''Hattie Big Sky'' is a children's historical novel by

Kirby Larson Kirby Lane Larson from Kenmore, Washington is an American writer of children's books including Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum Award-winner ''The Magic Kerchief'', illustrated by Rosanne Litzinger. Her book, ''Hattie Big Sky'', was a finalist for ...

, published in 2006. In 2007 the book was named a

Newbery Honor Newbery is a surname. People *Chantelle Newbery (born 1977), Australian Olympic diver *David Newbery (born 1943), British economist *Eduardo Newbery (1878–1908), Argentine odontologist and aerostat pilot *Francis Newbery (disambiguation), seve ...

book and an

American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults The American Library Association's Best Fiction for Young Adults, previously known as Best Books for Young Adults (1966–2010), is a recommendation list of books presented yearly by the YALSA division (Young Adult Library Services Association Th ...

. ''Hattie Big Sky'' was also an Illinois Rebecca Caudill Award nominee.

Plot

The novel is set during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. Hattie Brooks, a sixteen-year-old orphan who has tired of being shuttled between relatives she hardly knows, receives a letter from an uncle who has recently died. He leaves her all of his land, and Hattie travels to his farm in Montana to start life as a

homesteader Homestead may refer to: *Homestead (buildings), a farmhouse and its adjacent outbuildings; by extension, it can mean any small cluster of houses * Homestead (unit), a unit of measurement equal to 160 acres * Homestead principle, a legal concept ...

. She has less than a year to prove herself capable of taking care of the land. In the book we learn about Hattie through her letters to her friend Charlie who is at war, and to her Uncle Holt. One difficulty Hattie faces is being called upon, as a loyal American, to shun her kind neighbors because of their

German descent , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...

Critical reception

According to Sharon Morrison in ''School Library Journal'': "Larson's vivid descriptions of the harshness of the work and the extreme climates, and the strength that comes from true friendship, create a masterful picture of the homesteading experience and the people who persevered." Morrison also said "it was a heartwarming yet poignant story about homesteading in early-20th-century Montana." Kathleen Odean in ''Booklist'' praised Larson: "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 created a richly textured novel full of memorable characters." Sally Miculek in ''Booklist'' describes the story as being "historical fiction at its best."Miculek, Sally. "Hattie Big Sky." ''Booklist'' 104.1 (2007): 144. 3 May 2016.

References

External links

''Hattie Big Sky'' website
2006 American novels 2006 children's books Children's historical novels American historical novels American children's books Newbery Honor-winning works Epistolary novels Novels about orphans Novels set in Montana Fiction set in 1918 {{2000s-child-hist-novel-stub