Fiction books descriptive of daily life

[lmbjer]

I'm looking for recommendations for books that are fiction and fairly descriptive of daily living. Books reminiscent of the Little House on the Prairie series or like the Beverly Lewis Amish series. Any suggestions? Thanks!

[sapphire_chan]

Well, completely different eras but both the Maud Hart Lovelace Betsy-Tacy books and the books about Fairacre by Miss Read have a ton of day-to-day life.

[Amaranth]

for kids (what ages?) or adults?

an old chapter book that's good for kids is "Understood Betsy" (country New England dairy farm). Or "Roller Skates" (turn of the 19th c. NYC)

[Thalia the Muse]

I love this kind of thing! You mean describing daily life in a particular time/place, right?

For kids:

Wow, there are tons, but here are a few.
The Great Brain series
Strawberry Girl
Wheel on the Schoolhouse
Amy and Laura books, Marilyn Sachs
Sarah Plain and Tall
Misty of Chincoteague has a lot of day-to-day stuff in it
Mara, Daughter of the Nile
The Witch of Blackbird Pond
Heidi
Emily's Runaway Imagination

For adults:

Nectar in a Sieve (rural India. It's really sad, though, so be warned!)
Things Fall Apart
I highly recommend Giants in the Earth, about Norwegian immigrant pioneers in the same time and place as the later Little House books.
The Good Earth
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Short History of a Small Place
The Tale of Murasaki (an historical novel about the woman who wrote "The Tale of Genji" while serving as a lady at the Japanese high court)

[Amaranth]

I just did a review of Strawberry Girl for the Newbery Project - it wasn't what I expected at all, but it was pretty interesting.

It's actually part of a series of books that Lois Lenski did called the "American Regional" series, and I've heard that some of the other titles are better. The stuff of daily life was really interesting in Strawberry Girl, but I didn't like many of the characters and I thought the plot was kind of weak.

There are a ton of Newbery winners that excel in that "time & place" thing. A couple more I would recommend:

Miracles on Maple Hill - 1950's farm (I think it was eastern PA, but now I can't remember. Anyway, maple sugaring plays a major role)

Kira Kira - 1960's GA and Iowa, growing up Japanese-American

A Year Down Yonder - my favorite of all of these! 1930's small town IL. Funny, funny book. "A Long Way from Chicago" is also excellent and I hear Richard Peck has another book featuring Grandma Dowdel coming out in Sept. :

The Midwife's Apprentice - 14th c. England (a rather brutal place)

There's more, but I think I'll stop here.

[Amaranth]

And here's a couple of my favorites from my book club that I think did the best in capturing daily life:

Q Road, by Bonnie Jo Campbell - farm in rural Kalamazoo Co., MI - 90's and a century and more before.

The Birchbark House, by Louise Erdrich (this is actually YA), excellent - mid 1800's, Ojibway family in n. Wisconsin

The Bookseller of Kabul - modern Kabul, an especially close look at women's work

[Thalia the Muse]

I can't believe I forgot to plug A Long Way from Chicago and A Year Down Yonder! You're right, they're just so good.

Also, Zilpha Keatley Snyder's The Velvet Room is wonderful, an incredibly atmospheric story set in a California apricot orchard during the Depression.

[Traci mom23boys]

The Birth House by Ami McKay

The Pillars of the Earth & World Without End by Ken Follett


YA Genre:

Wise Child by Monica Furlong

Our Only May Amelia

Understood Betsy

These are just off the top of my head, I will come up up with a bunch more!

~Traci

[Thalia the Muse]

Amaranth, are you Sandy D. on that site? Your reviews are excellent!

[Amaranth]

That's me, thank you so much!

If anyone's interested in blogging there we can always use more reviews of the Newbery winners.

[lmbjer]

Thank you for all the suggestions! I am making my list for the library now!