I hope he likes it as much as we did.) Oh, and P.S. (And yes, we are giving it to our grandson to read. Moody is such a natural story teller and engaging writer I am going to try to read some more of his stuff. By then he had a wide variety of experiences to draw from and just kept on writing them down. In researching Moody (1898-1982) a little, I found it interesting that he did not begin to write until he was well past fifty. In fact, Moody wrote several more memoirs before he was finished, in addition to several historical novels for young people. You will be reminded of Laura Ingalls Wilder's LITTLE HOUSE series of books. In other words, Ralph Moody tells a good story - his own.

All of these things are related in simple straightforward storytelling that does not fail to delight and keeps you turning the pages wondering what will happen next. He learns about breaking horses and rides in a rodeo before he is twelve. He has also learned to drive a hay rake and plant vegetables and maintain a garden and build an outhouse and other rough carpentry - much of this from his father, who is very inventive and clever with his hands. By the time he is eleven he has even learned some stunt riding and how to cut cattle under the tutelage of his sure-enough cowboy pal, Hi. Young Ralph wants to be a cowboy, and he makes a darn good start, learning to ride and handle a team of horses from the time he is 8 or nine. It begins in 1906 when Ralph - the 'Little Britches' of the story - was 8 years old and covers the next three years, telling the story of Charlie and Molly Moody's family of five children - Ralph was second oldest - trying to make a living after moving west from New Hampshire, looking for a dry healthy climate, where Charlie might recover from tuberculosis. Ralph Moody's own story about growing up on a poor dry land Colorado ranch.

Little britches ralph moody