The Year of the Ranch

Spending 1919 on a homestead outside of Yuma, Arizona, a hardworking family struggles to transform the desert mesa into a farmland and a shack into a home, in a story that features such period scenes as a homemade tennis court and violent sandstorms.

Grade 1-3?The year in question in this gentle tributeis 1919. Papa is a business man who believes the desert can be made green through irrigation. So vital is his dream that he decides to homestead a section of land in Arizona and move his family to a small isolated shack outside Yuma. For Mama and the eldest daughter, the hardships are oppressive but the younger three girls, especially Emily, find The Year of the Ranch a grand adventure. When Papa moves on to a new dream of providing educational institutions for the new state, the ranch is left behind but the dream continues to grow and becomes reality. While having all the nostalgic poignancy of the author's Roxaboxen (Lothrop, 1991), this story is missing its clear focus and child appeal. Papa, Mama, and two of the daughters are accessible enough but the other two children are lost in the background. The text is likely to appeal more to adults; however, the pencil and watercolor illustrations add a charm that will appeal to all. This is a strong addition for libraries in the Southwest and schools looking for extra curriculum support for American history units. Though a better read alone than aloud, it could be used effectively to spark conversation about times past, dreamers, or what is to come.?Jody McCoy, Casady School, Oklahoma City
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

As she so eloquently did in Roxaboxen, McLerran once more immortalizes a piece of land in the Southwest by describing a family's emotional attachment to it. Papa's dream of becoming a mesa homesteader in 1919 spurs him to curtail his office job and move his wife and four young daughters to a shack in the desert. While the girls fret about the lack of indoor plumbing, frequent visits from scorpions and tarantulas and the all-around difficult conditions, Papa encourages them with his wonderful vision: "The desert shall blossom as the rose," he says. "Someday... this whole valley will be a garden." Though they all gamely try to adjust, in the end even Papa realizes he'd be better off selling his land and moving back to town. McLerran's sense of family dynamics rings true and her characters exhibit just the right amount of agitation and concern without becoming whiny. Mama's and the girls' support of Papa and their efforts to understand him are a stirring testament to strong love. Root's (Hugh Can Do) watercolors capture the vibrant and ever-changing palette of bright stars and sumptuous sunsets found in the desert landscape. Her scenes of characters pumping water, playing tennis or battening down against a sandstorm evoke a warm togetherness. An author's note contains anecdotes that place the story in both a historical and personal context. Ages 3-8.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Set in 1919 on a homestead on a desert mesa outside Yuma, Arizona, this is a charming re-creation of a year in the life of McLerran's grandparents. Emily's father believes that the ``desert shall blossom as the rose'' and he wants his family (Mama, Carol, Emily, Sarah, and Jane) to be part of it. With home a makeshift shack, they cook on a kerosene stove with water from a well and get used to an outhouse; in the meantime, Papa keeps his office job until they establish a homestead. The family drinks tea from a silver pot, builds and outlines a tennis court with white lime, and creates Christmas wreaths from greasewood. Mama is ready with a syringe of medicine in case anyone is bitten by a snake, and they devise a special fate for scorpions. The experiment comes to a close before the year is out, when the family moves back to town. This affectionate vignette is peppered with the sort of small details that make it believable and absorbing. Root's paintings superbly extend the understated story. Well-placed watercolors evoke the colors of the changing desert as well as the mood of the family as they face their many travails. (Picture book. 3-8) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Ages 5^-9. The year in the title is 1919, and the ranch is a spread outside Yuma, Arizona, where Emily and her family will be homesteading for the next three years. Papa, a dreamer, promises that the "desert shall blossom like the rose" ; pragmatic Mama longs for a house in town with indoor plumbing. The family learns to cope with sandstorms, tarantulas, and rattlesnakes, and they find that pleasures such as tea parties and tennis are just as fun on the ranch as they were in town. Noting that she based her story on family history, McLerran has created a scenario infused with warmth, gentle humor, and fascinating detail. Root's pencil-and-watercolor illustrations are tender and funny, capturing the desert beauty and the human personalities equally well. Susan Dove Lempke