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General Books publication date: 2009Original publication date: 1914Subjects: MineralogyMines and mineral resourcesNature / Rocks ... Read more

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In this collection of true tales, people from acrossSouth Dakota share their common experience and who how truly personaleducation can be.It's a chorus of memories sure to strke a chordwith the many millions who are the country school experience ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Recollections and Reveries
ONE-ROOM COUNTRY SCHOOL: SOUTH DAKOTA STORIES delivers precisely what its title promises, that is, a collection of short narratives by former teachers and students who taught and studied in one-room, multi-grade schools in mostly eastern and mid South Dakota, generally in the 1930s and 1940s.A few of the stories pre- and postdate these two decades, a very few being as recent as the 1990s.

The recollections range widely, including, for example, care of the schoolhouse, episodes involving the outhouse, the crude heating systems (and sometimes fires), teaching methodologies, political indoctrination (through the Young Citizens Leagues, or YCL), varmints infiltrating the classroom, dangerous winter storms, Christmas programs, and other memories from the contributors to this collection.In addition to the first-person recollections recounted here, an introduction provides a brief history of early South Dakota schools, and a photography section furnishes visual reenforcement of the stories.

The book is certainly not over-long, consisting of only 139 pages, of which twelve are devoted to photographs.There is, in addition, a brief bibliography of apparently similar books, but with no annotations to suggest the nature of each book.

The vignettes comprising ONE-ROOM COUNTRY SCHOOL paint vivid mental pictures for the reader of at least one facet of the lives of school-age children living in sparsely populated areas of the northern Great Plains in the early and mid twentieth century.I was particularly struck by the multilingualism of South Dakota around 70 years ago.Both Native Lakota children and children of recent European immigrant families had to face linguistic hurdles in schools where teachers could not understand their languages.I was also struck by the fact that, while few in number, tiny, one- and two-teacher schools are only now truly dying out on the vast and lightly populated plains of South Dakota.

I highly recommend ONE-ROOM COUNTRY SCHOOL to every reader who is at all interested in the nineteenth-century history of education in the granger states of the nation, to every reader who ever wonders about the lives of children a half-century or more ago, and to every reader who enjoys chuckling over personal recollections that, more often than not, lean toward the humorous, at least in hindsight.

If I "grade this book down" at all, it is because it is all too brief and could have held my interest for many, many more pages than it actually contains.I also found the bibliography of very limited usefulness in that it lacks any annotations describing the relatively few books listed.Otherwise, the book is a very enjoyable and fast read, and should be of interest not only to adults but also to contemporary public school students by showing them some of the things they have missed by having to attend school in the 21st century![...] ... Read more

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The author traced the history of Augustana College, from its foundation of the Normal School to its merger with Augustana, and the decisions to clsoe the Normal School and develop an Education Department as part of the college curriculum. ... Read more

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'A skillfully written, welcome addition to the scholarship on American Indian experience in federal boarding schools. Professor Child brings an important and revealing corpus of materials into public view and treats those materials with understanding and sensitivity' - Tsianina Lomawaima, author of "They Called It Prairie Light: The Story of Chilocco Indian School". "Boarding School Seasons" offers a revealing look at the strong emotional history of Indian boarding school experiences in the first half of the twentieth century. At the heart of this book are the hundreds of letters written by parents, children, and school officials at Haskell Institute in Kansas and the Flandreau School in South Dakota. These revealing letters show how profoundly entire families were affected by their experiences. Children, who often attended schools at great distances from their communities, suffered from homesickness, and their parents from loneliness. Parents worried continually about the emotional and physical health and the academic progress of their children.Families clashed repeatedly with school officials over rampant illnesses and deplorable living conditions and devised strategies to circumvent severely limiting visitation rules. Family intimacy was threatened by the schools' suppression of traditional languages and Native cultural practices. Although boarding schools were a threat to family life, profound changes occurred in the boarding school experience as families turned to these institutions for relief during the Depression, when poverty and the loss of traditional seasonal economies proved a greater threat. "Boarding School Seasons" provides a multifaceted look at the aspirations and struggles of real people. Brenda J. Child, a Red Lake Ojibwe, is an assistant professor of American studies at the University of Minnesota. This is her first book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Informative. Has something you've never heard of before
I picked up this book for my college class on the study of Native Americans from Civil War to present.Even though this is an educational biography on boarding school life, it is actually quite intriguing.Brenda Child completely covers the topic with very interesting material. I won't say that Boarding School Seasons is one of my favorites, but if you are interested in the topic of Indian boarding schools, then you will actually be suprised at how easy it is for this book to keep your attention.If you are viewing this book for a college course, then your class shouldn't be too hard.This is one of the few college required texts that I actually managed to enjoy

A Boarding School Primer
This short, easy to read book presents a basic overview of boarding school issues which occurred throughout the U.S. during the boarding school era.Brenda Child's book concentrates on the Red Lake Ojibwes who attendedboarding school at Flandreau specifically.The book also uses personalstories of students and their families in vignettes preserved throughletters sent to and from Flandreau. I found this book well-written,readable, and recommended as an overview of the boarding school era. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Cities of the United States, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 347 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.Provides a wide range of hard-to-locate data to answer questions concerning American cities. Includes thorough coverage of the area's largest or fastest-growing cities, or those with a particular historical, political, industrial or commercial significance. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Cities of the United States, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 529 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.Provides a wide range of hard-to-locate data to answer questions concerning American cities. Includes thorough coverage of the area's largest or fastest-growing cities, or those with a particular historical, political, industrial or commercial significance. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Cities of the United States, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 341 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.Provides a wide range of hard-to-locate data to answer questions concerning American cities. Includes thorough coverage of the area's largest or fastest-growing cities, or those with a particular historical, political, industrial or commercial significance. ... Read more

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FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. Only twelve-year-old Colleen knows that her baby sister died just after she was born and that Colleen put another baby in her place, until the baby's father shows up and makes trouble for her and her family on the South Dakota prairie in the 1860s. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

good, but too drawn out
Prairie Whispers is the story of a 12 year old girl who's mother gives birth to a stillborn baby in their cabin while alone with the girl and her brother.The girl goes out in search of help and finds a dying woman in a covered wagon who has just given birth alone in the wagon.The woman begs the girl to take her baby and hide its existance from her abusive husband.The dying woman also gives the girl a watch and strongbox of money for the baby's care.The girl brings the baby home and wraps her stillborn sister in a blanket and puts her in the arms of the now dead woman in the covered wagon.Now the stillborn baby will not be alone in its grave, the girl's delirious mother thinks she gave birth to a healthy baby, and the dead baby's presence in the wagon will make the deadbeat father think his child died along with the wife in the wagon.

All this happens quickly; however the wagon baby's father returns and starts asking a lot of questions, namely about the missing strongbox.The bulk of this nearly 200 page book then deals with the conflict that the girl is facing.She's lied about the babies, the missing strongbox (which was lost on the way home), the watch, everything.And she's ALWAYS such an honest child, she's so torn.She promised a dying woman to protect the woman's baby, and now she loves the baby as does her family.One lie snowballs into a much bigger lie. The wagon father knows she's lying.

Anyway, the reason for my mediocre 3 star review is due to the fact that the drama is just dragged on forEVER.Instead of finding it building suspense, I just found it repetitive and tiresome.I am not a "skimmer" but after the first 100 or so pages I found myself skipping to every third page or so, reading a paragraph, then skipping ahead a little more.Kind of a "yeah-yeah-yeah-get-to-the-point" sort of thing.

THe story has some saving grace.The trials and tribulations of life on the prairie during pioneer days will be interesting for kids to read.There is suspense here, but the overly drawn out nature of the book spoiled the suspense for me.

great book
My daughter was reading this book for a class.I had glanced at the cover and thought it looked interesting.I read the back cover and was hooked.I read the book in one evening.Great book with lots of moral dilemmas and suspense.

Prairie Whispers By: Sammy
after the death of a new born early baby Colleen went out to get the widow all was well expet the fact that Colleen's ma was to weak to under stand her baby was dead,she didn't know. So Colleen went out to get the widow and then she saw... You'll find out when read Prairie Whispers. Colleen is a young girl who faces a big challenge ahead of her. She just lied for the first time in her life! This is an exiting good book,sitting there for hours wishing it would never end. I think this is history and action all in one book. You'll here about a snake bite that is deadly a lie comeing from a girl who's never lied in her life a death from a newley born early baby, and a mother who doesn't know! You'll see how it all fits in there when you read Prairie Whispers!

prairie whisper review
Prairie Whispers is a suspenceful novel all the way through. The begining of the book tells when colleen receives a baby from a woman on her death bed. The woman doesnt want her newborn to have to grow up with an obusive father. along with the newborn baby Colleen gets a strong box with goodies and a golden watch for the baby. while the husband is suspicious of colleen taking his things colleen cant even tell her parents or brother what really happend or she could get in real trouble. The most suspenseful part of this novel is when the man takes the baby away from colleen and threatens not to give the baby back unless he gets the money, for hehas no need of the baby. Colleen learns that she needs to tell her parents everything and they will take care of it and also dont steal! Colleen also has many other adventures in this book that are also exiting. Colleen knows there will be nothing like this experience of her lifetime.

An exciting read from cover to cover!
I am a 8th grade English teacher. I saw the review for this novel in The Horn Book. It was excellent! The plot is straight forward and the tension in the story does not let up until the last page. It is a good book to develop questions and ethical debates with your students. "What would you do" will be in your head as you read the entire book. Questions as to Clay O'Brien's true character will also come up. You also have to decide if Mary Kathleen O'Brien description of her husband is accurate. It is a good "thinking book. The book is a quick read with only 184 pages. The print is medium size as well. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys historical fiction with a bit of suspense thrown in! ... Read more

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FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. Ten-year-old Susie and her father love living on the South Dakota prairie with its vast, uninterrupted views of land and sky, but Susie's mother greatly misses their old life in Ohio. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

simple yet rich, in both writing and content
I only read this because my mother gave it to me because my name is Susan. I was surprised at how much I wanted to know how Susie was going to cheer up her mother. I was surprised at how much I liked it's tone and style. It is warm and thoughtful. But very simple and straightforward.

One of the Best Books I Have Ever Read
Black-Eyed Susan is a book adults and children will enjoy equally. The seeming simplicity of the tale belies rich poetic images that took my breath away. The tenderness and love with which the characters interact with one another will make you feel warm all over, and maybe a renewed hope for humankind. The theme is also unusual for a children's book - Susan's mother is suffering from depression, although no one at that time knew what it was. How her daughter rouses her out of it, with the help of a chance encounter with strangers, is extremely powerful and moving.

Armstrong has thoroughly researched the time period this story takes place in, and it flows naturally so the reader feels she is right there in the story. Lovely illustrations add to the mood.

The best book I've read in ages
This book is so cool !!! It is very educational yet very good also, I would recommend this book to anyone out there.This book is a real page-turner.I also think this author has a lot of potential ... Read more