Sweet Home Alaska

This exciting pioneering story, based on actual events, introduces readers to a fascinating chapter in American history, when FDR set up a New Deal colony in Alaska to give loans and land to families struggling during the Great Depression. Trip can't wait to follow in Laura Ingalls Wilder's footsteps . . . now she just has to convince her mom. It's 1934, and times are tough for their family. To make a fresh start, Trip's father signs up for President Roosevelt's Palmer Colony project, uprooting them from Wisconsin to become pioneers in Alaska. Their new home is a bit of a shock—it's a town still under construction in the middle of the wilderness, where the residents live in tents and share a community outhouse. But Trip's not about to let first impressions get in the way of this grand adventure. Tackling its many unique challenges with her can-do attitude, she starts making things happen to make Alaska seem more like home. Soon, she and her family are able to start settling in and enjoying their new surroundings—everyone except her mother, that is. So, in order to stay, Trip hatches a plan to convince her that it's a wonderful—and civilized—place to live . . . a plan that's going to take all the love, energy, and Farmer Boy expertise Trip can muster.'With conscious homage to Wilder's Little House books, Dagg evokes the same pioneering spirit in a Depression-era setting, lavishing attention on details about the homesteaders' food and housing and indicating to readers how the technology available to Terpsichore's family differs from Laura Ingalls's time and from the modern era. Like Wilder, Dagg gives her story a gently episodic shape, moving lightly among school events and holidays, but the plot touches frequently enough on the book's overarching elements to keep the momentum humming.' The Horn Book'If Laura Ingalls Wilder had lived in Alaska, she might have written this novel . . . Heartwarming . . . A wonderfully satisfying ending . . . Doesn't romanticize the hardships these stalwarts faced. Dagg does a fine job evoking a realistic sense of time and place . . . Trip's a beautifully realized heroine, and readers will be heartened by her and her friends' efforts to develop a sense of communal spirit in their new, pristine colony . . . Cozy, charming, and old fashioned, but in a good way; fine for curling up and reading under the covers—in Alaska or elsewhere.' Kirkus Reviews