Skitterbrain

by Irene Bennett Brown

When Larnie found her family's milk cow gone, she knew she hadn't driven the stake deep enough to hold her. Larnie's sickly mother was about to have a baby, and the infant would need milk, so Larnie rode off on her old white mule determined to bring Bessie back. Included in Juvenile 10.

158 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1978

About the author

I was born in Topeka, Kansas but from the age of nine, Oregon’s Willamette Valley has been home. As a child in one-room schools where I was often the only student in my class, I read, reread, and lived vicariously books like HEIDI, CADDIE WOODLAWN, MAMA’S BANK ACCOUNT, and LITTLE WOMEN. Jo in LITTLE WOMEN and Katrin in MAMA’S BANK ACCOUNT, writing away in their dusky attics, fueled my own dream to be a writer.

Author William Least Heat Moon is surely correct when he says “our passions at age 12 will always be with us and indicate our intended career.”

A writer who can’t not write, I pounded out my first seven books on a manual typewriter borrowed from a neighbor. Payoff for sore arms from throwing the carriage was national publication of my children’s books: in hardcover by Atheneum, E.P. Dutton, Thomas Nelson and David McKay, and in paperback book club editions by Viking Penguin, Scholastic, and Junior Literary Guild. Awards and honors include a Spur Award from Western Writers Of America and nomination for the Mark Twain Award for BEFORE THE LARK, the Evelyn Sibley Lampman Award for significant contribution to children’s literature, and inclusion on several best books’ lists.

THE PLAINSWOMAN, published originally by Ballantine, was my first novel for adults and a Western Writers Of America Spur Award finalist. Other novels include my Women Of Paragon Springs series from Five Star Cengage: LONG ROAD TURNING, BLUE HORIZONS, NO OTHER PLACE, and REAP THE SOUTH WIND. A love story set in Oregon’s Hells Canyon, HAVEN, a single title, was also published by Five Star. My historical novel, THE BARGAIN, was released by my own company, Riveredge Books, in 2007. WHERE GABLE SLEPT, the first book in my Celia Landrey mystery series, followed in 2010 and WHERE DANGER DANCED in 2012. All are now published by Riveredge Books and are also available as Kindle and Nook ebooks.

When not following my favorite pursuits, writing and reading, you’ll find me enjoying travel and exploring historic places with my husband, Bob, a retired research chemist, and spending time with our growing and busy family.

Reviews

[HeavyReader · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up at the Social Service League and read it in one afternoon. I am going to pass it on to my nephew.

It is the story of an 11 year-old girl living in rural Kansas in the late 1800s. She has some unladylike adventures and grows to be a better person for it.

I enjoyed it!

[nelson shinn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book

Found this a enjoyable story though written for a much younger audience, I was quite content reading it. Very nice enjoyable read.

[Becky · Rating 3 out of 5]

First sentence: Early dawn glowed softly across the harsh Kansas prairie outside the sod house where Larned "Larnie" Moran was just waking up.

Premise/plot: Skitterbrain is a coming of age novel set in Kansas in 1875. Larnie, the heroine, is responsible for the family's milk cow, Bessie. When Bessie wanders off, Larnie takes the family's mule and heads off after her. (She does not tell her mother or father where she's going or why.) Bessie is not an easily found cow. In fact, little of this search goes as planned. Bessie gets mixed up with other cattle in a cattle herd; Larnie's mule gets stolen; she's forced to decide how badly she wants this. Larnie thinks of only one thing: her mother is days away from having a baby. Her new baby brother--or baby sister--will NEED the milk from that cow to survive. Her mom is just not able. So finding this cow is a matter of life and death--as she sees it. Larnie proves her fierceness in this one.

My thoughts: It wasn't instant love. I can tell you that much at least. At first I was yelling at Larnie a lot. I just didn't understand why she didn't go to her Dad for help within minutes after discovering the cow was gone. Sure, he might have been upset. He might have called her "skitterbrain." But I still think that would have been the right thing to do--the responsible thing to do. I was also upset with the young thief whom Larnie ultimately ends up loving enough to bring back home to her parents saying, please adopt him. It wasn't just that he made one bad mistake; he kept on taking advantage of her time and time and time again. By the end, I was happy enough with how everything turned out. This book was a quick read, and I don't want my time back despite not loving it.

[Shauna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was short and sweet. I love Irene Bennet Brown's style of writing. This book is a coming of age story of a city girl, somewhat pampered who moves to a farm in Kansas where life is HARD. She is nick named Skitterbrain by her father because she continually makes mistakes. Her father wants her to do things on her own. When her milk cow gets away from their farm because of her mistake, she takes off to find her.

[Cws]

JF-YABro

[Mandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delightful.