Hattie Big Sky & Hattie Ever After

I actually spent much of my weekend reading – a shock, I know!  I was able to read three books this weekend, which is often unheard of and made me extremely happy!  I finally got to read Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson, which I had thought I already read, but must have slipped past me.  I also read the sequel that was just published this year, Hattie Ever After.  I’m a huge fan of historical fiction – even as a child, I really enjoyed the historical fiction books, (the original) American Girl series, Sign of the Beaver, Laura Ingalls Wilder and a host of others.

Hattie Big Sky grabs hold of the reader and sucks you into the wilderness of Montana during World War I and right before things go from bad to worse during the Great Depression.  It’s hard to understand how in 1917 (not even 100 years ago) that people were still homesteading and it was uncommon for a girl to go off on her own.  This era is not often written about in children’s books – there is always stories about the Victorian Era, the Great Depression, and World War II, but this era in American history is often overlooked.  The most interesting part of the story, for me, was the relationships that Hattie forged with her new neighbors, creating a very life-like understanding between her and the secondary characters.

Hattie Ever After picks up where Hattie Big Sky left off and the reader is sucked right back into Hattie’s story as she searches for a place of her own and a life she is happy living.  Moving to San Francisco, Hattie realizes that writing is her passion, but finding a job at one of the newspapers is much more difficult than she thought because most reporters are male.  Hattie’s adventures in San Francisco and the possibility of finding the right man to settle down with keep the reader intrigued, but again, it’s the secondary characters that really create a connection, for me, in this book.

For more information about the author, check out her website!

Title: Hattie Big Sky
Author: Kirby Larson
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Publication Date: 2006
Page Number: 289 pgs.

Title: Hattie Ever After
Author: Kirby Larson
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: 2013
Page Number: 240 pgs.