Hattie Big Sky, Kirby Larson
Hattie Big Sky, Kirby Larson
5 Rating(s)
List: $18.50 | Sale: $12.95
Club: $9.25

Hattie Big Sky

Author: Kirby Larson

Narrator: Kirsten Potter

Unabridged: 8 hr 30 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 04/10/2007


Synopsis

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NEWBERY HONOR AWARD WINNER

A classic YA novel about a teenage girl searching for a sense of home and family that celebrates the true spirit of independence on the American frontier.

For most of her life, sixteen-year-old Hattie Brooks has been shuttled from one distant relative to another. Tired of being Hattie Here-and-There, she summons the courage to leave Iowa and move all by herself to Vida, Montana, to prove up on her late uncle’s homestead claim.
 
Under the big sky, Hattie braves hard weather, hard times, a cantankerous cow, and her own hopeless hand at the cookstove. Her quest to make a home is championed by new neighbors Perilee Mueller, her German husband, and their children. For the first time in her life, Hattie feels part of a family, finding the strength to stand up against Traft Martin’s schemes to buy her out and against increasing pressure to be a “loyal” American at a time when anything—or anyone—German is suspect. Despite daily trials, Hattie continues to work her uncle’s claim until an unforeseen tragedy causes her to search her soul for the real meaning of home.
 
This young pioneer's story is lovingly stitched together from Kirby Larson’s own family history and the sights, sounds, and scents of homesteading life.

About The Author

Kirby Larson is an American writer of children’s books. She is the author of the Oppenheim Platinum Award-winning The Magic Kerchief, as well as the Newbery Honor book Hattie Big Sky. She is retired from the faculty at the Whidbey Writers Workshop MFA program, and lives in Kenmore, Washington with her husband, Neil.Kirsten Potter has performed at theaters across the country, including the Geffen Playhouse, Mark Taper Forum, Laguna Playhouse, Seattle Repertory Theatre, and Arena Stage. Her film and TV work include Judging AmyBones, and The Eyes Have It; and she has voiced numerous roles for animation and video games. Kirsten has narrated numerous audiobooks, including Hattie Big Sky, If I Stay, Madapple, The Neighbor, Sammy's House, and The Snowball. She has received three AudioFile Earphones Awards for her outstanding narration.


Reviews

AudiobooksNow review by Lisa the Librarian on 2007-10-09 13:28:53

I wasn't expecting to enjoy Hattie Big Sky. Yes, it's a Newbery Honor, but I don't especially enjoy pioneer-ish tales. But I was wrong. The setting is during World War I about homesteading in Montana in 1917. So much is going on in this book, but it is organically woven together. The events and characters have life. The narration brings a wonderful spirit to Hattie. You can understand her desires and disappointments that makes the listener cheer or cry. This is not to be missed.

AudiobooksNow review by Debra on 2009-02-19 14:08:46

This has got to rank as one of the best audio books I've ever listened to! From almost the first words I was hooked and never once got bored. I hated for it to end and wish for more adventures of Hattie.

Goodreads review by Luann on December 02, 2008

Hattie is a sixteen-year-old girl who has been shuttled from relative to relative for most of her life after the death of her parents. When her uncle leaves her his homestead claim in Montana, she decides to make a go of it. Instead of being Hattie Here-and-There she wants to be Hattie Homesteader.......more

Goodreads review by Mary on April 10, 2008

I was just a few pages into the book when I read a line that made me smile. Left me without a doubt that this was a special this book, and Ms. Larson's writing was special, too. After a very rough start under the big sky of Vida, Montana, Hattie Inez Brooks sat down to the first meal in her new home......more

Goodreads review by AziaMinor on November 25, 2020

Overall Rating: A "...Rather, the lessons this life has planted in my heart pertain more to caring than to crops, more to Golden Rule than gold, more to the proper choice than to the popular choice." The first book of the year where the last half made me cry my eyes out. So the year's starting out go......more

Goodreads review by Jessica on February 20, 2008

A well-researched look into claimstaking land. This is based on the author's grandmother's experience as a teenager, staking her own claim and farming the land by herself, and I can't even begin to say how impressed I am by all this. Also, I always thought of settling the west as being a pre-1900's......more

Goodreads review by Olivia on June 16, 2023

{June 2023 Reread} I don't know that I would like this book as much as I do were it not for the memory of Kirsten Potter's masterful narration in the audiobook, which was the way I first experienced the novel back in my early teens. She made Hattie and her simple story come alive, and I still hear h......more


Quotes

AN AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION BEST BOOK FOR YOUNG ADULTS
A SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL BEST BOOK
A BOOKLIST EDITORS' CHOICE
NAMED TO 13 STATE AWARD LISTS

★“Larson creates a masterful picture of the homesteading experience and the people who persevered.”–School Library Journal, starred review

"A marvelous story about courage, loyalty, perseverance, and the meaning of home." --Newbery Award-Winning Author Karen Cushman