PINTSIZED PIONEERS:
Taming the Frontier,
One Chore at a Time
by Preston Lewis and Harriet Kocher Lewis
Young Adult / Nonfiction / History
Publisher: Bariso Press
Pages: 184
Publication Date: September 24, 2024
SYNOPSIS
Children tread lightly through the pages of Old West history. Pintsized Pioneers: Taming the Frontier, One Chore at a Time gives frontier children their due for all the work they did to help their families survive. Even at early ages, the youngsters helped families make ends meet and handled chores that today seem unbelievable. Written for today’s young adults, Pintsized Pioneers offers lessons on frontier history and on the value of work for contemporary youth.
In 1850 adolescents 16 and under accounted for 46 percent of the national population, making them an important labor force in settling the country. Pintsized Pioneers examines their tasks and toils starting with the chores on the trail west. Children assisted in providing fuel and water on the trail and at home when they settled down. In their new locations the young ones helped grow food, make clothing for the entire family and assist with the housekeeping in primitive dwellings.
These pintsized pioneers took on farm and ranch chores as young as six, some going on cattle drives at eight years of age. Even Old West town tykes, who enjoyed more career possibilities, helped their folks survive as well. In the end, many pintsized pioneers pitched in to help their families make ends meet. Difficult as their lives might have been, the lessons those children learned handling chores helped them and their country in the years ahead. Those pintsized lessons have contemporary applications to the youth of today.
Targeted at young adults, Pintsized Pioneers is written at a ninth-grade reading level and includes a supplementary glossary. Even so, Pintsized Pioneers is an eye-opener for adult readers as well.
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ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Preston Lewis and Harriet Kocher Lewis co-authored three books in the “Magic Machine Series” published by Bariso Press: Devotionals from a Soulless Machine, Jokes from a Humorless Machine, and Recipes from a Tasteless Machine. They reside in San Angelo, Texas.
Preston Lewis has published more than 50 fiction and nonfiction works. The author and historian’s books include traditional Westerns, historical novels, comic Westerns, young adult books, and historical accounts. In 2021 he was inducted into the Texas Institute of Letters for his literary accomplishments.
His writing honors include two Spur Awards from Western Writers of America and three Elmer Kelton Awards from the West Texas Historical Association. He has received ten Will Rogers Medallion Awards, and in 2024, he earned an inaugural Literary Global Independent Author Award in the Western Nonfiction category for Cat Tales of the Old West.
He is a past president of Western Writers of America and the West Texas Historical Association, which named him a fellow in 2016.
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Harriet Kocher Lewis is the award-winning editor and publisher of Bariso Press. Titles she has edited have been honored with Will Rogers Medallion Awards, Spur Finalist designations, and Independent Author Awards.
Lewis concluded her 26-year physical therapy career as the inaugural clinical coordinator for the physical therapy program at Angelo State University, where she taught technical writing and wrote or edited numerous scientific papers as well as a chapter in a clinical education textbook.
“Everybody worked; it was a part of life, for there was no life without it.”
Pintsized Pioneers: Taming the Frontier, One Chore at a Time by Preston Lewis and Harriet Kocher Lewis is an absolute dream come true for those (like me) who love reading about the westward journeys of those pioneers seeking adventure, prosperity, or a chance to carve out an existence in an untamed land. I was an avid reader of the Little House on the Prairie series as a child, and I couldn’t get enough of the children’s everyday life, chores, and escapades.
Most of the children in Pintsized Pioneers had a similar existence, but this dynamic writing duo outlines the many types of chores the youngsters had to do to help their families and themselves survive both the harsh trek West and survive the homesteading life once they reached their destinations. This book covers so many different aspects because no two groups of pioneers were the same. Rural homesteads differed greatly from life in towns, but one thing remained the same: The children grew up fast, trading an innocent carefree childhood for a life filled with intense responsibility and backbreaking work.
“They did what their parents told them. Without realizing it, they helped tame the west by contributing their labor to putting food on the table and clothes on their backs.”
The writing style is suitable for both young readers and adults alike. Who doesn’t enjoy reading about the taming of the West, and then remaining happily content to have our modern conveniences? Talk about gratitude for those who paved the way before us! This book touches on just about everything, including the harsh journeys west, sod houses that leaked profusely and housed both humans and nature’s creepy crawlies (the snakes!), mining towns, the farms and cattle/sheep ranches with a never-ending list of chores, and the children who left home seeking the adventurous life of a cowboy.
A main theme that stands out for me is work ethic, for children and adults alike. Everyone pitched in based on their age and abilities, and no chore was off limits. From breaking up sod for planting to tending younger siblings and the tedious chore of churning butter, it all had to be done. The little girls seemed to be the most versatile because they worked both inside the home and out on the land, becoming pintsized mother’s helpers and father’s ranch/farm hands at the same time. And if one or both parents exited the picture for various reasons (including death or abandonment), the children had to carry on and take care of themselves and each other. Such grit!
Pintsized Pioneers is a super quick read because it captures the imagination of a bygone era, highlighting just how much children contributed and played an important part in taming the West. Without their help, the adults would have had a much harder time, which brings to mind the upside and downside of child labor. The downside is clear, but the upside during such a rough time and place was the development of a work ethic and diverse skillset that they carried into adulthood, with some of the pintsized pioneers becoming famous worldwide, such as Buffalo Bill, Mark Twain, and Laura Ingalls Wilder. Childhood looked a lot different then, out of necessity, and I am in awe of the children’s fortitude and strength of character at such young ages, all portrayed beautifully in this well-researched historical account.
Preston and Harriet Lewis have done a stellar job presenting the invaluable role of children during such a dynamic and unique time in US history that was marked by expansion, innovation, courage, and ingenuity.
I received a free copy of this book from Lone Star Book Blog Tours in exchange for my honest review.
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Terrific review, Ruthie. Glad you made the point about the theme of a strong work ethic that the children had at young ages. It’s something that doesn’t come to kids today in quite the same way because life is so much easier on some levels. We don’t have to toil in the dirt to survive.
Thank you, Ruthie, for your kind words! We feel blessed.