Dakota Dugout

Dakota Dugout is one of my favorite children's books. It reminds me of the stories my grandfather told me when I was a child. He lived on the plains in a sod house, and had wonderful memories of this time, which he relayed to me. The story is very well done. The author evokes a vision of an elderly woman telling her story to a younger child. The narrator's descriptions of the sights and sounds of pioneer times leave the reader with a strong visual image and captures the essence of living on the prairie. As a reader, you travel back in time and learn about the many hardships of living on the prairie that each season brings. The illustrations are beautiful! They are black and white, and look as if they could have been drawn when the story was happening. They evoke emotion and set the tone of life in a simpler time. I can't say enough good things about this beautiful work of art.

Beautiful story with great illustrations about White people settling the Plains.

I wanted a good clean used copy and this certainly was....

Disappointing! I bought this to do research for a book I'm writing and it advertises it will tell you all about prairie years? I thought I was getting some good research material. What came was a thin, terribly bent book the size of a child's golden book with black and white pictures with poems underneath. Excerpt: Winter came sudden. Slam-bang! the ground was iron. cattle breath turned to ice, froze their noses to the ground. Under each picture is a small poem like verse. No history no information on the time period at all. Very disappointed. And I paid $4.00 for postage and it came all bent and mangled. It's going in the bin.

Good pioneer images to convey what it was like back then...useful for learning and remembering heritage.