Growing up Country:memories of an Iowa Farm Girl by Carol Bodensteiner
What I like about this book are the stories each chpater holds. Everything about daily life on the farm and how to do things, with your hands back then.
How to grow, harvest and preserve garden food along with food from hunting and fishing. So many different methods that are lost to us today using appliances and electricity.
Reminds me so much of our family farm next door where the cows where and watching the machinery as the milk was pasturized-never knew there were that many thngs in place to be sure it was free from bacteria.
Husband also grew up and would visit his grandparents house in Ohio where they raised show pigs and hogs and had a manager for the farm. Still asking him questions as they arise while reading the book to hear how different things were from RI to OH.
Reader discussion guide also included Some pictures throughout the book. ( )

This was an enjoyable memoir of the author's childhood on an Iowa farm. It's a pleasant relief from memoirs that focus on dysfunctional families and abusive or neglectful parents. Ms. Bodensteiner's parents were responsible, hardworking, and cared about their daughters. (There was only one scene that did not sit well with me: when the author asked for ( and was given) a sip from her father's beer. Not a good idea, but this was admittedly a very different era.) While the family was not wealthy, they were certainly not impoverished. I found it very refreshing that a father from this time period encouraged his daughters to take on some chores that were typically reserved for sons.

The memoir is laid out as a series of chapters, each of which taught the author an important lesson (though I doubt that she realized it at the time). The level of detail provided really makes the reader feel like she is living the experience as the author describes it.

This memoir was reasonably well-written, though there were a small number of places where an experienced editor would have assisted in removing some rough edges.

All in all, an enjoyable read that brings the reader back to a "kinder, gentler" time.
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Growing up Country is a delightful glimpse into the day-to-day life of an Iowa farm girl and her two sisters in the 1950's. Carol Bodensteiner shows us how the events in an ordinary rural childhood can be woven into an engaging, heartwarming story. We are right there with her as she helps her Dad, who calls her Squirt, milk the cows or look for lost cows in the pastures; when she and her sisters pick mulberries until they are black-and blue so their Mom could make pies to stack in the freezer. Each chapter details a new adventure that you feel a part of. You can almost taste the fried chicken dinner they come home to after church services on Sundays and feel her excitement in preparing for an ironing demonstration for the state fair.
She strings together a series of vignettes about different childhood escapades that are all part of a bigger story of a loving, hardworking family whose parents teach their children strong values and provide them with a secure, happy childhood. She brings her parents and relatives alive on the pages through her character descriptions, vivid scenes and dialogue.
Her writing which is authentic, descriptive, light-hearted and humorous, kept me turning the pages so I could find out what other mischievous adventures were in store. She weaves in her adult reflections in a way that brings the reader close to her fond childhood memories. When I was a child, I always wanted to grow up on a farm and now I know why. Interesting that I married a man who grew up on a dairy farm and I have lived his stories vicariously. But one doesn't have to have grown up on a farm or wished they had to enjoy this beautifully written, entertaining and heartwarming memoir. ( )

Description:
Growing Up Country is a fun and innocent childhood memoir about growing up in the 1950's on an Iowa farm full of cows, chickens, Sunday dinners, and mischief. Each chapter is a single story or memory of growing up on the farm and learning family values, hard work, determination, respect, and discipline.

Review:
This memoir was everything I expected! It was an entertaining flashback of memories from "the good old days" with a genuine feel. The details were well-written and vivid, allowing me to get lost in Carol Bodensteiner's charming childhood stories, without the bulk of facts seen in other memoirs. The writing style was easily readable and very enjoyable, I even recommended it to a thirteen year old as a good candidate for a book report. I liked that it wasn't written just for adults, but also gave children a look at how life was in a different time; even though most life lessons have remained the same. I didn't grow up on a farm, but I did grow up in the country, so I appreciated the author's childhood thoughts and ideas, especially those that reminded me of my own grade-school memories. I haven't read many books about happy childhoods lately and it is refreshing to read about one that was so full of love and laughter. Overall, I am very happy I was able to read this book and get a look at a true American family. I only wish that the book hadn't ended so soon.

Rating: On the Run (4/5)

*** I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. ( )

4616. Growing Up Country Memories of an Iowa Farm Girl, by Carol Bodensteiner (read 5 Sep 2009) This 2008 memoir tells of a girl on a dairy farm in Jackson County, Iowa, in the 1950's. Some of the account is prosaic, but much is poignant. Her folks worked very hard, and the girls (there were only three girls and no boys in the family) learned to do the same. She went to a one-room country school and for seven of the eight years she was the only student in her grade. Though her upbringing was in a later time than mine and her experiences far different than mine, yet there was much evocative in what she relates, and when I finished the book I rated it higher than at times while reading I thought I would. ( )