Growing Up Country by Carol Bodensteiner

Review by Diane Rapp

Enjoy a vacation to the past.

I don’t usually enjoy reading memoires but this one was an absolute pleasure.  The author paints a verbal portrait of a young girl growing up during a time period some of us remember with fondness.  Growing up on anIowafarm wasn’t easy.  Chores that modern youth would view as hardships became rights of passage.  Milking cows, plucking chickens, cooking dinner, and driving a tractor are hard work?  No, earning the right to perform these chores was a milepost in Carol’s maturity.  She earned her parents’ trust.

The values and life lessons described in “Growing Up Country” are universal: Hard work prepares us for the real world.  Don’t gamble with money you can’t afford to lose.  Winning isn’t always the prize, sometime losing is a better lesson.  Playing with a cute little calf could become dangerous later.  Parents who accept hardships without complaint provide a valuable role model for their children.

I meandered through this book one chapter at a time.  Reading the chapters allowed me to take short vacations into the past and the stories spurred memories of my own.  When modern stresses assault us from all angles, it’s a pleasure to take a “mental vacation.”  Buy this book and enjoy the journey. It’s an inexpensive vacation that burns no gas.