Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression

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Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression

by Mildred Armstrong Kalish

3.58 · rating details · 2,471 ratings · 843 reviews

I tell of a time, a place, and a way of life long gone. For many years I have had the urge to describe that treasure trove, lest it vanish forever. So, partly in response to the basic human instinct to share feelings and experiences, and partly for the sheer joy and excitement of it all, I report on my early life. It was quite a romp.

So begins Mildred Kalish’s story of gro...moreI tell of a time, a place, and a way of life long gone. For many years I have had the urge to describe that treasure trove, lest it vanish forever. So, partly in response to the basic human instinct to share feelings and experiences, and partly for the sheer joy and excitement of it all, I report on my early life. It was quite a romp.

So begins Mildred Kalish’s story of growing up on her grandparents’ Iowa farm during the depths of the Great Depression. With her father banished from the household for mysterious transgressions, five-year-old Mildred and her family could easily have been overwhelmed by the challenge of simply trying to survive. This, however, is not a tale of suffering.

Kalish counts herself among the lucky of that era. She had caring grandparents who possessed—and valiantly tried to impose—all the pioneer virtues of their forebears, teachers who inspired and befriended her, and a barnyard full of animals ready to be tamed and loved. She and her siblings and their cousins from the farm across the way played as hard as they worked, running barefoot through the fields, as free and wild as they dared.

Filled with recipes and how-tos for everything from catching and skinning a rabbit to preparing homemade skin and hair beautifiers, apple cream pie, and the world’s best head cheese (start by scrubbing the head of the pig until it is pink and clean), Little Heathens portrays a world of hardship and hard work tempered by simple rewards. There was the unsurpassed flavor of tender new dandelion greens harvested as soon as the snow melted; the taste of crystal clear marble-sized balls of honey robbed from a bumblebee nest; the sweet smell from the body of a lamb sleeping on sun-warmed grass; and the magical quality of oat shocking under the light of a full harvest moon.

Little Heathens offers a loving but realistic portrait of a “hearty-handshake Methodist” family that gave its members a remarkable legacy of kinship, kindness, and remembered pleasures. Recounted in a luminous narrative filled with tenderness and humor, Kalish’s memoir of her childhood shows how the right stuff can make even the bleakest of times seem like “quite a romp.”

From the Hardcover edition.(less)

Paperback, 304 pages

Published April 29th 2008 by Bantam

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Oct 04, 2008

Sonia Reppe rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: memoir-about-a-girl, midwest

This IS like listening to your grandma (or that old lady in the Titanic movie) telling in a gentle, slow-cadenced voice, about the old days. Some topics covered are thrift, medicine, chores, farm food, gathering wood, and wash day. The book starts off entertaining, but like Grandma (or Grandpa) it gets long-winded; and you start to feel bored and restless and wonder how much more you are willing to sit through before you make the move for your coat. You might decide that next time she repeats...more

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Dec 19, 2007

Ginny Messina rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: memoir-biography-journal

Mildred Kalish's memoir of life on a farm during the Depression is packed with fascinating experiences and observations. I loved the content, but was not crazy about her writing style, which often sounded to me like a transcription of an oral history. But Kalish, a former English professor, does, in fact, know how to tell a story (and share a recipe and give instructions on cleaning a sink). She's friendly and chatty, and intersperses her observations with lots of (very definite) opinions and a ...more

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Sep 14, 2007

Nomi rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: memoir

This was not particularly well written but rather had the effect of sitting by your (possibly dying) grandmother's bedside while she tried to cram a life's worth of lesons and experiences into a couple of hours. The result is not at all unpleasant and is chock full of fascinating descriptions of labor intensive farming without the luxury of modern day conveniences. Eye-opening for todays suburbanites and city dwellers.

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Feb 06, 2008

Joanne rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

I was surprised to see this book on the New York Times' list of Best Books of 2007: it's Midwestern AND it's by a woman. Glory be.

Anyway, this is a cross between reading an updated _Little House on the Prairie_ and sitting at my grandparents' respective tables listening to their stories about growing up. There's a lot of wonderful description of nature and school and how to do things on the farm. There's a little less than I would like of the author's introspection or reflectio...more

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Feb 17, 2008

Alison Looney rated it

· review of another edition

If I were looking at this from a literary perspective, I'd probably knock it down another star. The writing isn't great; the back-in-my-day tone in particular gets irritating. Most of the narrative focuses on farm chores, but the epilogue alludes to a far more interesting story about the author's experiences during the war. Maybe another book is forthcoming?

I think it is useful as a historical book, though. It's strange to think how much life has changed in just two generations, ...more

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Jan 19, 2009

Kirsti rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: nonfiction fans

Shelves: history, memoir, nonfiction, outdoors

This sounds like a dreadful idea . . . retired English teacher writes her first book, an account of her rural childhood. The only reason I picked it up was the rave review in the New York Times. What a fabulous memoir. Her writing is utterly clear, and the events, both everyday and extraordinary, are fascinating.

In a nutshell: May baskets, outhouses, taming wild horses, treating puncture wounds (don't go up the house to tell the adults, because they won't care--just go to the barn an...more

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Oct 17, 2008

Erin rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: (I wouldn't)

The man at the cool little SF bookstore where I bought this book highly recommended it, so I was pretty excited about reading it. I liked it at the beginning, but as it went on I disliked it more and more by the page. The old woman who wrote the book had a serious age-based superiority complex, and gets heavier and heavier on phrases like "these days, people don't know about..." or "today's Xs don't even compare to what we had back then..." or "young people today don't...more

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Dec 14, 2008

Heidi rated it

· review of another edition

I enjoyed this book so much that my hubby is now reading it. It is a memoir of a woman that takes place during the depression. It describes daily life for the author who is a child during these years. It could be read as short stories because the chapters don't really build on each other. I am really excited to try a couple of the recipes that she gives in the book. For not having very much money, it seemed to me that they had a lot more than what we have today. In the way of a community a...more

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Dec 31, 2007

Maya rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: memoir-2007

I loved this book, and I hope all the people I gave it to as a Christmas present love it, too!

Reading through some of the reviews here, I notice that some people are irked by the folksy, chatty style of the author. I found it charming--maybe it sounds like you're sitting around talking to grandma. So what? Perhaps because I never got to sit around and talk to grandma about the good ol' days myself (and if I had, my grandmothers' "good ol'days" would have sounded nothing ...more

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Oct 16, 2007

David rated it

· review of another edition

There were times where I found this book very enjoyable. Then, there were other times where I was afraid to turn the page because Millie'd be yelling, "You kids git off my yard!" - there's a certain harrumphing tone to much of it that gets a little bit annoying.

There's also a section on the box social that I simply did NOT get. Some kind of scandal or hurt feelings or something I just couldn't see.

Still, there's a great poem of her female relatives voices on T...more

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Aug 27, 2007

Maudeen Wachsmith rated it

· review of another edition

I delved into this book with great anticipation. The author is only a few years younger than my mother and the area she writes about in rural Iowa is just 50 miles east of where my grandfather was born.

There were many things to like in this book that combines anecdotes from the 1930s with recipes and how to do things the old way. I enjoyed the anecdotes and would have enjoyed the book if it had been sprinkled with less of the recipes and more of t...more

I delved into this book with great anticipation. The author is only a few years younger than my mother and the area she writes about in rural Iowa is just 50 miles east of where my grandfather was born.

There were many things to like in this book that combines anecdotes from the 1930s with recipes and how to do things the old way. I enjoyed the anecdotes and would have enjoyed the book if it had been sprinkled with less of the recipes and more of the stories from the 1930s--stories which ranged from poignant to laugh-out-loud funny. Her stories range from such events as box socials (and giving a complete explanation of what one is for those who may not know) to how to gather honey from bees (and what happens if you do it the wrong way). She tells of how hard work it was it was back in the day, but does recall there was time for a bit of leisure as well.

At once a memoir, a how-to book, and a cookbook, Kalish tells her story with enthusiasm but with a bit of pompousness that was a bit unnecessary. She acts as if she was the only person ever to know how to do some of these things described and that her way was the only way. Heck, I am 25 years younger than she is and I can remember doing many of the same things at my grandparents' farm in North Dakota two decades later, and even do some of these same things today. Although the subtitle mentions "hard times" it is clear that due to help from her grandparents and a self-sufficient farm, Kalish and her siblings never really went without anything on her farm during the depression so anyone who is reading this book and expects it to be a true hardship tale best look elsewhere. It is a great look down memory lane for those from Kalish's generation who I am sure will enjoy reading and reminiscing about another time and place. It seems though that most of the time the author is writing for an audience who hasn't lived through any of these events, remembers none of these times (stoking an old wood fire, splitting wood,making head cheese, butchering a chicken, making May Day baskets). That said, it is quick interesting read but recommended with reservations as although a memoir, how-to book and cookbook, it doesn't completely succeed at any of these. (less)

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Sep 15, 2009

Kellidee rated it

· review of another edition

Oh the despair I felt as my eyes reluctantly devoured the last page of this book. Functioning as my stationary bike companion for weeks, I fell in love with the simplicity and wisdom of Mildred's childhood.

I could go on for hours about this book. I felt a kinship to the author simply due to the manner in which I grew up. My grandparents were dairy farmers. Their ideals, morals and ethics were drilled so deeply into my mother that no matter how hard she tried, she still imbued the...more

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Oct 24, 2007

Annie rated it

· review of another edition

i am really torn about how to review this book partially because the 85 year old author's photo on the back flap is so damn cute. plus she's old and i really think the book was mainly written for her family and to get a bunch of memories down on paper. however: the writing was kind of painful and contained a lot of cliched, old person sayings. had some interesting info on farm life during the 1930s, but not as much as i was hoping, and too many family remembrances without fully flushed out chara...more

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Sep 12, 2007

Jeanoc rated it

· review of another edition

Disappointing after reading positive reviews. Writing was poor. Parts were interesting, but not nearly as interesting as the author seemed to think they were! Kent looked up reviews and they were all by people in their 20's and 30's. For us boomers and older there really wasn't much unique about the author's experiences and they weren't enlivened by any kind of narrative to draw the reader along.
I hardly dare mention Annie Dillard's An American Childhood in the same breath. My favorite boo...more

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Feb 24, 2009

L. Frockcoat rated it

· review of another edition

Mildred Armstrong Kalish paints a rich picture of her childhood on an Iowa farm during the Great Depression. You can hardly read this book without marveling at how much has changed in such a relatively short time and wondering whether it's all been for the best.

I enjoyed the unusual structure of the book. It has the feeling of sitting down for long conversations with a grandparent, running from memorable stories, to recipes, to family lineages, and so forth. It's remarkable that...moreMildred Armstrong Kalish paints a rich picture of her childhood on an Iowa farm during the Great Depression. You can hardly read this book without marveling at how much has changed in such a relatively short time and wondering whether it's all been for the best.

I enjoyed the unusual structure of the book. It has the feeling of sitting down for long conversations with a grandparent, running from memorable stories, to recipes, to family lineages, and so forth. It's remarkable that it hangs together and maintains interest for almost 300 pages, but it most certainly does. It's so enjoyable to read that you can almost overlook the sly literary craft and bits of deep wisdom:

In the summertime Aunt Belle and Aunt Agnes grew flowers as well as vegetables.  They quarreled so much over their flowers that they divided the garden plot and each tended her own.  Their flowers were a delight to the whole town, but Aunt Agnes wouldn't part with a single blossom, while Aunt Belle loaded up every passerby with a bouquet of dahlias, lilies, cosmos, lupines, bachelor and golden buttons, zinnias, foxgloves, Canterbury bells, roses, violets, pansies, and forget-me-nots.  Whatever was in bloom, she would share.  "The more they're picked, the more they'll bloom!"  Of course, she was right.

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Jan 16, 2009

Ashley rated it

· review of another edition

Mildred Kalish's book is a look into her life growing up as a young girl on a farm in Iowa. The book is broken up into several sections, beginning with a brief family history before moving into tales and stories from the author's childhood. The chapters are divided by subject with stories that relate to each (for example, there is a whole chapter devoted to cooking and recipes and a whole chapter devoted to her experiences going to country school versus the city school).

I liked the ...more

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Dec 24, 2008

Ellen rated it

Shelves: life-n-times

This book was referred to me by my grandmother, and it was actually pretty enlightening and damn impressive. If I were a person who actually enjoys cooking it would be even more interesting, because a lot of this book consists of old timey farm style chicken-plucking oat-growing recipes and other things concerning domestic sciences. The rest of it is all about life and work on the farm, complete with endless daily family chores and routines.

Reading about life on a Great Depression Io...more

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Nov 01, 2008

Shirley rated it

· review of another edition

I really enjoyed reading about how my family lived in this era. Even though my family lived in Indiana lives were the same in county-living.

The recipes were a nice add to the book. Again, same recipes were used here in Indiana by my family.

Too bad there weren't any pictures to go along with the book.

I enjoyed the story telling of Mrs. Kalish. It wasn't fancy just plain good reading.

Not everyone will like this book. I have recommended it for our...more

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Dec 10, 2011

Melee rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: memoir-bio

YES!!! I FOUND IT!

This is yet another book I read years ago and then forgot the title of. For some reason, I got a bee in my bonnet today to find it. The library website was no help, but as I thought about searchable plot points of this book, I realized that a snippet of a sentence from this book was imprinted in my brain. With slight trepidation and a few giggles, I typed the fragment into google. To my great astonishment, my remembered snippet was word perfect! Want to know what i...more

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Sep 13, 2011

McGuffy Ann Morris rated it

· review of another edition

This book honours a time, place and way of life that unfortunately is lost to most of us today. This book is a joy to read, allowing one to live vicariously the happy childhood that Ms. Kalish so joyously shares.

Family is the central focal point. It is, in fact the importance of family ties that drive the entire book. Each story stresses the bonds that hold family together through the thick and inevitable thin of farm life and the Great Depression.

It was the love and comm...more

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May 30, 2011

Summer rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: all children & prairie/farm life fans

Recommended to Summer by: bookgroup

Shelves: bookclub, history-biography

Very informative and fun. Lots of recipes included. For those who love L.I.Wilder and the like. So many fun bits to mark that I stopped half way through:
p.14: The only things they spent money on were tea, coffee, sugar, salt, white flour, cloth, and kerosene.
p.17: 'The most dangerous gun,' we were cautioned, 'is the one that isn't loaded.'
p.19/20: Mama's loose routines also made us kids remarkably flexible in handling unforeseen events as we grew up.
p.21: Without hesitation, ...moreVery informative and fun. Lots of recipes included. For those who love L.I.Wilder and the like. So many fun bits to mark that I stopped half way through:
p.14: The only things they spent money on were tea, coffee, sugar, salt, white flour, cloth, and kerosene.
p.17: 'The most dangerous gun,' we were cautioned, 'is the one that isn't loaded.'
p.19/20: Mama's loose routines also made us kids remarkably flexible in handling unforeseen events as we grew up.
p.21: Without hesitation, Mama grabbed the stove lid handle and deftly tilted the mortally wounded creature into the blazing fire. I was dumbstruck. I knew how much she cherished Chicky. Looking straight at me, she said,'Don't think of yourself. Think of Chicky.'
p.25: After supper, Great-Grandpa did something to me that was so unusual and so remarkable, something that overwhelmed and embarrassed me so much that I was never able to speak of what occurred. <--He showed his love by holding her on his lap.
p.37: Aunt Belle saw this; she hurried up to me and asked, 'Why did you get off the walk when you met those girls?' I replied, as if it should have been clear to anyone, 'Because they are the prettiest girls in town! I didn't want them to get their feet wet!' Aunt Belle grabbed me above the right elbow with both of her hands and shook me until I actually saw blue stars, roughly pushed me back onto the sidewalk, and growled between clenched teeth, emphasizing each word: 'DON'T YOU EVER, EVER GET OFF THE SIDEWALK FOR ANYONE! YOU ARE AS PRETTY AS ANYONE! DO YOU UNDERSTAND?' Though I didn't understand and didn't believe her,deep in my heart I fervently wanted to, and I have always loved her for what she said to me that night.
p.68: From the books and poems I read, I learned that it was up to me to make my own success. If I just applied my own will and determination, my own wits and wisdom, I could get what I wanted out of life. I was also responsible for my mistakes and failures. I was the master of my fate. I knew this was true because everything I read carried that message.
p.81: While the mysteries of faith still compel me, and I share the universal longing for certainty, what I have observed in the course of life has driven me far from organized religion. I have yet to arrive at either a final rejection of a final acceptance of what I was taught in those early years. Nut even as I continue to search for signs of a concerned and caring God, the comfort, hope, and inspiration that church provided me when I was growing up nourish me to this day.
p.120: I think it is a universal trait to wallow in memories of the tastes, fragrances, and textures of foods from one's childhood. Proust probably wasn't the first to celebrate this phenomenon on paper, but he is certainly the one who became famous for launching an entire novel with a description of a well-remembered fragrance--that of the madeleine.(less)

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Feb 17, 2011

Jenn rated it

· review of another edition

I loved, loved, loved this book! I can't begin to tell you how touching it was. Imagine you've just been invited into the living room of a sweet old lady, you've nestled into a comfortable chair with a hot cup of coffee after a big meal. There's a roaring fire in the fireplace to keep you all warm and with many friends and family gathered around she begins to spin the yarn of her youth. It's all the stories you imagine your grandparents would tell if they were still alive. It's a simple life fu...more I loved, loved, loved this book! I can't begin to tell you how touching it was. Imagine you've just been invited into the living room of a sweet old lady, you've nestled into a comfortable chair with a hot cup of coffee after a big meal. There's a roaring fire in the fireplace to keep you all warm and with many friends and family gathered around she begins to spin the yarn of her youth. It's all the stories you imagine your grandparents would tell if they were still alive. It's a simple life full of hard work and great personal rewards, family fun tempered by discipline, appreciation of things in a way we simply cannot imagine today. It was wondrous, humorous and touching.

The stories brought up things in my own personal past that'd I nearly forgotten. While I didn't grow up on a farm I did grow up amidst apple orchards and wild places. Even though as a child we were distracted by television much of our time was spent outdoors connecting to nature in an intimate way that only children know. Reading her tales brought back of rush of memories that helped me reconnect with my own youthful adventures.

I find it amusing too that there is a growing contingent of people out there trying to get back to what Millie had as a child. Home grown food, home food processing (canning, butchering*, etc) cleaning products that won't poison the planet, thriftiness, a strong sense of family and community. She was running toward the future and we're trying to get back to the past. Not that there aren't some advances since the 1930's that we shouldn't keep around, like antibiotics, electricity and indoor plumbing but there are certainly many things that we should look to from that era as valuable.

*I found the difference ironic in the way that Barbara Kingsolver describes how her family butchered chickens for food in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life vs. how Millie describes it. The Kingsolvers were agonized over it while Millie describes it in such a matter of fact sort of way. Perhaps because the reality was in Millie's world there wasn't really a "back up" if they didn't. It wasn't as simple as running off to the grocery store and buying a frozen processed chicken. I also highly enjoyed Millie's many references to bacon. I've never craved it so much as when reading this book.(less)

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Jan 17, 2011

Cynthia Fredrick rated it

· review of another edition

Charming true story about life growing up on a farm when money was tight and possessions were few. The author wrote this first book while in her 80's and I must say it was very well written. She chronicles the antics of herself and siblings, and how they worked hard to help with all the chores that come with living on a farm at that time in history. Yet they were happy and managed to make their own fun and have fond memories of family and gatherings. Food was a big part of their lives, both ...more

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Sep 08, 2010

Kathy rated it

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This book is a woman's memories of being a child on a farm during the depression and it is a great and quick read. I highly suggest it to anyone who is interested in everyday rural life during the 30s. Mildred has a great voice and I love the way the book is organized. I found a lot of my "How did they do that?" questions answered while reading this book. For example, one thing I've always been curious about is how people line dried clothes during winter. Mildred explains how the famil...more

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Mar 26, 2010

Dnicebear rated it

· review of another edition

Mildred Kalish reminds me of my Aunt Beulah, and she has stories from my childhood region--all of which help me understand my region and my people even more. I get the sense that the title of her book is a succinct way of describing how grownups viewed children in 'those days,' and I/we are still recovering from that view of childhood. However, Kalish delivers all her remedies, recipes, character sketches and vignettes with a large dose of humor and deep appreciation for what her family gave h...more

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Oct 27, 2011

Kelsey rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

Some readers' reviews have mentioned the condescending "kids these days are useless" tone found in this book. I agree that this was annoying at times. My family planted a garden and tended fruit trees during my childhood in the 80s and 90s, so I found it bothersome when the author claimed that a child growing up now will never know what it's like to eat a freshly picked tomato or whatever. Some things are different like indoor plumbing and electricity, but the author seemed most concer...more

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Nov 25, 2010

Kathy rated it

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Shelves: audio

The depression certainly did not have the same effect on these hard working farmers as it had on the Oakies in Grapes of Wrath. Hard to believe it was the same time period. I wish I had as detailed a memoir from one of my ancestors. Mildred compares life in the city living with her serious grandparents and going to school in the winter with summer in the country living on a farm near cousins and attending a few months of school each year there. My favorite anecdote from the book was: "There...more

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Nov 19, 2010

Clif Hostetler rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: memoir

This is a happy memoir. It’s sort of a latter day “Little House on the Prairie,” but intended for adults. There are no sour grapes (or grapes of wrath) dredged up here. And contrary to the subtitle, the childhood remembered here was well insulated from the hard times of the depression. The rural life depicted here was on a mortgage free farm owned by her grandfather. Though land rich, they were cash poor. So they needed to be self sufficient to the extent possible. But frugality was secon...moreThis is a happy memoir. It’s sort of a latter day “Little House on the Prairie,” but intended for adults. There are no sour grapes (or grapes of wrath) dredged up here. And contrary to the subtitle, the childhood remembered here was well insulated from the hard times of the depression. The rural life depicted here was on a mortgage free farm owned by her grandfather. Though land rich, they were cash poor. So they needed to be self sufficient to the extent possible. But frugality was second nature to these folks, so I doubt the Depression made much difference on their lives. There is reference to her Grandpa’s brother and sister losing their farm, but this is as close as the financial woes of the 1930s depression era came to this family. Also Garrison Iowa, the location of this story, is quite distant from the “dust bowl” part of the country, so they were spared that experience as well.

I found it to be an enjoyable book with many stories that I could relate to. I also grew up on a farm, and I have many of my own memoires and opinions of farm life that are similar to those contained in this book. Even though I’m about two decades younger than the author, and certainly technology changed many things by the time I came along, I ended up being exposed to similar stories while growing up that were told by my parents and their contemporaries.

As a matter of fact, I could respond to many of these stories with my own tall tales. Probably one of the things I appreciate most about this book is that it reminded me of many little details about farm life that I would never have recalled on my own. One detail I share with this author is that we both attended a rural one-room grade school where our mothers had previously taught. Of course we’re talking different schools in different States, but for some reason that is a recollection I’ve come to appreciate as of late.

The book elaborates much on work in the kitchen since that’s where the women folk spent much of their time, and the author being a girl learned her cooking skills well. The book contains a number of recipes from which even I learned a few things. I was impressed with the author’s technique for avoiding soggy pie crust bottoms and her clever way of completely covering an ear of sweet corn with butter in less than a second using one hand.

This may be a happy memoir, but for the reader looking for unfairness and hurtful incidences, there are some of those in this book too. It is apparent that the author not only has a good memory, but she has a naturally happy disposition that tends to see the bright side of things.

It occurs to me that some people may wonder about the title of the book that can be perceived as a negative term. “Little Heathens” is the term that her prudish grandmother used to describe the rambunctious and free spirited mischievousness of her grandchildren. In that context, it was an affectionate expression.

One extraordinary detail she has included in this book is the exact wording of an employment contract for a rural teaching job that she was offered. The contract had extraordinary work requirements if measured against today's standards. It was almost a virtual description of slavery. She ended up not signing it for reasons that had nothing to do with the contract terms. But what I'm truly amazed about is that she apparently kept a copy of the contract all these years. Either that or she was able to find it through research work. She doesn't indicate which.

I hope when I'm the author's age that I will be able to remember distant memories as clearly as she does and that I will be as happy with my life's experiences as she is. I don't know what the author's plans are, but it appears that she could write a couple more memoirs if she was so inclined.
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Jan 10, 2012

Amatullah Richard rated it

· review of another edition

Delightful book about growing up on an Iowa farm during the Great Depression. Even though it was a strict, difficult upbringing with an absent father, Kalish is able to highlight the warm memories and advantages of her childhood. As an Iowan she brought back many warm memories of my grandparents and the work ethic we were raised to live. Kalish, her mom, and her siblings were enveloped by an extended family after her parents divorced. In many ways the book highlights the advantages of extended f...more

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Jan 06, 2009

Kathleen Hagen added it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2008-audio-books, 2008-nonfiction

Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression,
Mildred Armstrong Kalish,
narrated by Ruth Ann Phinister, produced by Recorded Books.

This is Mildred’s story, written when she was in her 80’s, about growing up on an Iowa farm during the depression. We don’t have the usual story of poverty and bleakness. What this author does is tell us how people in the 30’s cooked, throwing in a few of her grandmother’s recipes; how they farmed...more

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About Mildred Armstrong Kalish

Mildred Kalish is a retired professor of English who grew up in Garrison, Iowa, and taught at several colleges, including the University of Iowa, Adelphi University, and Suffolk Community College. She now lives with her husband in northern California.

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Trivia About Little Heathens

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Quotes from Little Heathens

“Without knowing it, the adults in our lives practiced a most productive kind of behavior modification. After our chores and household duties were done we were give "permission" to read. In other words, our elders positioned reading as a privilege - a much sought-after prize, granted only to those goodhardworkers who earned it. How clever of them.” — 8 people liked it

“There was a saying in our family that no one ever died; people just dried up, were hung on a hook, and conducted their affairs from there.” — 2 people liked it

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title link	preview: Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression
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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3200462-little-heathens?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320545577m/3200462.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3200462-little-heathens?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression by Mildred Armstrong Kalish[/url]

Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression

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