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** 70th Anniversary Edition ** *** Now in paperback *** Little Hannah Lander lives in a sod house in northeastern Colorado with her father and mother and four siblings. Hannah is noticeably toothless due to an unfortunate incident that occurred when she was a baby. Her mother had been holding Hannah in front of her on horseback when she rode smack into the clothesline in the dark, and when she yanked up on the clothesline to ride under it, the clothesline caught in Hannah's upper front teeth and ripped them out. Her brothers sometimes tease her about her appearance and call her Grandma . Although the Landers live a hard life as pioneering homesteaders in a new country, they have a cheerful outlook and an abundance of fun. Simple pleasures such as a Christmas pageant, a sod house building party for a newly engaged couple, and a country auction punctuate life on their dryland farm. Reminiscent of Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House on the Prairie, and based on author Helen Littler Howard's early childhood experiences, this sincerely written story portrays the Lander family through the eyes of young Hannah.

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9781545281932

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Helen Littler Howard (1909-1999) was the fourth of seven children born to Daisy and William Littler. Like her alter ego Hannah Lander, she moved with her family at the age of six months from back home in Cayuga, Indiana, to a sod house on a dryland farm near Sterling, Colorado. She rode a horse to attend Logan County's sole high school, graduating at age sixteen, and in 1931 she graduated second in her class from Northwestern University's School of Speech. Economic necessity during the Depression compelled her to work in factories and waiting tables, but she was also able to launch a 35-year career as an elementary school teacher. Teaching took her back to Sterling (where her youngest brother was a student in her class); to a one-room schoolhouse for children of employees at the Tiger mining camp in the Rocky Mountains; and thence to more conventional classroom settings in Gary and LaGrange, Indiana, and Sturgis, Michigan. Her 1933 marriage to John Melville Howard ended in divorce. Together they had two sons, four granddaughters, and five great-grandchildren. A prolific author, Helen Littler Howard published 50 short stories and 53 plays for children in various periodicals, anthologies, and textbooks, as well as several articles in periodicals for adult readers. Hannah's Sod House, a book based on her early childhood experiences, was first published in 1947 and in 1955 was selected for exhibit at the Study Conference of the Association of Childhood Education International. An unpublished sequel, Warning in the Wind, delves into the mysterious disappearance of Chapter 34, farming practices on the Great Plains, and the environmental crisis of the Dust Bowl.

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