Lessons - Hardcover

Geisert, Bonnie

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 061847899X ISBN 13: 9780618478996

Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers, 2005

Synopsis

Summer was drawing to a close, and Rachel would soon return to school to begin fifth grade. Like many of her classmates, she was anxious about her friends, the strict Mrs. Kelly, and the timed arithmetic tests, but there was something else worrying Rachel, too. Ever since her baby brother, Matthew, was born, she couldn’t help but notice that her father seemed even more brooding and withdrawn than ever. Confused and concerned by his behavior, Rachel starts demanding answers—but the secret she uncovers raises more questions than it solves.

Author Bonnie Geisert transports readers back to a simpler time and place. Yet life on a rural South Dakota farm in the 1950s was not without its challenges, and Rachel soon discovers she has many lessons to learn, both in Mrs. Kelly’s classroom and beyond . . .

About this title

About the Author

Bonnie Geisert grew up on a farm near Cresbard, South Dakota, and her childhood adventures there inspired many of the events in her Prairie trilogy. Ms.Geisert now lives in a small town in northern Illinois, where she still revels in beautiful prairie winters.

Reviews

Grade 5-7–In this sequel to Prairie Summer(Houghton, 2002), Rachel astutely observes that her father is distressed following the birth of her baby brother, Matthew, in South Dakota, 1954. He doesn't hold the baby often or long, is quicker to anger, and is uncharacteristically drunk one afternoon. The fifth grader learns from her mother that he is dealing with grief for the loss of a son who died several years before Rachel's eldest sister was born. Because the infant died before being baptized, their minister would not give him a Christian burial and stated that the baby would not be saved, which is haunting her father. Rachel's mother, raised Methodist, does not agree, nor does their current minister, Reverend Meyer, who later explains of a conflict in biblical interpretation within the Lutheran Church. The family follows his suggestion to disinter the casket from its Iowa grave site and bring it to South Dakota for a Christian burial, a healing ceremony for all. Geisert tells this heavy story gently and gracefully, balancing it with Rachel's lively descriptions of school: renewed friendships, laughter on the bus, the perils of pin curls on picture day, the angst from a sock with a hole on the varnished gym floor, and the thrills of simple games at recess. Descriptions of Rachel's farm life with her loving, industrious family round out this story with regional and historical appeal, and for fans of the first book.–Laura Scott, Farmington Community Library, MI
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Gr. 4-6. On their family's South Dakota farm in the 1950s, Rachel, 10, and her three sisters are thrilled to have a new baby brother. But why is Dad so sad? Eventually the haunting family secret is revealed: Rachel's first baby brother died in infancy before he could be baptized, and the Lutheran minister refused him a Christian burial. As in Prairie Summer (2001), the first book about Rachel, the tension with Dad plays out against a vividly detailed picture of Rachel's life on the farm and at school. All that loving local color--Rachel's lessons and games, the tools she uses to work in the fields, the food the family eats--may be too much for some readers, but the story, based on Geisert's own experience, dramatically portrays a child's bewildered view of adults breaking down. Depicted with quiet restraint, the tenderness between Rachel's parents is heartfelt, as is the religious conflict and resolution. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 061847899X
• ISBN 13: 9780618478996
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 192