Rass

by Berniece Rabe

Chronicles a young boy's continuing conflict with his father while growing up on a Missouri farm during the Depression.

Paperback

First published January 1, 1973

About the author

While growing up in a large sharecropping family in Missouri during the Depression, Berniece Rabe Tryand practiced telling stories to herself. When she was 40, a teacher at Elgin Community College inspired her to use those storytelling skills to become an author, leading her to write 17 books, several of which won awards.

Ms. Tryand’s 1978 book “The Orphans” (Dutton Juvenile) won the Society of Midland Authors award for best children’s nonfiction. Ms. Tryand, who wrote under the name Berniece Rabe, also was nominated five times for the American Library Association’s Newbery Medal and won the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators’ Golden Kite award, the National Children’s Choice Award and two Best of the Decade awards.

Ms. Tryand met her first husband, Walter Henry Rabe, in Panama during World War II while she was modeling a line of fashions and he was in the Army. They were married in 1946 and organized the first Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints congregation in Elgin. Walter Rabe died in 2005 after a 59-year-marriage, and Ms. Tryand married James Tryand of Plano in 2009.

She is survived by James Tryand; her three sons Alan, Brian and Clay Rabe; her daughter Dara Rabe Sandland; 10 grandchildren, and 14 great-grandchildren.

Reviews

[Debbi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This woman was a friend and an early mentor. I decided to buy all of her books and read them in sequence. What an interesting experience! I love her style--clear and age-appropriate, but she doesn't "talk down" to anyone. Those that echo her childhood are captivating. Those that speak to children in her life are tender. All have funny moments, real conflicts, and resolution. It was like talking to her again. Thank you, Berniece.

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I first started reading this book, it kind of reminded me of the Great Brain series. I wasn't sure if I would like it, but I enjoyed seeing the growth and change in the main character as he dealt with both emotional and physical abuse from his father. I think it is sad that there are still parents like Rass's in our world today.

[Rogue-van (the Bookman) · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Rass hid the dead snake in the shed, his uncle exploded out of there like his tail was on fire. Life on a Missouri farm wasn't dull with Rass around. Rascally Rass yearns to be free. . . like Tom Sawyer or Huckleberry Finn. Midwest storytelling at its finest. . . , short of Mark Twain, of course.

[Stewart Hudson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This represented the darkest parts of my life. That of being in a family, but on the outside. Rabe was the first author I ever met. She visited my school. Fabulous writer. She has an engaging and unpretentious writing style. I felt like I could smell her descriptions and feel the emotionsn written in this book.

[Andre · Rating 3 out of 5]

I interviewed the author on the air and she gave me a signed copy of this book.

[Craig Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book. Perhaps my bias for the setting of rural Missouri taints my review, but this is a great look at farm life in the depression era.