HATTIE BIG SKY, by Kirby Larson, is a book that rings true.

When sixteen-year-old Hattie inherits her uncle’s claim in Montana, she accepts the challenge and faces west. Self dubbed as Hattie Here-and-There, her life as an orphan boosts her willingness to work and take on new challenges—if only to have the chance of owning her own place. She throws herself into the hard work of proving her claim even though common sense would dictate she sell out and run the other way.

We get glimpses of her soul in her letters she writes to her childhood friend who has gone away to war, her Uncle, and the Paper which pays her a small amount to hear of her adventures there on the claim--a clever way to hear the beauty of the land described through her eyes.

Soon, however, the ripple-effects of the war prove to have serious repercussions for both her and her kind neighbor, a German born settler who is as kind as the sky is wide. My favorite line in the book is where she realizes that “there were bigger things in life than proving on a claim. I was proving up on my life.”

Yes there were tears, my sweet Magpie, but the laughter outweighs the sad. The end was not what I expected, but after giving it some thought, I decided that it was the right ending for her story. She did indeed prove up on her life.

At a writer’s conference last weekend, Krista Marino suggested that I read this book, but ironically I had already purchased it at my kid’s Scholastic Book Fair the week before. Either way, it was a pleasure to read and I’ll be looking forward to more books from Kirby Larson.