of-the-century Utah.
posted by bruceo at 4:55 PM on February 7, 2008

Willa Cather's three pioneer novels, set in Nebraska in the late 1800s/early 1900s, might be just the thing:

Cather had the great good fortune to have lived among the first generation of white settlers in 1880s Nebraska, and she gives witness to their time and place in such a way that American literature will never forget them.

My Antonia has some of the best writing about land I've ever read; it's a wonderful, affirming, heartbreaking, very readable adult look at hard pioneer life, with a focus on strong women. O Pioneers and The Song of the Lark are supposed to be just as good, althought I haven't read those.
posted by mediareport at 9:09 PM on February 7, 2008

I just finished Little Heathens a few weeks ago, and loved it. Only regretted that my mom's no longer here to share it with, cause I know she would have loved it too.

My mom grew up on a farm during the Depression, and two books that she really enjoyed were Russell Baker's Growing Up and Doris Kearns Goodwin's Wait Til Next Year.

They are both childhood memoirs.

Russell Baker's book does take place during the Depression, although I don't think any of it took place on a farm. Doris Kearns Goodwin's book is later than the Depression, and is in Brooklyn, not a farm, and does have a little bit about the Brooklyn Dodgers in it. My mom hated sports and I wasn't sure about recommending this one to her but she LOVED it.

I know that you only asked about books, but hope you won't mind if I mention two movies that my mom also loved. Avalon, about a large inter-generational immigrant family in the 40's and 50's. And The Straight Story, starring Richard Farnsworth, not set in the past, but a very gentle, sweet story about a man who decides to reconcile with a long lost brother before he dies, and all the interesting and kind-hearted people he meets along the way as he journeys to his brother's home. Oh, and also the Anne of Green Gables PBS series.

Thanks for letting me reminisce.
posted by marsha56 at 7:51 PM on February 11, 2008

I'm late to the party, but consider something by Ted Kooser, perhaps Local Wonders. Kooser is a former US Poet Laureate and Pulitzer winner from Nebraska; his books and poems are concerned with the beautiful, quiet life of the midwest. My grandma is your mom's age and spent her whole life in Iowa, and she adores this book.

Also, absolutely yes, she must read Willa Cather.
posted by Sfving at 5:39 PM on May 10, 2008