The second book in this series continues right where the first left off, directly after Mr. Moody's death. Ralph's adventures are quite a testament to the abilities of young people- and practically unthinkable today. It's amazing what kids as young as Ralph and Grace could do to keep the family afloat. Their mother's unshakeable faith in them is inspiring, as is her unwavering moral stance at the end. Admirable.

The narrator is the same as the first book, and I think I'm getting used to his odd style. It wasn't quite so distracting here, but still jarring. ( )

This book was superb; I highly recommend it to fathers, mothers, girls, and boys. In this part of his autobiography, Ralph Moody details how he and his mother and siblings learn to get by without their father. I was amazed at the way that they worked together to achieve this goal, despite serious setbacks, sorrows, and several calamities. ( )

The second book in Ralph Moody’s series about his childhood, starting with Little Britches, picks up where the first left off with Ralph now being eleven years old and becoming the “man of the family” in the wake of his father’s death.

While having a lot of the same strong messages and themes that Little Britches had, namely morality, hard work, honesty, and the meaning behind being a respectable man, this book took a much lighter tone even if it had a dark beginning. With the family’s main form of income gone his mother starts up a cookery route, and with the help of all the children they do odd jobs around town to help earn money to get by. Meanwhile Ralph’s mother refuses to let Ralph drop out of school no matter how tight that made things at home, he wanted to be the man of the family and earn money full time at a man’s wage, but instead he had to learn patience and to think of long term consequences to his actions. Good lessons for life.

This book was chock full of good humor throughout it all to offset the dire circumstances the family was in. The town sheriff took an interest in the widow with five small children and took to checking up on the family regularly. As I was reading this aloud to my husband I got to saying with a certain inflection that got us both laughing every time the sheriff showed up and bellowed, "Howdy, Miz Moody. Fine mornin', ain't it?" Even the children in the story got to teasing their mother about that and I think if they had stayed in Colorado he might well have married her.

The ingenuity Ralph and his family showed again and again in coming up with more and new ways to make money and work hard to get by showed that the lessons of Little Britches paid off, and it was really inspiring reading about a family struggling without a male figure head, in a time when a woman could not be a real breadwinner, and making it.

Again, the writing was simple and straight forward, very easy and clean to read. An ideal book for a ten year old to read and an easy book, and series, to get into. It also has a lot of strong messages, this one included new ones about patience, making the right decisions, and economy in hard times. A good message for the times we are living in.

This book was a lot more fun to read, and even though it had another ending with a bit of a punch in the gut, I have a feeling that Ralph and his family will continue to persevere in the next book The Home Ranch. ( )

Ralph steps up to the responsibilities that devolve on him following the death of his father. His desire to make money for the family, and his quick thinking as possibilities present themselves is very admirable. And the writing style is so easy to read - nice and informal, not too sentimental. ( )

from CLR bookstore