Book Description
It is 1876--Christmas Day--which just happens to be the eleventh birthday of Lillie Belle Gibbs. Her mother and father present her with a new journal. Now she must decide how to fill the pages. Grasshoppers in her bed, unusual weather, a smudge pot to keep the mosquitos at bay, the one-room schoolhouse across the road, popping corn in the Victorian parlor, the hired hands who work on the farm five months of the year, and her best friend, Minnesota Mae Hendrickson, all make appearances in this book. Using clues Lillie left behind through writings as a child and an adult, this important work of historical fiction is filled with stories and illustrations detailing a year in the ordinary life of a real Minnesota farm girl from the 1870s.