A Home in the Woods

by Oliver Johnson

Book Overview

"It's hard to picture this part of the country as I first remember it. Here and there was a cabin home with a little spot of clearin close by. The rest of the country was jist one great big woods and miles and miles in most every direction. From your cabin you could see no farther than the wall of trees surrounding the clearin; not another cabin in sight."

Thus begins Oliver Johnson's account of pioneer life in the Indianapolis...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0253206162
• ISBN13: 9780253206169
• Release Date: August 1991
• Publisher: Indiana University Press
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.54 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.5" x 8.5"
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Great Book

This is a great book for learning what the pioneer life was really like. It is not a romanticized version, they are real stories from a real person, of his life as a pioneer boy. They may have had simple things to work with back then, but trying to survive the hardships on a pioneer farmstead was not a simple thing to accomplish. He doesn't make it out to be heroic; it was just his life at the time. I got the book because this pioneer boy was the same exact age as my g.g.grandfather, who also grew up in a pioneer cabin 32 miles northwest of where Oliver Johnson lived in Indianapolis. This has helped me to visualize what it was like for my pioneer ancestors at the very same time and place in history.

Great Learning Experience

I teach high school freshmen in a state-history survey class, and I feel that this book is a great learning tool for that age group, as well as any age-group above. Howard Johnson give the reader a clear understanding of what the midwest was facing at the time of settlement by describing in wonderful details the geography and wildlife, as well as the hardships faced by early pioneers. My students, who usually don't enjoy anything I assign them to read (or at least tell me they don't) - were very perked-up about this novel, and were disappointed when they were through. I feel that they truly learned a lesson about early pioneers and their experience, much as what the "Little House" books did for me when I was 8 years old. It's just a shame that this book is so short. Those in Indiana, esp. the Indianapolis region, will really get a joy of reading this book as it takes place in Marion Co. However, any student of midwestern history, no matter how old will find it just as satisfying.