Farmer Boy
Recommended. Age: 8+. A Catholic review of this book for parents.
Our review
This is a book about a boy learning that work, patience and honesty make a man. Father is strict, fair and worth copying, and the family table is full because everyone labors. The one reservation is a rough school chapter where a teacher beats bullies with a whip, and some period remarks about Indians that a reader flagged.
For parents
Read aloud from 6, independent reading from 8 or 9. Memoria Press assigns it in grades 3 to 4. Ask why Father made Almanzo wait for the colt. Ask why Mr. Paddock stood up for Almanzo over the lost pocketbook. Talk about the whip scene and when force is just.