I listened to the audio. It was excellent! ( )

Wonderful story of a really young orphan homesteader in E. Montana who is given a spread to "prove up" to keep the land. It is during WW1. Shows great love of friends. ( )

Amazing story about a 16-year old orphan who inherits a land-stake claim in Montana. Only problem is: she has to get a harvestable crop within two years to get the land. Great female character. Loved it. ( )

I'm ashamed that I took so long to get to this book. I'm excited because I found a copy at Goodwill and got it home only to realize it was a signed copy and because it was such a wonderful read. Now I'm doubly excited to learn that a sequel (Hattie Ever After) is being released soon, so I feel like I can catch up now.

This is historical fiction at its best, thus the many awards it has rightfully received. It's for young adults but reads well for grown-ups, too. I've always been a fan of Willa Cather's books and this has that same flavor about life on the prairie in the frontier days.

I can't wait to learn about what happens to Hattie in the next book. It's on my list for when it's released. But start with this one if you haven't read it yet! ( )

This was another book I received from the secret santa book exchange. It was a little slow at points but for the most part very interesting. In the authors note at the end she tells about how her great grandmother was the inspiration for this book and talks about all the research she did to make it historically accurate. I love when authors do that, it makes historical fiction so much more interesting! It is very similar to the When Calls the Heart series, however it doesn't end the way I was expecting. There is a sequel to this book which I will probably read at some point because the ending did leave a lot of things unfinished. ( )

A good work of historical fiction with an unexpectedly strong ending. ( )

"What dreams would lead a 16-year-old to leave her safe home in Arlington, Iowa, and take a chance on a homestead claim in Montana? Hattie Brooks, an orphan, is tired of being shuttled between relatives, tired of being Hattie Here-and-There and the feeling of being the "one odd sock behind." So when Uncle Chester leaves her his Montana homestead claim, she jumps at the chance for independence. It's 1918, so this is homesteading in the days of Model Ts rather than covered wagons, a time of world war, Spanish influenza and anti-German sentiment turning nasty in small-town America. Hattie's first-person narrative is a deft mix of her own accounts of managing her claim, letters to and from her friend Charlie, who is off at war, newspaper columns she writes and even a couple of recipes. Based on a bit of Larson's family history, this is not so much a happily-ever-after story as a next-year-will-be-better tale, with Hattie's new-found definition of home." - From Titlewave

This was another book I received from the secret santa book exchange. It was a little slow at points but for the most part very interesting. In the authors note at the end she tells about how her great grandmother was the inspiration for this book and talks about all the research she did to make it historically accurate. I love when authors do that, it makes historical fiction so much more interesting! It is very similar to the When Calls the Heart series, however it doesn't end the way I was expecting. There is a sequel to this book which I will probably read at some point because the ending did leave a lot of things unfinished ( )

A BOOK WRITTEN FOR YOUNG ADULTS, BUT INTERESTING AS WELL TO ADULTS. SET IN EASTERN MONTANA DURING EARLY SETTLER PERIOD. A YOUNG WOMAN INHERITS 320 ACRES OF LAND IN MONTANA THAT SHE MUST "PROVE UP". HER YEAR OF STRUGGLES AND HARDSHIPS ARE OFF SET WITH THE FRIENDSHIPS SHE ESTABLISHES. WHILE SHE LOSES THE FARM DUE TO HER CROPS BEING DESTROYED, SHE LEARNED VALUABLE LESSONS THAT CARRY HER WELL INTO THE FUTURE. ( )

Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson was a very pleasurable read. This story of a young woman homesteader had me smiling, sighing and yes, even crying. Written as a series of letters and diary entries the book is set in 1918 as Hattie, a teenage orphan moves to Montana after inheriting her uncle’s homestead claim. World War I plays a very important role in this story as Hattie writes to a young man who is off soldiering in France and watches her neighbours of German descent face discrimination, and violence.

Hattie, herself is hardworking and good-hearted, and soon learns to stand up for what she believes in and for the people she cares about. The descriptions of frontier life are interesting and the author expresses the beauty that can be found on this open range land wonderfully. The hard work and discipline that Hattie must do in order to prove her claim, from backbreaking fencing to planting and harvesting forty acres, was exhausting just to read about. And I was both delighted and amazed to discover, at the end of the book, that this story was based on the author’s great-grandmother’s life as a single woman homesteader.

Hattie Big Sky is a book about a very likable character who finds friendship, a home and most importantly, herself, during the course of the year that she worked the land in order to prove her claim. A powerful and inspiring tale for both children and adults alike. ( )

Summary:
Hattie never quite found her place in the world. After her parents passed away, she was bounced from relative to relative. After her friend Charlie enlists in the war, Hattie felt more alone than ever. That is, until she’s informed that her uncle has left her his homestead in Montana. As Hattie adventures through the trials of preparing and farming her land, she learns how tough ranching and growing up truly is.

Personal reaction:
Though historical fiction isn’t my favorite genre, I enjoyed Hattie Big Sky. While I followed Hattie’s journey through making her homestead, I began to grow close to her fiery spirit. Another aspect that I really enjoyed about this book is that the ending wasn’t necessarily happy and perfect. Hattie didn’t successfully complete her homestead. Everything didn’t end up exactly how it was “supposed” to; however, the lessons of hard work, tenacity, and optimism still shown through.
Classroom extension:
1) Being from an agricultural state, it is easy to tour real-life homesteads. As a class, tour a local homestead or drive to Oklahoma City to tour the Harn Homestead.

2) Like Hattie, many people moved to Oklahoma to acquire land. In a social studies unit, discuss the requirements of owning land in Oklahoma. Ask each student to bring a shoebox from home to create a diorama of a homestead and allow them time in class to complete “requirements” such as building a fence and creating a miniature chicken coop. ( )

A satisfying mix of excitement, history, & interesting, authentic characters, leavened with just enough natural humor. I doubt I'll read the sequel, though, as I'm just tired out from reading so much historical fiction.

(Larson was inspired by a real ancestor, but had to fill in so many gaps, apparently, that it's more valid to call this fiction than biography.) ( )

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It represented for me a combination of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Little House books I read as a girl and Mildred Walker's Winter Wheat that I have read more than once in adulthood. Hattie is a likable, strong character, and the friendships she makes as a homesteader are heartfelt. It was interesting to note in the forward that the story was based on the life of the author's step-great-grandmother.

I read this book as a mini book group with several teachers, and one teacher remarked how she was surprised that Native Americans were never mentioned in one way or another in the book. Wouldn't homesteaders living in Wolf Point, Montana have been near native groups? Students could conduct research on this topic, as I do not know whether the representation was accurate or not. Also, the book presents themes of prejudice, as anyone with a German name was open to ostracism during World War I. Students could explore the history of this prejudice in Montana, perhaps talking to relatives or learning stories from those who may have lived during the time.

Another teaching point brought up by members of my book group had to do with aspects of bullying that occurred and how Hattie stood up to it. One example was the character Mr. Ebgard, who was being bullied by townspeople due to his German heritage. Hattie diffused a potential humiliating situation for Mr. Ebgard by changing the subject and insisting she had an appointment with him. In another situation (I don't recall these details as well), Hattie asks Traft Martin for a dance to distract him from an altercation with another townsperson. In both situations, she saw a threat to an individual and chose to act by drawing attention toward herself in a peaceful way, creatively halting the conflict. These are good lessons for kids. ( )

Inspired by the author's great-grandmother who proved a homesteader's claim on her own in Montana. Sixteen-year-old Hattie is an orphan who has been shuttled around from relative to relative until the day she receives a letter from her Uncle Chester and learns that she has inherited his claim on his death and has a year to prove it up. The claim is 320 acres with a very rough shack, a cow and a horse. With the help of her distant neighbors Perilee and Karl, Rooster Jim and Leafie, Hattie plunges into the hard work of fencing her claim, planting crops and generally surviving life on the prairie. In the end, "honyocker" Hattie loses her claim but is a more mature, stronger woman for the experience. Would work as Christian fiction as she prays often, asking the Lord for help. ( )

I loved the characters, their courage, the involved story (not just a romance disguised as a historical novel).

I really appreciated the author's research into Montana homesteaders (including her great grandmother) and prejudice against Germans during World War I. She made it all personal and real, not a history lesson. ( )

Hattie Inez Brooks is an orphan who has been shunted from family member to family member since her parents died. She feels she is “Hattie Here and There.” When she’s informed of a totally unexpected legacy she sets out for Montana at the tender age of 16 to lay claim to her uncle’s homestead.

This is a good story, based on the life of the author’s great-grandmother. When most of us hear “homestead” we think of the mid to late 1800’s, but this story is set in 1917-1918. There is a lot going on the in country at this time – the advent of motorized vehicles, the Great War (World War I), the expansion of the railroads and increased settlement of the West, and the great Spanish Influenza pandemic. All these elements and historical episodes come into play in this young adult novel. Larson has crafted a compelling plot, with a good balance of heartache and joy. We have a very strong heroine in Hattie Brooks, as well other strong men and women, and a few villains and cowards to even the score and make the story interesting and realistic.

Kirsten Potter does a fine job of narrating the audio book. Her pacing is good and her use of varying inflections helps to differentiate characters.

I really enjoyed this novel and would read more of Larson’s work. Definitely would recommend this for my nieces (ages 11 and 16).
( )

This is a great historical book about homesteading in America during the early 1900's. Hattie, a 16-year-old, is willed a land claim by her unknown, deceased uncle, so she leaves her foster home in Iowa and heads to Montana. She arrives in the middle of winter to find little more than some land, a shack, a cow and a horse. She has until November to produce a crop that can pay off the claim so she will become the legal owner of the land. Throughout the story Hattie learns how to manage a farm, but more importantly she learns the true value of friendship, kindness and loyalty. The story is set against the backdrop of WWI. Through the exchange of letters between Hattie and Charlie, who is stationed in France, we see a glimpse of the war from a soldier's viewpoint. We also see the intolerance many Americans had toward German immigrants.

Some of the writing was a little too cliched for me or I would have given it 4 stars. ( )

I thought I'd like this, but I didn't realize how much! The historical details added so much. I find that I look up things on the web as I'm reading, particularly nonfiction...I think I looked up more in this little YA novel than in most nonfiction I've read! Character-wise, nothing unusual here, same with the plot - it all adds up to a good story. The historical stuff is what makes it extra-good! ( )

Another historical that I've put off reading, but really enjoyed. This time I'm kind of glad I put it off as now the sequel is published and I can read it right away. ( )

Hattie Big Sky looks at homesteading from a less common perspective because it is set in the 20th century, while most readers are probably accustomed to the pioneer stories of the 1800s. The differences in technology are sometimes apparent, but the influence of WWI is more striking. Kirby Larson does a good job showing, through Hattie's closest friends, the anti-German sentiments of the time. I don't know of many other novels that illustrate the WWI homefront for younger readers.

A sixteen year old girl tries to establish a homestead in Montana after the death of her uncle during World War I. The story easily can be related to our current circumstances. A great read! ( )

I finally got around to reading this lovely Newbery Award winner by Seattle author, Kirby Larson. Hattie, inherits a farm in Montana. She sets out by train to continue the work her uncle had started in order to claim it for himself. 16-year old Hattie finds the work much harder than she expected, but in that frontier ranching area she discovers many new friends. Her friend, Charlie, is a airplane mechanic in the European theater of WWI. What the story does best is to show the desolation and the strong camaraderie of neighbors, and the heartbreak of death from influenza and having to give up your claim on land you've worked so hard to plant and harvest. Well written historical fiction for middle grade students. ( )

I really enjoyed this book. I assigned it for girls' book club but it was also prep for reading "Hattie Ever After" for MSBA. I really enjoyed it. Hattie is a great protagonist and I hope the girls of book club want to be more like her. ( )

For most of her life, sixteen-year-old Hattie Brooks has been shuttled from one distant relative to another. She summons the courage to leave Iowa and move all by herself to Vida, Montana, to prove up on her late uncle’s homestead claim.Under the big sky, Hattie braves hard weather, hard times, a cantankerous cow, and her own hopeless hand at the cookstove. Her quest to make a home is championed by new neighbors Perilee Mueller, her German husband, and their children. For the first time in her life, Hattie feels part of a family, finding the strength to stand up against Traft Martin’s schemes to buy her out and against increasing pressure to be a "loyal" American at a time when anything—or anyone—German is suspect. Despite daily trials, Hattie continues to work her uncle’s claim until an unforeseen tragedy causes her to search her soul for the real meaning of home.She looks forward to her newfound freedom and a life of adventure as a homesteader. ( )

Hattie Brooks has always been "Hattie Here and There" -- an, orphan, passed from one set of relatives to another. When an uncle she has never met leaves her his homesteading claim in Montana, Hattie grabs the chance to have a place of her own . . . even though she doesn't really know much at all about farming. In Montana, she quickly learns a lot: how to milk a cantankerous cow, how to string a barbed wire fence, and the importance of tying an old mitten on the frozen pump handle instead of grasping it with one's bare skin! Hattie is helped along by her neighbors, Karl and Perilee Mueller. However, in those wartime years, anti-German sentiment runs high, and not all of the people in the area are as convinced of Karl's good nature as Hattie. Hattie has her own troubles to worry about, too -- Traft Martin, the sometimes-charming son of a well-to-do rancher, is intent upon expanding his father's holdings, and one parcel of land he's particularly interested in is the claim belonging to one Hattie Brooks. Can Hattie meet the requirements to prove up on her claim, or should she sell out while she can?

I first read Hattie Big Sky shortly after it received its Newbery honor, and I liked it best of that year's crop of honorees. This time through, I find it stands up well to rereading. It's interesting to note that homesteading, something I think of in conjunction with Laura Ingalls Wilder and Oregon Trail, was still going on less than a hundred years ago. Larson brings together an interesting mix of elements, between homesteading and World War I, and it works beautifully. ( )