Someplace to call home by Sandra Dallas

Someplace to Call Home by Sandra Dallas
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.5/5.0 - Sandra Dallas is one of my favorite authors, and this young adult/juvenile book by her is another reason why. This takes place during the depression and the dust bowl and features a brave pair of siblings, Tom and Hallie, who take off from Oklahoma after losing their mother, in order to find a better life for themselves and their beloved younger brother, Benny. When their car breaks down in Kansas, they camp beside a stream for the night. In the morning, though, the farmer who owns the land finds them and tells them to move on. Tom, a mechanical wizard, explains their transmission is broken and their tire blown, and they'd like to stay on and look for work, until he can fix it. Swede, the farmer, has a hard time believing Tom could fix it, until Tom offers to look at a tractor Swede is having problems with. Tom is able to fix it, and the Carlson offer to let them stay. They become friends and benefactors, and their young daughter, Tessie finds a friend in Benny.
Sometimes it's hard to believe for us to believe or envision what life must have been like back then.
It is only when Benny goes missing for a time that Hallie and Tom can truly understand their place in the community, when the community bands together to help find the little boy.
We have so many fail-safes built into society today that children aren't wandering the country by themselves looking for work. Not to say that there aren't homeless people still, only that we have a few more mechanisms to help them. Back then, one relied on church, family or neighbors much more than today.
This is a book about hardship and courage, friendship and love, and what it means to be neighborly.
Book 160 of 2020
Fall Reading Challenge: OCTOBER/1. Pumpkin Spice Everything/b. Read a book whose title starts with a letter in SPICE.
PS FRC - 2. A book that has been on your shelf since at least last fall.


Other Sandra Dallas books I have read: Westering Women
Someplace to Call Home
The Last Midwife
A Quilt for Christmas
Red Berries, White Clouds, Blue Sky
Fallen Women
True Sisters
The Quilt Walk
Whiter Than Snow
Tallgrass
The Chili Queen
Alice's Tulips
Prayers for Sale
The Persian Pickle Club
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