The Truth About Sparrows

by Marian Hale

"The Wynns are an unforgettable family. The details of their struggle to survive the Great Depression will linger long after the last page has been read."-Ann M. Martin, winner of the Newbery Honor for A Corner of the Universe

A stunning debut novel about
the true meaning of home

Sadie Wynn doesn't want a new life; her old one suits her just fine. But times are hard in drought-plagued Missouri, and Daddy thinks they'll be better off in Texas. Sadie hates this strange new place, where even children must work at the cannery to help make ends meet and people are rude to her disabled father.

Yet when trouble comes, it is the kindness of these new neighbors that helps the family make it through. And no one helps more than Dollie, a red-headed chatterbox of a girl who just might become a good friend-if Sadie gives her half a chance.  The Truth About Sparrows is a 2005 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Middle Grade, Historical, Fiction, Young Adult, Childrens, School

272 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2004

About the author

Marian Hale is an American author known for her historical novels for young adults. Her first novel, The Truth about Sparrows (2004), tells the story of twelve-year-old Sadie and her family's journey from Missouri to Texas during the Great Depression. The novel is praised for its historical accuracy and the development of its protagonist, Sadie. Hale's second novel, Dark Water Rising (2006), is set in 1900 and follows seventeen-year-old Seth during the devastating Galveston hurricane, blending fiction with historical events.
Hale also writes The Goodbye Season (2009), another young adult novel that explores family and personal growth. She lives with her husband, daughter, and grandchildren on the Texas coast.

Reviews

[Nono · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book. About a family in the depression who lost a lot but never their dignity. Also about a young girl coming to terms with the changing circumstances of her family. Loved it -thanks Kristi

[Stephanie Fitzgerald · Rating 5 out of 5]

A middle-grade historical fiction novel about the Great Depression, with an unusual setting. The family in this story decides to head south from Missouri to the Gulf Coast to escape drought conditions in 1933. It’s a coming-of-age tale; the young protagonist Sadie has to deal with a big move to a place completely different from her previous home, new people, new school, new everything! But as a result of some very surprising twists, Sadie learns that new and different isn’t always so terrible.
A book that anyone who has ever been “the new kid in town” will well relate to.
Thanks, Marian Hale! Another one of your works goes on my “Best of 2022” list!

[LaDawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another book I picked up because it was next to Shannon Hale in the library!
This is a wonderful book about a young girl in the depression, leaving her nice home to live in a shack on the coast. She discovers some uncomfortable truths about herself, and becomes a better person and friend because of it.
A very believable story with likable characters.

[jenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Let me just begin with saying, I have been reading a lot of historical fiction in the past two months or so. And out of all of them, I have really enjoyed The Truth About Sparrows.

This book takes place in the Great Depression, and it is a first person story about a girl having to change her whole life. I was really able to understand the character because she is similar to me in many ways.

Throughout the story, Sadie (the main character) learns that she is not the only one who lost things. Other people once had a nice house and new clothes.

I am also in love with the title of this book. If you ever end up reading this, you will really understand why.

So far, I think this might be my favorite book of the year. So next time you’re looking for a short but good book, I suggest you read The Truth About Sparrows, by Marian Hale.

[Sheila Coburn · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.7 this was a fun little book to read in between the ones I am on the list at the library waiting for. It made me think what makes us happy?
Sadie Wynn doesn't want a new life; her old one suits her just fine. But times are hard in drought-plagued Missouri, and Daddy thinks they'll be better off in Texas. Sadie hates this strange new place, where even children must work at the cannery to help make ends meet and people are rude to her disabled father.

Yet when trouble comes, it is the kindness of these new neighbors that helps the family make it through. And no one helps more than Dollie, a red-headed chatterbox of a girl who just might become a good friend-if Sadie gives her half a chance.

[Jennifer Hunt · Rating 5 out of 5]

My twelve-year-old and I adored this story! Even though it’s not Christian fiction, there were so many biblical truths about forgiveness and friendship and gratitude. The characterization, historical setting, and rise and fall of daily life vs adventure were masterful! This is a book we will own and reread.

Note: there were a couple of ghost stories that we chose to skip over which didn’t take away from our enjoyment of the book.

[L11-Sharri Moses · Rating 5 out of 5]

Twelve year old Sadie Wynn and her family have to leave their home in Missouri because her father has lost his job and they will have to look for a job elsewhere. They decide to look for a job in Texas. Many people have been affected by the drought and Depression. Sadie’s best friend Wilma and her family lost their home and had to go live with relatives in California. Wilma begs Sadie to never forget they are best friends and they promise to write to each other every day. Sadie is resentful about leaving her home and angry at strangers that stare at her father’s polio-withered legs. They find a one-room shack made out of tar-paper on the coast of Texas. Her father builds a fishing boat and fishes to earn money. Sadie is unappreciative of what she has and what is really important until she has to deliver her newborn sister a month early. The baby has trouble breathing and her new friend Dollie is there to support her. Sadie realizes that “instead of counting my blessings like Daddy asked me to do, I’d been feeding my bitterness.” This family learns to endure the Depression and they also become closer and stronger through it. This book would be good for students in grades 5-8. There are many themes that could be discussed such as, The Depression, survival, living with disabilities, and life in Dust Bowl Missouri. There are other books that could be read to delve deeper into The Depression. Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse is another historical fiction book that could be read, compared and discussed. n Students could write in a journal as they read this fiction books. They could write about the hardships that were endured. There are nonfiction books that would give the students more information like, The Great Depression by Jacqueline Farrell and Hardship and Hope: America and the Great Depression by Victoria Sherrow.

[QNPoohBear · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought the prose was really nice. I loved the descriptions of the landscape, their new home and everything they had to do to make it home. The setting is very unique and living near the ocean my whole life, I found it strange to experience someone smelling the salt air and eating shrimp for the first time. The author really excelled at the details of Depression era life in that area. The plot took awhile to be interesting but 3/4 of the way through, I couldn't put it down.

Sadie is very real. She's flawed which makes her more relateable. She's not a plucky too precocious young girl. She has honest, realistic feelings that kids actually experience. I know I would feel the same way in her place, yet as an adult, I found her unlikeable. Her refusal to accept her new friend and their situation annoyed me. I wanted to give her a good talking to.

I loved the secondary characters. The disabled Daddy made the story more interesting. I liked his grit and determination. The lively neighbors are the best part of the story. I liked the descriptions of them though I felt they were just too nice.

[Abbya · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Truth About Sparrows by Marian Hale was a wonderful read to take a look at the depression through the eyes of a child. The book takes place in the year of 1933 right in the heart of the Great Depression, and twevle year old Sadie doesnt want to leave her old life in Missouri but times are tough and Sadie and her family, including her pregnant mother, disabled father, and many siblings, decide to move down south to Texas to build a boat and become fishers. Sadie meets new people and new places like Aransas Pass and Dollie but her stubborness doesnt let her see what she has. Will Sadie grow into her new home or continue to miss her old one? The story is a first point perspective which in my opinion makes it more interesting. The story taught me many vauble life lessons like being thankful for what you have and that who are inside always shines through. Overall this book was an excellent story and I very much enjoyed reading it and would recommend it to anyone who loves at heartwarming story about friednds, family and life.

[Donovan Melnik · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book shows poverty and struggle,throughout the story you see the main character Sadie become more and more deppressd. She had to leave her home amd everything she loved to go to a far away place.She must make new freinds,and a new life.The setting is during the great deppression.Sadie and her family live happily ever after.If you like storys about struggle and hope read this book you wont regret it.

The author wants the reader to understand what this girl had to go through, The strugges she overcame, and her greatest achievments[for example she must live her life as a young lady instead she is teased by others who wish they were as lucky as her.] Marian Hale made this book especially for young readers. If you like a story with ups and downs then read this book. Hale wants you to understand and learn from this book, she wants you to imagine yourself in sadies position, What would you do?

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book that will make you count your blessings. Sadie's family is one of the thousands who fled the dustbowl during the depression years, and they struggle to build a new life far from everything familiar. Sadie resists everything about her new life, almost especially her new friends. There is a strong undercurrent of Christian faith in this book, which is handled in my opinion with authenticity. I found Sadie's story very moving and uplifting. I was only a bit troubled by the subplot (which gives the book its title) that I felt was unfortunately underdeveloped.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. It was one of those beautifully written stories that makes you feel happy even when it is breaking your heart. It made me feel young again, in the way that the main character always feels too many emotions and with a limited range of life experience has no way of knowing how to deal with them. (Can you tell I like coming of age stories?)

It is the author's first novel, and I wish I could tell her that it was a job well done.

[Katriina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book! Taking place during the Great Depression, The Truth About Sparrows creates a whole new world where if you can't make do with what you have, you don't survive. It teaches you that you can be happy with very little. As long as you have your family and friends, you'll be okay.

[Melinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this book since it was next to Shannon Hale in the library. The only reason why I like it is because it's exactly like the Little House books.

[Susannah Ball · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like it more the more I think about it. The story has a sweet, introspective rhythm. Profound lessons told through a simple, lilting, hopeful voice.

[Naomi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book in a little free library when I was on a walk with my dog. Always curious about books, I opened it and read the first page. It was then that I decided I should borrow this book and read it! One, I think it sort of reminded me of Laura from Little House on the Prairie. Two, it was about a girl who had just turned 12 in 1933, and it started out talking about the day they left Missouri and how her mama said there would be no cake for her birthday this year. My dad was born in 1940 in Missouri, so I was interested in what the story would be about. By the end of the first chapter, I knew I would stick with Sadie through the rest of her journey she would
Share via this book. She had me at “and all I could think about was how you can’t start a new life without the old one dying first.” I myself have “started a new life” before, and I believed her to be right!
Sadie learns a lot about herself in this book. At one point she is ashamed of herself and comes to understand, “I couldn’t change yesterday, but I’d done my best to make today better.”
I am learning things about myself too. Evidently I love quotes and keepers that talk about sunshine. Here’s one from this book. “Mama and Daddy beamed their smiles at me. It felt like sunshine, and I soaked it up.” I am thinking probably most kids, and even grownups like me, would feel this same way if their parents beamed their smiles toward them!

The story was just telling it like it was and not trying to prove a point, yet it definitely had some life lessons you could learn or remember, if you’re kinda old and already know them, by reading it. This story contains hardships of life, how to get along with friends and family, discovery of new things about life and yourself, what can happen when you make the wrong choice, and that sometimes even when you make the right choice things might not end up how you would hope or how you’ve planned. This book reminds me of lovely lessons like using what you have and being content, and being hard-working to make things better and yet always remembering to share. I liked it, and the title really works, so that’s fun too!

[Cian L · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Truth About Sparrows is a book written by Marian Hale about how a daughter of a farmer, Sadie Wynn, moves to Texas after being a farmer in Missouri because of the droughts and the dust storms that are ruining their crops so they move to Texas to get a better job and a better life. Throughout the book, Sadie complains about moving and leaving her best friend behind, Wilma, and always wants to leave as she says, her family doesn't belong hear in Texas. She then meets the red head Dollie, who is a girl that will never stop talking, but she will lead Sadie to understand and appreciate the things that they have going through the Great Depression towards the end of the book. In my opinion, the book really wasn't that great as it didn't really give you the feel that the characters were really going through the Great Depression and that is what the book is about, a child trying to survive through a depression and be okay in the end. The book didn't give the feel of them going through the Great Depression because at one point when all the families are in the school while a storm is going on, during a conversation that some adults are having the say that so many people in other places fight over food and so many people are homeless and that most people are living terrible lives, meanwhile almost every single person in the town has a home except for the one old man, Mr. Sparrow who was given that name by Sadie as she tries to figure out his story, and no one is starving so the book doesn't give off the feel that they are going through a depression but just Sadie trying to adapting to this new rough environment that she doesn't like. Overall, though, the main plot of Sadie's new life is very compelling, interesting, and full of twists that make the book be more edge-of-your-seat worthy, but the book didn't give enough information about the setting being in the Great Depression.

[Lyndee · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fantastic little book about a young girl struggling to come to terms with life changes during the Depression.

I loved the contrast of dry and dead Missouri against the windy, Texas coast…teeming with life; broken and parched wheat fields surrounding a home with a broken screen door and a dust covered front porch compared to a tar paper shack and a coastline filled with seagulls, herons, fish, crab, shrimp, and trees. Sadie learns several valuable lessons in this book; lessons even adults are still learning. It’s a well-written middle-grade book about friendship, family, sacrifice, love, and what makes a home a home.

⚠️ content warnings:
None!

[Felista Wangari]

I was drawn to this one because I was looking for historical fiction set during the Depression. It's a first person narrative of a 12-year-old Sadie whose family was uprooted from their home by a change in fortunes and had to seriously downgrade in a new state. She had difficulties adjusting, but things work out in the end.

I took a bit longer than planned to finish this due to a reading slump, but the remaining chapters were just what I needed to get out of it. A good read about family, friendship and getting through hard times.

[Brittany · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book took my attention and held it till the very last sentence. This story of a young girl and her families life as they leave their home in missouri to travel where money and work is.

This story teaches you about poverty in the old days, the love of family and loyalty of friends.

I enjoyed this book and the way its written made me feel as if i was in the book right there beside her as she is living the story.

Life lessons learned, family love grows and freinships grow and redeemed in this book. Id reccomend it forsure.

[Sandy Rayn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful !! Hard subject the depression. But enlightening!! Families survived . In this story the father is a hero keeping his family fed a roof over there heads. Without his wife who bears the children feeds them all on very little and Mr Sparrow who the daughter worries about , his family where have they gone and why is he alone living in a box by the sea wall. And why do people star at her father who has no use of his legs and pulls himself everywhere. But can build anything and drives there old car. A must read!!!

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has been sitting on my TBR stack since it was published in 2004. The Truth About Sparrows is a solid middle grade historical fiction look at life during the Great Depression. Sadie and her family have to move from Ohio after losing everything. She's especially sad about losing her best friend, Wilma, who also has to move. Although they do find a place to live and new friends, Sadie continues to wish for her old life.

[Fernanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book for middle schoolers. It portrays families who are drifting through America during the Great Depression trying to find places where they can start a new life. Kids will learn that sometimes what they think can only be happening to them is actually happening to all those around them. While the protagonist is a girl boys should get a message out of this book as well.

[DarBesko · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Great Depression causes a family to leave their Missouri home and find work elsewhere. Their travels end near Rockport, Texas. For the first time, Sadie sees her disabled father through the eyes of strangers. She learns how to pick cotton, peel shrimp, collect pecans, survive a hurricane, and deliver a baby. Most importantly, she learns about the power of friendship and forgiveness.

[Brooke]

Well written lower/middle grade historical fiction about a girl and her family during the Great Depression. I was a little disappointed because I read this is middle school or high school and I remember it being a very meaningful story for me, but upon re-reading I can't remember why I felt that way and didn't connect with it like I remember. Overall it's a good book though.

[Angela Kinnett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this book about a young girl and her family forced to move to Texas to find work. The hardships they had to endure, and the new friendships that were built helped her to deal with the loss of a lifetime friend.

[Kristy Teague · Rating 4 out of 5]

Twelve-year old Sadie and her family move from Missouri to the Texas Gulf Coast during the depression. The author captures the pioneer spirit and growing up during the Depression. It reminded me of the Little House books. Appropriate for grades 5-8.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

An absolutely lovely story about a family during the depression struggling to thrive. The heart of the story is a young girl who learned more about being a kind soul during the book than most people do in a lifetime.

[Linda Tozer · Rating 5 out of 5]

The truth about sparrows

I really enjoyed this book. An easy read for a stormy winter day. I started reading it in a classroom I was substitute teaching in. Had to order it on Kindle so that I could finish it.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A keeper to share.