Little Britches

Ralph Moody was eight years old in 1906 when his family moved from New Hampshire to a Colorado ranch. Through his eyes we experience the pleasures and perils of ranching there early in the twentieth century. Auctions and roundups, family picnics, irrigation wars, tornadoes, and wind storms give authentic color to Little Britches. So do adventures, wonderfully told, that equip Ralph to take his father's place when it becomes necessary.

  Character Building and Entertaining

Michelle of PA, 5/31/2012

I would give this book a thousand stars if I could. I read this book to my children a couple of summers ago and we were hooked. We ended up getting the whole series and they were all wonderful! Ralph Moody writes about his early years in this book, especially the lessons he learns from his father: integrity, courage and upright character. Like this... "A man's character is like his house. If he tears boards off his house and burns them to keep himself warm and comfortable, his house soon becomes a ruin. If he tells lies to be able to do the things he shouldn't do but wants to, his character will soon become a ruin. A man with a ruined character is a shame on the face of the earth," his father explained. The Moody family arrives in Colorado in 1906 in hopes of improving his father's tuberculosis. They have never worked a ranch before, but Ralph is in love with horses and the whole adventure. There are school fights, first jobs, tornadoes, rodeos, trick riding and tragedy in this first book. In some places there is some cowboy language which I changed or just said "beep" when I read it out loud. It isn't much and certainly not enough to not experience this wonderful book!