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Rating: 
Summary: Land of the buffalo bones
Review: Great story! It's actually based on the author's great-grandmother, so it's a true story. Tells of Mary Ann Elizabeth Rodgers, a fourteen year old girl whose father is an English priest and decides to move Mary Ann and a band of English immigrants to Minnesota. The trip itself is a hardship as they cross the Atlantic, face violent storms, food shortages, flies, locusts, illness and death. Mary even has to bury a dear boy friend at sea because he dies. When they finally arrive in New Yeovil, as they called it, they find no town and have to build one from the ground. Bad weather, few trees and grumbling immigrants makes the job all the more harder. Mary Ann also must succumb to difficult step-siblings and her best friend's parents' suicide and alcoholic rages. The book contains vulgar words and actions so I would recommend this book to anyone ages 14 and up. The story ends on a good note, and her great-granddaughter tells her story. Unique and interesting. A real page-turner. Good for girls, but boys boys can read it too--if they want. Buy it. Worth your money.
Rating: 
Summary: Not the Best Dear America
Review: I have been reading Dear America books for a long time, and I've had a hard time trying to stop! I started in fifth grade, and I am a senior now. I normally read adult books, but there are just some series that I can't let go!Polly and her family leave a comfortable life in England to come to Minnesota and start over. They also bring over several families. Rev. Rogers (Polly's dad) is the optimistic leader of the group. They are imagining perfect weather and easy money. They get none of it. It is difficult to farm, and the summers are too hot and winters too cold. Tragedy is commonplace. Yet, the Rogers family pulls through and sticks together to survive. This Dear America isn't the best. In fact, it is one of my least favorites. There is a lot of boring bits and there are no real jaw-dropping things that happen (like most of the other ones). It does accurately portray Minnesota. I live here, and the weather is awful, and the people aren't very nice. I have been all over, and this is my least favorite place.
Rating:
Summary: An OK Dear America, but not my cup of tea.
Review: I read this book very quickly, and did not learn anything particularly new. I did like the twist on the "rich prairie land" lifestyle, in which, instead of having a capable, hardworking mother who knew exactly what to do in the house and a father who knew how to hunt and farm almost instinctively, Mary and her family faced serious problems of simply not having the knowledge to survive.
In spite of the good idea and the fact that it was based on a true story, I found it to be quite dull and depressing. I could not identify very well with characters, and never knew what they would do next.I did not feel I knew them very well. I dislike Dear Americas which sugar coat the truth, and I am happy to say that it is an honest depiction of life on the frontier. However, I simply did not enjoy reading it, although it may be someone elses cup of tea.
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