The Jumping-Off Place

Resilience is a hot topic I've been hearing and reading about a lot lately. Studies show the lack of it is a major factor in kids dropping out of college and the armed forces during or after the first year. Studies also show that having it is a key predictor to one's happiness. As such, I've also been reading some great articles about how to teach kids to develop it. In a nutshell, allowing your children to struggle, to experience hardship and to make their own decisions are keys to helping them become resilient. And though none of the articles specifically mentioned it, after reading The Jumping-Off Place I am confident that sending your kids to homestead on their own would also be a fabulous way to help them develop this coveted virtue. Seriously, the four orphaned Linville siblings in TJOP seem to be the very definition of resilient, resourceful youth. It's also pretty cool that the story is a somewhat autobiographical account of the author's experience homesteading in South Dakota with her husband.

After a few very slow old honors, The Jumping-Off Place was actually a nice reassurance that kids in the 1930s may have had something interesting to read. There were some elements that reminded me of Anne of Green Gables and Little House on the Prairie and the story was well written. 3 stars!