Rating: 
Summary: questionable for 3rd and 4th graders
Review: Strawberry Girl seems innocent enough on the surface -- a book about a little girl and her family moving to a new house, planting new crops, and their hardships. However, the book has a strong overtone of fighting and feuding. The neighbors argue through the entire book. This book reminds me of "The Hatfields & the McCoys" for kids. The neighbors are constantly trying to "seek revenge" and "get even" with each other. Maybe I am just conservative, but I thought the book crossed the line a little for young children when the neighbors started killing one another's animals to seek revenge. I know this book was written in the 1940's and won the prestigious Newbery Medal, but not all books are timeless... some of them show their age and I think Strawberry Girl definitely shows its age with a plot that some parents and teachers might find questionable. There is a good "moral lesson" during the last two chapters, but still you will have to explain to your children why the neighbors killed one another's animals and why it is not right to do so and to seek revenge.
Another questionable act in the book is the drunkenness of the neighbor. He throws all of the families money away on alcohol and gambling. He loses his temper with his wife and his children, and he shoots the heads off of chickens one by one with a shotgun when he is drunk. Again, this one might be hard to swallow (no pun intended) with 3rd graders. The two older boys of this drunken man beat up the schoolteacher so badly that school has to be cancelled for weeks.
Another aspect of Strawberry Girl that makes it questionable is the language Lenski uses throughout the book. She uses an extreme southern (almost hillbilly-type) accent with each character in the book. After awhile it becomes tedious and difficult to read. I think it would be all right for 5th graders and advanced 4th graders. However, as a teacher of 3rd grade, I would have to say that most 8 and 9 year olds would find the language too difficult. It is challenging enough for readers this age to get through chapter books and to encounter so many new vocabulary words, but to have to deal with "I takened lessons way back in Caroliny when I was a young un and I ain't forgot yet. Hit makes me plumb happy to put my fingers on an organ again", may be just a little much for a 3rd grader. My advice is to use this book as a read-aloud. You can read it to your children or your students. This will allow you to pronounce all of the southern dialog and you can explain as you go that there are better ways to solve differences then killing the neighbor's animals and so forth.
Rating: 
Summary: Strawberry Girl
Review: The book STRAWBERRY GIRL starts out with when a person comes to visit them and asks them if they have ever planted strawberries, and from that point it was mosly about them planting strawberries and stuff, then their neighbors start pulling pranks on them, i cant tell you what they did because you have to read the book to find out!, well anyways then they have a grass fire to deal with, and then Mrs.Slater gets sick, you have to read the book to find out if she survives and to find out how it ends!! =)
Rating: 
Summary: memorable
Review: THis book has stayed with me for over 15 years. I read it as a child AND DID A REPORT ON IT IN SCHOOL. I PULLEd IT UP SO I COULD HAVE MY DAUGHTER READ THE BOOK. I LOVED THE CHARACTERS AND ALL OF THE OBSTACLES THat had to be overcome. I treasured this book as a chld.. A geat memory of reading as a child.
Rating: 
Summary: Boring...
Review: this book is just about how a girl and her family cope with life on the frontier. it is a good family book but i wouldn't really recommend this book to anyone.
Rating:
Summary: A great read aloud book for the entire family.
Review: This wonderful story of a families move to Florida is filled with funny moments and touching realities. Our family loves Mrs. Lenski's books and this one will not disappoint. This is a great book for your personal library. One you will want to read over and over again
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Historic Fiction!
Review: True to life adventures in a rural setting in Florida in the early l900's, the characters present an understanding of what "it was like, back then." Great award winning book! Enduring classic...
Rating:
Summary: A Literary Treasure
Review: When I was a child, Lois Lenski was one of my favorite authors. I read Strawberry Girl when I was around 7, and I loved it. I think it introduced me to a rural poverty that was otherwise out of my experience, and left me with a sense of empathy for people whose lives were very different from my own. Nearly 40 years later, I still remember it.
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