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Summary
Summary
In the late 1870s, many young teachers traveled West to earn money and make a new life for themselves. However, the schools were inadequate at best, and many teachers returned home, unable to endure the hardships of prairie life. But Sarah Jane Pryce stayed, braving the rough conditions of the West. Illustrations. 208.
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 5-8-Sarah Jane Price, 14, does not want to leave Broken Bow, NE. Her father, the town's teacher, has recently died and she wants to stay near his grave. The modest amount of money that he left her is rapidly dwindling and soon she will not be able to pay for her room and board at Miss Kizer's boarding house. Fully aware of Sarah's financial problems, Miss Kizer decides to send her to the Orphan Girls Asylum in Grand Island. The teen knows that she needs to earn her keep, and, despite opposition from some of the townspeople, she is given the opportunity to take her father's place in the classroom. She faces many challenges, including the schoolhouse, itself, an abandoned soddy; unruly children; and lack of confidence from many adults. In addition, Miss Kizer and Reverend Lauter, the traveling preacher, disapprove of her decision, seeing it as defiance of their authority. Despite these problems, Sarah proves that she is an exceptional teacher. This diary brings to life the problems and day-to-day activities of an educator while also providing a glimpse into life in Nebraska during the late 1880s.-Lana Miles, Duchesne Academy, Houston, TX (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Horn Book Review
Orphaned and alone in a Nebraska frontier town in 1881, fourteen-year-old Sarah follows in her father's footsteps to become the town's new teacher. Through Sarah's journal entries, Murphy creates an accurate and engaging depiction of the challenges and triumphs of living on the open prairie. An informative historical note, photos, and a map are appended. From HORN BOOK Spring 2002, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
The Dear America series has a system, and it often works: a diary format, historical pictures at the back, often with commentary, recipes, or other specifics, and some referents to tie the fictional events to time and place. Murphy, usually a wonderful writer (Pick and Shovel Poet, 2000, etc.) who has written other titles in this series, produces a workmanlike diary without much spirit or flair but with a truly compelling story. Sarah Jane is only 14 when her schoolteacher father succumbs to diphtheria; to keep from being sent to an orphanage, she courageously offers herself as the schoolteacher for the prairie town of Broken Bow. The boarding house where she lives has a pinched and suspicious woman running it and the sod house given over for schooling is a wreck, but Sarah Jane, holding to her own native gumption and her father's memory, takes it on. Her students vary wildly in age and ability, and one set of siblings only speaks German. In a climactic entry, she describes roping the children together in a line so they could make their way back to town in a blinding snowstorm after the soddy's roof falls in. A fictional epilogue wraps up Sarah Jane's life as though it were true, one of the more troubling requirements of the series. Murphy's historical notes at the back fill out the details of early American education and prairie life. His fiction allows the reader to learn attitudes and hardships in the struggle for survival on the prairie through the mind of a participant. (photos, recipe, acknowledgements) (Historical fiction. 10-14)
Booklist Review
Gr. 5-8. This addition to the Dear America series reconstructs the adventures of a nineteenth-century Nebraska teacher. When Sarah Jane's father dies of diphtheria, orphaning her at the age of 12, some folks want to send her to an orphanage. But Sarah Jane is reluctant to leave the home that she shared with her father, and when she finds out that the orphanage is actually a workhouse, she's determined to stay in Broken Bow. Before he died, Sarah Jane's father was the town teacher, so Sarah Jane presents herself as 16 and takes over her father's job. The plot isn't particularly realistic, but readers will enjoy the wish fulfillment of a preteen becoming a teacher, and fans of prairie tales will find all the usual elements--from sod houses and cow chip fuel to a blinding blizzard. The fictional epilogue may be a bit confusing; the historical notes and photos are informative. --Marta Segal
