Strawberry Girl

Lois Lenski

Copyright 1945

This edition 1977

Strawberry Girl was the first chapter book I ever read on my own.  I was in second grade, and very proud of my newfound ability to read, and obviously very ambitious.  I remember struggling through it, sounding out the words. A month later, I had finished the book, having absolutely no idea what it was about.  The effort it took to sound out each individual word hampered my ability to comprehend.  

Birdie Boyer’s family has just moved to Florida with plans of growing strawberries and other crops to sell.  Although they all work hard, their plans are sometimes complicated not only by nature, but by the rowdy Slater family next door.  In the opening chapters, Birdie’s first day of school was going quite well, until the rough neighbor boys beat the teacher so badly that school was cancelled for a long time after.  At the beginning, it seems the Boyers are all good and the Slaters are all bad, but Lenski develops the characters well so we see that neither family is free from blame for their sometimes violent disagreements.  This story captures a time and place in history quite well and gives us a glimpse into the hardships faced by a family in rural Florida in the 1920’s.

The lesson I recall when seeing this book is not from the story itself, but from my memories of reading it as a seven year old.  It’s not enough to sound out the words.  One also has to grasp the full meaning of those words as they are linked together.  So much of life is like that.  Take each event, each conversation, each experience separately and you might not comprehend the meaning.  Only when you link it all together is there true understanding.