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Latsch Valley Farm #1
First Farm in the Valley: Anna's Story
Anna yearns to escape the hardships of farm life in Wisconsin during the 1880s in order to visit Poland, the homeland of her ancestors
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1982
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
May 28, 2020
A story that takes you back to the sweet and innocent days of childhood. I always enjoy pioneer stories and this one had the added bonus of featuring a Polish family in rural western Wisconsin. I started this series to learn more about Polish customs and traditions and how they continued for immigrants who came to America. I have Polish ancestry and I grew up near an area of Wisconsin that has a large Polish heritage, so I have had some exposure to Polish practices but I wanted to learn more.
Pioneer living was hard work, but there was time for fun too. In between house building, threshing grain, and clearing more land, there was good natured teasing and celebrations to attend. Friends and neighbors helped each other and formed a community that lived, worked, and played together through good times and bad. Farm stories often give a sense of wholesome and innocent living and this one was no exception. There is delight in small things, genuine interactions, and a real sense of family.
It is through Anna’s eyes that we experience homesteading in a Polish enclave in western Wisconsin. Anna’s family speaks Polish and she grows up learning the Polish customs and traditions of her parents. It is all she has ever known. As a child of the new world, she is of the Polish world, yet at the same time, not of it. She hears family and friends fondly describe life back in Poland and she longs for a land she’s never seen. Her thought processes and innocence make for an endearing and reminiscent read as we see her grow older and wiser.
I learned much about Polish customs and tradition with the chapters on Christmas and Easter offering the most new information. I liked the pronunciation guide at the back of the book, but I felt readers could also benefit from a glossary too. A translation would provide a better understanding of unfamiliar terms. Overall, a good read for learning more about Polish immigrants during pioneer times.
Pioneer living was hard work, but there was time for fun too. In between house building, threshing grain, and clearing more land, there was good natured teasing and celebrations to attend. Friends and neighbors helped each other and formed a community that lived, worked, and played together through good times and bad. Farm stories often give a sense of wholesome and innocent living and this one was no exception. There is delight in small things, genuine interactions, and a real sense of family.
It is through Anna’s eyes that we experience homesteading in a Polish enclave in western Wisconsin. Anna’s family speaks Polish and she grows up learning the Polish customs and traditions of her parents. It is all she has ever known. As a child of the new world, she is of the Polish world, yet at the same time, not of it. She hears family and friends fondly describe life back in Poland and she longs for a land she’s never seen. Her thought processes and innocence make for an endearing and reminiscent read as we see her grow older and wiser.
I learned much about Polish customs and tradition with the chapters on Christmas and Easter offering the most new information. I liked the pronunciation guide at the back of the book, but I felt readers could also benefit from a glossary too. A translation would provide a better understanding of unfamiliar terms. Overall, a good read for learning more about Polish immigrants during pioneer times.
November 10, 2020
4.5 STARS We actually read this after Winding Valley Farm: Annie's Story but, as it's actually the first book in the series, I'm reviewing it first. Based upon the first two books we've read, it's a wonderful series and deserves to be better known. I think it will appeal greatly to fans of Little House. This first book takes place in Wisconsin in 1876 in a small farming community of Polish immigrants. Much like the Little House books, it deals somewhat in daily farming life (such as herding sheep or planting and harvesting crops) as well as special celebrations such as Christmas, Easter and 4th of July as well as Name Day and Rogation Day (the family is Catholic). The family is loving and large -- though told from six-year-old Anna's perspective, there are many brothers and boy cousins, too, and it doesn't feel like a "girl book" (though I dislike that designation, anyway). If I have any criticism, it's that there are so many brothers, sisters, cousins and friends that it does get a little hard to keep track of sometimes and some of the side characters aren't fully developed. But, you feel so immersed in Anna's character that it's really not much of an issue, IMO. Also, and this is not a criticism but merely an observation for sensitive readers, the story does have some darker parts, such as a diphtheria epidemic (I skimmed these parts myself and didn't read aloud to the children given their ages and the current pandemic, I knew it would be too upsetting--many children in the village die in the story, though none in Anna's family) and some tramps coming to the house when Anna's parents are away harvesting (Anna and her sister are terrified and when the parents find out they are clearly worried and the mother asks right away"did the men do anything to you?" (fortunately, they did not) and the parents immediately decides to get a watchdog and never to leave the girls alone at the house again). However, most of the story is upbeat and I appreciate that it shows how thoughtful and interested children are in life, much as with the Little House books, you know Anna thinks and feels much about the world around her. It's also always amazing to see how much responsibility and real work children had in those days. An engaging and fascinating glimpse into the life of a pioneering family (I especially appreciated the insights into the Polish immigrant experience and Anna's interest in her family's homeland she had never seen, as well as her deep appreciation for the country that is her own home).
March 19, 2016
Anne Pellowski's Polish American Girl Series is similar to Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House Books. Of course that is not a surprise. That is what I expected. And yet it was worth reading this book. Anna - our little main charakter - was born in Wisconsin but their parents came from Poland and so the family language is still Polish. Anna doesn't speak or understand a single English word. The family's neighbours also are Polish immigrants, among them a family I share the same name with and I visited there some years ago. That's why there is special bond between the story and me. I liked to read about the Polish traditions and Anna's experiences being born in America but feeling Polish although she has no idea what it really means. Furthermore I learned a lot about the daily hard work in this valley in the 1870ies and about the reasons of Anna's parents leaving Poland.
June 20, 2024
I checked these books out from the library innumerable times as a kid, and it took me a while to recall enough specific information about them so I could find them as an adult (once I found the author, copies were not hard to find). Pellowski worked for UNICEF, focusing on children's culture and storytelling, and has worked around the world creating books for children in under-resourced languages. To me, that makes it even sweeter that she chose to write children's novels about the childhoods of women in her family. The tight-knit Polish immigrant community is a bright backdrop for Anna's childhood as she learns about her family's history in Poland and how to run a prosperous farm in Wisconsin. I love how Pellowski preserved something of her family history in these books, which are charmingly illustrated and age-appropriate while introducing young readers to real-world sorrows.
I think this must have been my favorite of the series, because I remembered the name day party and other incidents. I also had a vivid memory of the farmhouse and Anna's family. Always fun to revisit a childhood favorite!
I think this must have been my favorite of the series, because I remembered the name day party and other incidents. I also had a vivid memory of the farmhouse and Anna's family. Always fun to revisit a childhood favorite!
April 5, 2020
With the lockdown and libraries being closed, I went a little crazy with online book shopping and this was one of my impulse buys. It is a sweet, charming story of a Polish family settled in 1870s Wisconsin. It is always a pleasure to learn more on how American life was like back then - the good and bad. This book offers a bonus lesson in Polish culture. My ten year old self would have found this book delightful as I am sure many of today's young readers will also enjoy reading of Anna's adventures. It has the same feel as Little House and the Bantry Bay series.
Recommend for approx. 3rd grade+ and family read alouds.
Recommend for approx. 3rd grade+ and family read alouds.
June 18, 2014
September 2009 review:
This is the first in a series of books written by Anne Pellowski. The story is about five year old Anna, a girl whose mother and father came from Poland, living now in young America. Anna and her brothers and sisters live with heir mother and father on a farm a ways away from the town, but near other Polish families on their farms. Anna’s whole family helps with the planting and harvesting of the wheat, oats, hay and garden vegetables so they are always busy. When Anna’s father decides that she is old enough to take the sheep to their pasture in the morning and bring them back at night, Anna is excited and proud that her father thinks she is responsible enough. Many things happen in Anna’s life; she gets a new baby brother, she gets new cousins when her Aunt marries a widower with children and much more! This was a pretty good book, but I didn’t like it as much as some of the others in the series. There are some great pictures sprinkled throughout the book.
This is the first in a series of books written by Anne Pellowski. The story is about five year old Anna, a girl whose mother and father came from Poland, living now in young America. Anna and her brothers and sisters live with heir mother and father on a farm a ways away from the town, but near other Polish families on their farms. Anna’s whole family helps with the planting and harvesting of the wheat, oats, hay and garden vegetables so they are always busy. When Anna’s father decides that she is old enough to take the sheep to their pasture in the morning and bring them back at night, Anna is excited and proud that her father thinks she is responsible enough. Many things happen in Anna’s life; she gets a new baby brother, she gets new cousins when her Aunt marries a widower with children and much more! This was a pretty good book, but I didn’t like it as much as some of the others in the series. There are some great pictures sprinkled throughout the book.
June 22, 2016
My girls thoroughly enjoyed this book. They were sad to see it end and wished there were more Anna stories. A great read aloud for your family. Great for studying about Polish traditions!
November 8, 2021
I definitely would have appreciated this when I was a young girl growing up in Wisconsin, rereading the Little House books because I couldn't find anything else with the same charm. I liked then, and still do, learning about practices, customs, foods, etc., from a time not too remote... my father was born when his father was still using horses to farm.
But we were more German & Swedish; these Polish people are very different and learning their specific customs is interesting. Cows & crops weren't enough for them; they had sheep, too. "Firing the anvils" is a festival ritual that I hope isn't practiced anymore, but may be, given some of the nonsense I see on my husband's video feed. The gvvjozdki for Christmas are just, imo, bizarre, and are surely a connection to Polish 'pagans.'
But the characters, well, they don't come alive the way the Ingalls do. I don't know why, but at this point I'm just finding the book "ok" and so am rounding up to three stars.
But we were more German & Swedish; these Polish people are very different and learning their specific customs is interesting. Cows & crops weren't enough for them; they had sheep, too. "Firing the anvils" is a festival ritual that I hope isn't practiced anymore, but may be, given some of the nonsense I see on my husband's video feed. The gvvjozdki for Christmas are just, imo, bizarre, and are surely a connection to Polish 'pagans.'
But the characters, well, they don't come alive the way the Ingalls do. I don't know why, but at this point I'm just finding the book "ok" and so am rounding up to three stars.
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April 5, 2020This was a pure nostalgia read for me. I remember checking this book out of the Wyandotte Public Library during summers with my aunts. When it was being weeded from the LS collection, I decided to reread it.
June 28, 2021
These books are so enjoyable. People with any connection to the driftless region of Wisconsin, Polish immigrants or rural ancestry would probably find these appealing. Love the simply written perspective of the young girl in a big family making sense of the world around her.
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March 17, 2009JF-Pel
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October 7, 2009Violet's 2009-2010 reading page: http://happyheartsmom.typepad.com/swe...
August 23, 2015
Re-reading the series. I really enjoyed this series when I was a child. It holds up well. Similar in style to the Little House books.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews