Home on the Farm: Essays on a Michigan Childhood

The Thumb area of rural Michigan in the 1930's and 1940's was a place where residents led simple lives. They labored long hours on their farms producing enough crops to feed themselves and their animals with enough left over to sell for profit. They slept well at night secure in the notion that they had put in an honest day's labor and were fulfilling their destinies in the world. In Home on the Farm, the author provides us with a .glimpse of Midwestern Americana during the second quarter of the Twentieth Century. He describes the sorrows, joys, triumphs and tragedies inherent in that rural environment. Readers, young and old, will enjoy being introduced to characters like statuesque Grandmother Davis, multi-talented Grandfather Williamson, Ernestine the renaissance woman, Jake the horse dog, Grunt the runt, Cho-lin the champion pig, Rocky the riding horse and a host of others.

Each of the twenty-five chapters includes a drawing, by the author, depicting something about its content. The unsophisticated drawings are whimsically charming and employ an unusual means of telling the story of the author's life on the farm. They add to the narrative and give it meaning, depth and just a touch of humor.