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Blue River Boy: Omnibus Edition
It’s 1943. The black cloud of World War II hangs low over Europe and the Pacific.
In America's heartland, the sun shines hard on central Nebraska. As far as young Ron Burke's feet can take him (bare, in the summertime), he has the freedom to roam while his dad and Grandpa Ed work the farm. With his pocketknife and his little dog, Lassie, Ron takes on everything that comes his way.
He explores 40 acres of pastureland and the clear, flowing waters of the Big Blue River. He walks dirt roads to school, rain or shine. At the Blue View one-room country schoolhouse, Ron has two classmates.
Town schools in Stromsburg have indoor bathrooms and electric lighting. At Blue View, just as they do at their farm homes, the students run to the outhouse when nature calls.
The Burkes still read by the light of kerosene lanterns. Mrs. Burke can’t wait for her new, indoor bathroom, but Grandpa Ed forbids updating his house this “Even wild animals don’t mess where they nest!”
Big heating stoves, burning wood and coal, keep their houses warm. Grandma Jennie cooks splendid Sunday dinners on a wood-fired stove. She churns her own butter, and cans vegetables from her big garden.
In the middle of the winter, the Burkes have to think about staying cool during the summer. Ron goes with his dad and Grandpa Ed to harvest ice from the Platte River. They store huge blocks of it in an ice house, and chip it away to keep food cool in their wooden ice boxes.
Ron’s farm chores start out light, like collecting eggs and feeding the chickens. Eventually, he is milking the cows and raising hogs. When he is tall enough for his feet to reach the pedals, he starts driving the tractor. He shares the field work with Mr. Burke and Grandpa Ed. His regular responsibilities are essential to keeping the farm, and the family, vital and healthy.
It’s hardly all work, however.
Ron is delighted when, at eight years old, he gets his first lesson in handling a rifle. By the time he is eleven, he is hunting on his own. At age fourteen, he buys his first car, an old Ford Model A. He builds his own crystal radio set, and hears the future of music on radio stations in New Orleans, Chicago and New York.
Only three words can stop him making his world ever
“Ronald Earl Burke!”
He hears that when he ventures out in a vicious storm to collect giant chunks of hail. And when he climbs onto the barn roof to put up a radio antenna. He would have heard it when he crashed a motorcycle into a corn field, but his parents weren’t around to see him do it.
Ron’s biggest conflict is with the extreme weather of the Great Plains. The temperature reaches 113 while he’s hauling heavy oat bales. A tornado nearly takes him off the top of a high grain elevator. A surprise blizzard makes him a hero with his sister, Linda.
Through all of his adventures, Ron is picked up, patched up, and loved by his parents, Grandpa Ed and Grandma Jennie, Grandma Myers, Aunt Peggy, and many more family and friends.
The BLUE RIVER BOY series spans Ron Burke’s real-life adventures, from age six in 1943, to sixteen in 1953. His was the last American generation to grow up essentially as its forefathers had, a hundred years before. Youngsters today, even farm kids, experience more change from week to week than that between Ron’s childhood and his father’s.
Kate Burke’s BLUE RIVER BOY chapter books are the 20th century literary descendant of Laura Ingalls Wilder's 19th century LITTLE HOUSE books. Young readers will delight in discovering a way of life that has disappeared from the modern American experience.
This Omnibus Edition includes all five books of the Blue River Boy, Blue River Adventures, Blue River Seasons, Blue River Rambler , and Blue River Goodbye .
Suitable for all ages.
Kate Burke is the wife of Ron Burke. For twelve years, they lived on the Nebraska farm where Ron grew up. Kate is a native of Clarence, New York.
In America's heartland, the sun shines hard on central Nebraska. As far as young Ron Burke's feet can take him (bare, in the summertime), he has the freedom to roam while his dad and Grandpa Ed work the farm. With his pocketknife and his little dog, Lassie, Ron takes on everything that comes his way.
He explores 40 acres of pastureland and the clear, flowing waters of the Big Blue River. He walks dirt roads to school, rain or shine. At the Blue View one-room country schoolhouse, Ron has two classmates.
Town schools in Stromsburg have indoor bathrooms and electric lighting. At Blue View, just as they do at their farm homes, the students run to the outhouse when nature calls.
The Burkes still read by the light of kerosene lanterns. Mrs. Burke can’t wait for her new, indoor bathroom, but Grandpa Ed forbids updating his house this “Even wild animals don’t mess where they nest!”
Big heating stoves, burning wood and coal, keep their houses warm. Grandma Jennie cooks splendid Sunday dinners on a wood-fired stove. She churns her own butter, and cans vegetables from her big garden.
In the middle of the winter, the Burkes have to think about staying cool during the summer. Ron goes with his dad and Grandpa Ed to harvest ice from the Platte River. They store huge blocks of it in an ice house, and chip it away to keep food cool in their wooden ice boxes.
Ron’s farm chores start out light, like collecting eggs and feeding the chickens. Eventually, he is milking the cows and raising hogs. When he is tall enough for his feet to reach the pedals, he starts driving the tractor. He shares the field work with Mr. Burke and Grandpa Ed. His regular responsibilities are essential to keeping the farm, and the family, vital and healthy.
It’s hardly all work, however.
Ron is delighted when, at eight years old, he gets his first lesson in handling a rifle. By the time he is eleven, he is hunting on his own. At age fourteen, he buys his first car, an old Ford Model A. He builds his own crystal radio set, and hears the future of music on radio stations in New Orleans, Chicago and New York.
Only three words can stop him making his world ever
“Ronald Earl Burke!”
He hears that when he ventures out in a vicious storm to collect giant chunks of hail. And when he climbs onto the barn roof to put up a radio antenna. He would have heard it when he crashed a motorcycle into a corn field, but his parents weren’t around to see him do it.
Ron’s biggest conflict is with the extreme weather of the Great Plains. The temperature reaches 113 while he’s hauling heavy oat bales. A tornado nearly takes him off the top of a high grain elevator. A surprise blizzard makes him a hero with his sister, Linda.
Through all of his adventures, Ron is picked up, patched up, and loved by his parents, Grandpa Ed and Grandma Jennie, Grandma Myers, Aunt Peggy, and many more family and friends.
The BLUE RIVER BOY series spans Ron Burke’s real-life adventures, from age six in 1943, to sixteen in 1953. His was the last American generation to grow up essentially as its forefathers had, a hundred years before. Youngsters today, even farm kids, experience more change from week to week than that between Ron’s childhood and his father’s.
Kate Burke’s BLUE RIVER BOY chapter books are the 20th century literary descendant of Laura Ingalls Wilder's 19th century LITTLE HOUSE books. Young readers will delight in discovering a way of life that has disappeared from the modern American experience.
This Omnibus Edition includes all five books of the Blue River Boy, Blue River Adventures, Blue River Seasons, Blue River Rambler , and Blue River Goodbye .
Suitable for all ages.
Kate Burke is the wife of Ron Burke. For twelve years, they lived on the Nebraska farm where Ron grew up. Kate is a native of Clarence, New York.
514 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 17, 2017
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