Little Britches by Ralph Moody

Material from a previous blog:

My first book that I would like to highlight in my new blog category- Books for BOYS is one our family just finished reading as our family read aloud.  We loved this book!

This book has everything a boy would want in a book- horses, cowboys, indians, farming, gunslinging, & adventure.  It is the true story of Ralph & his family during the early 1900s as they start their life as tenant farmers.  Ralph is 9-11 years old in the book & the story focuses on his relationship with his parents (especially his father) & his becoming a man.  There is some mild swearing in the book but it is not presented as anything glamorous & if used as a read aloud can easily be passed over.

We all loved Ralph’s adventures including learning to ride a bucking donkey, "hunting" pheasant, starting school, & becoming a real cowboy.  There is also tons of very detailed information about the times in which he lived (irrigation wars & the gold panic) & how crops were grown, harvested, & stored.  It would make a great addition to any study of this time period.

We all laughed several times over the remarkable similarities between Ralph’s mother & me.  My HH gave me a knowing look when she got caught up at an auction & said she just "couldn’t let those lovely Buff Orpington pullets go by at twenty-five cents apiece."  And when Ralph described how "Mother always did kind of like operations," after he got a huge splinter in his rear, all my boys & HH rolled with laughter.  I have been accused at times of enjoying my duties as head nurse, surgeon, & veterinarian a little too much.

In addition to being a book any boy would love to hear read it also contains so many pearls of wisdom that every boy needs to know.  Here are a few of my favorites:

"A man’s character is like his house.  If he tears boards off his house and burns them to keep himself warm and comfortable, his house soon becomes a ruin.  If he tells lies to be able to do the things he shouldn’t do but wants to, his character will soon become a ruin.  A man with a ruined character is a shame on the face of the earth."

"…a man always makes his troubles less by going to meet them instead of waiting for them to catch up with him, or trying to run away from them."

"Any man who says the world owes him a living is dishonest.  The same God that made you and me made this earth.  And He planned it so that it would yield every single thing that the people on it need.  But He was careful to plan it so that it would only yield up its wealth in exchange for the labor of man.  Any man who tries to share in that wealth without contributing the work of his brain or his hands is dishonest."

"You know, Son, sometimes a fellow has to take a licking for doing the right thing.  A licking only lasts a short while, even if it’s a hard one, but failing to do the right thing will often make a mark on a man that will last forever."