I had to take a break from Destined for Liberty and am currently really enjoying Little Heathens. What a wonderful collection of anecdotes about a woman's childhood on an Iowa farm during the depression. When I first saw the book, I admit I rolled my eyes and imagined it would be filled with filled with tragic but poignant memories. And while these books are important, there are way too many of them on the shelves right now. Instead, Little Heathens is about simple pleasures and the joy of hard work. I'm halfway through it, but already I want to heartily recommend it to everyone.

Here's a quote that made me giggle. I know it's long, but I think a lot of us can relate:

We learned the Twenty-third Psalm and the Lord's Prayer, and I'm afraid that more than a few of us recited, "Our Father who art in Heaven, Howard by Thy name" and were comforted that "Surely Good Mrs. Murphy shall follow me all the days of my life." I know that I was embarrassed into uncharacteristic silence once when, on reading from a hymn book at Aunt Belle's house, I noticed that the words were "Weak and sinful though we be," not "We can sing full though we be," as I had been singing. I never told a soul of my discovery. When, years later, I heard about the little boy who came home from church and told his mother that he had sung all about a bear who was cross-eyed and whose name was Gladly, I harbored no doubt that the story was true. What understanding could a seven-year-old boy have of "Gladly, the cross I'd bear"?

And now I really must go because my mother in law left a fresh apple pie somewhere around here last night and it might be a good idea to eat it now.