Grasshopper Summer

by Ann Turner, Erika Meltzer (Illustrator)

In 1874, eleven-year-old Sam White and his family are moving from Kentucky to the Dakota Territory. These hardy pioneers know it will be hard work, but they don't expect the devastating plague that comes like an unstoppable force to sweep away all their hopes for the future. They will cope.
But they will never forget this grasshopper summer.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Young Readers, Juvenile

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Ann Turner, also known and published as Ann Warren Turner, is a children's author and a poet.
Ann Turner wrote her first story when she was eight years old. It was about a dragon and a dwarf named Puckity. She still uses that story when she talks to students about writing, to show them that they too have stories worth telling.
Turner has always loved to write, but at first she was afraid she couldn't make a living doing it. So she trained to be a teacher instead. After a year of teaching, however, she decided she would rather write books than talk about them in school.
Turner's first children's book was about vultures and was illustrated by her mother. She has written more than 40 books since then, most of them historical picture books. She likes to think of a character in a specific time and place in American history and then tell a story about that character so that readers today can know what it was like to live long ago.
Ann Turner says that stories choose her, rather than the other way around: "I often feel as if I am walking along quietly, minding my own business, when a story creeps up behind me and taps me on the shoulder. 'Tell me, show me, write me!' it whispers in my ear. And if I don't tell that story, it wakes me up in the morning, shakes me out of my favorite afternoon nap, and insists upon being told."

(from: http://www.eduplace.com/kids/tnc/mtai...)

Reviews

[Loraine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good upper elementary novel about the settling of the Dakota Territory told from the perspective of the young son of a pioneer family.

[Patsy · Rating 5 out of 5]

After the Civil War in1874 in Kentucky this story is written through the eyes of young boy, Sam T. White. Sam, his smaller brother Billy age 10, Ma and Pa are in Kentucky living with his grandparents. After the Civil War Pa decides to take his family to Dakado Territory and homestead land and start farming.

Sam is having a hard time adjusting to the idea of leaving his grandparents and friends. They loaded up their covered wagon, bought horses, supplies and begin their journey which was hard. They claimed their land all happy and excited with beautiful green grass and a creek for fishing. The hard work has just began building a dugout home, the whole family works from sun-up to sun-down. After finishing the home comes plowing, planting crop, planting a garden taking care of animals and each other.

This is a very touching and emotional story which included many adventures throughout. Ann Turner writes stories for 8th grade and up. This book was well written, interesting, entertaining and fast paced with an outstanding ending., I recommend this book to everyone that enjoys the wagon train era. I really enjoyed this book, I had a few tears along the way. I love reading about this era, and the Civil War are my favorites books.

[Missy LeBlanc Ivey · Rating 2 out of 5]

AR POINTS: 4 READING LEVEL: 3.6
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Sam White, the oldest of two sons of a pioneer family, tells the story of their travel from Kentucky to the Dakota Territory nine years after the Civil War, in 1874.

They left behind grandparents and good friends in search of a better life. The government was issuing 160-acres of land free to new settlers, as long as they planted 10-acres, built a house, and stayed for 5 years. The White's first year corn crop, along with everyone elses around them, including surrounding states, were wiped out by a grasshopper plaque. They borrowed money for the first time in their lives for seeds and supplies to try again the following year, but others left defeated.

I didn't think this was very well written, even for elementary aged kids. The author just jumps right into characters in the first sentence with no introductions. I'm a grown ass adult and was lost on what was going on and who was who for a chapter or two. The story later flowed a little better, but the author's got a strange way of wording her sentences which often left me with the question of...wait... what did I just read? And had to read it again.
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The grasshopper plague, was a real thing and occurred from 1873 to 1877, every summer destroying crops and eating pretty much everything in sight, from Minnesota, the Dakotas, and Iowa.

[Celia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Showed the heartache people from the South carried as a result of the Civil War and Restoration and how they dealt with it. I hadn't realized before that many people from the South moved West to build a new life.

Disappointingly, although probably realistically, there was a fair amount of superstition and no distinction between reverence for God versus fear of bad luck.

[Beverly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Grasshopper Summer by Ann Turner
3 stars

I picked this book up at our library resale shop specifically because it had the word grasshopper in the title and I needed a book to fill a challenge where the title included an insect. This turned out to be an extremely quick read. After finishing and while reading about the author I found out that she has earned a reputation for her handling of historical material in the children's book field. That certainly gave me a new slant on my feelings about the book. This tells the story of a family whose farm in Kentucky was partially seized during the Civil War. What's left of it is poor and barely fertile enough to sustain crops. Mr. and Mrs. White, along with their 2 young sons, Sam and Billy, are joining the move west and they are headed for Dakota Territory. The book is written in a plain, to the point story line as seen from the perspective of the 2 boys--one who is excited for the change and one who is not. They make friends on the journey, they encounter folks who approach things differently than their family would and they try to remain positive along the way. When they finally get to their destination, the whole family works together to accomplish setting up a new homestead. There are trials to be faced but again, the characters each do their part to help shore up the others. I think that's what I liked best about the book, that a young person who is wanting to read about a pioneer family moving west could read about it in this book without a lot of tragedy and tension but still see that sometimes we suffer set backs. It's teaching history in a very positive manner.

[Jackson Mills]

This book is about a boy named Sam White who lived in kentucky but his parents decided to move to dakota. So they get a wagon and start riding there. On their way they met a group of other families who were traveling to somewhere west. Once they got to dakota they bought some land and started a crop. After about a month they saw that they had nabors and it turns out that it is one of the families they met on the trail. And about one or two months later a storm came but not an ordinary storm a storm of locust hundreds of thousands of locust and they ate everything green or anything that grows from the ground. After the locust storm their crops were gone so the government sent them money so the could last until next years cropping season.

The main character in this book is named Samuel T.White. In this book he starts out as a little brat who doesn’t work hard and doesn’t like change. But he turns into a hard working man who will catch any challenge that is thrown at him. And in the end he is probably harder working than me.

I liked this book because there wasn't to much action but there was a little every now and then. And when the locust came was my favorite part. And I think that people should read this book because there is just enough action and it makes you feel like a pioneer.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

After the War Between the States, Sam's father decides that he's had enough of the overworked Kentucky bottomland that he has farmed for his in-laws. He takes his family by wagon to the Dakota Territory, where land is as cheap as the cost of settling it. Sam can't get accustomed to the big sky in Nebraska, but he and his brother Billy gradually learn to like their new surroundings. It is only when a swarm of grasshoppers drops out of the sky and devours their first crop that Sam realizes that although his own family is staying on, the price of settling a new land, for some folks, is just too high. Turner deftly balances tranquil scenes (the family's pitching in to build the sod house) with terrifying ones (the grasshoppers eat anything green, even the green stripes of a woman's dress--while she is still wearing it). This is a solid piece of writing--a sturdy blend of action, adventure and thoughtfulness that will appeal to both boys and girls.

Warning: The grasshopper seen is G-R-O-S-S! :D

[Eden Silverfox · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's 1874, Sam and his family are moving from Kentucky to Dakota Territory. Sam isn't happy about it at all, but eventually he begins to like his new home.

But the grasshoppers that have showed up could make them have to move back to Kentucky. Sam knows what he has to do to keep that from happening and he just hopes his Father won't be upset with him.

Not a bad book, but I felt I lost interest at times. And I felt Sam wasn't always likeable. He became better towards the end, but that could be why I didn't enjoy this book as much as I thought I would.

Overall, it was an okay book.

[Jessica Fiveash]

Grasshopper Summer*
Ann Turner
Location, Place, Relationships, Movement, Region
Following the Civil War hardships force Sam's family to leave Kentucky for the Dakota Territory. The journey west is difficult, and Sam is resentful about the sacrifice forced upon him. However, he soon learns to love his new home and when new troubles threaten to send the family back east Sam goes to great lengths to stay out west.

[Miss Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

gr 5-8 166 pgs

1874, Kentucky/Dakota. Unlike his brother Billy, Sam likes living in Kentucky. When his father decides that the family needs a fresh start in Dakota, Sam can't understand how Billy and his father can want to leave everything they know behind. The story follows Sam and his family as they make the difficult journey to the Dakota Territory and then face hardship as they start work on setting up the farm.

Okay story.

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book with historical narrative I really enjoy. I feel that the post Civil War era untill the beginning of World War II is such an understudied period of time. Particularly as it relates to the anthropology of the American poor.

A little to much like Wilder though to justify a better rating.

[Pascal Chiang · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about a boy who moves to the wild Dakota territory with his family in search of better land. He and his family must stand up to challenges or go home. The Mississippi River, Long roads in wagon trains, Indians, and locusts are tough, but sam and his family break through and survive.

[Michelle]

Listed as Q4 = Exceptional!, P4 = A book everyone wants to read

[Bernadette Kearns · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good historical fiction novel to use with my fifth grade readers. I liked the boy main character and child's perspective on settling new territory during westward movement.

[Katy Lovejoy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not what I was expecting