"Little Britches" Life Lessons

I heard about this series, "Little Britches", a while ago.  It was touted as "Little House On The Prairie" for boys.  Well, my ears pricked up at that, since I have three boys - and I've been interested in reading it ever since.  When I finally got it and read the first few pages I was pretty sure my boys aren't old enough to love it, yet.  I was pretty sure I wouldn't love it, too.  I'm not sure why, I must have just been in a skeptical mood.  I ended up reading it without the boys, and now I can't wait to read the next one.

I also can't wait to read it to my boys, but I don't think the time is quite right for us yet.  Some boys are ready, some aren't, and I really want to be WiseMom about this.  I don't want one boy to be bored and forever have the impression in his mind that "Little Britches" wasn't a good book.  So I'm gonna wait.  Hopefully next school year...

anyway, there are so many wonderful lessons in this book that it's hard to list them all.  One of my favorite things about it is that the main character, Ralph Moody, is a well-brought-up boy, but he still messes up.  He gets into heaps of trouble and makes bad decisions, but his parents have worked hard to teach him high standards - his bad decisions aren't looked at as the end of the world.  As a mother of boys, I like that - I like the idea that my boys will see a regular boy in this book, who sometimes did the wrong thing, but always learned from it.

Here are a few quotes from the book:  (mostly advice from Moody's dad)
Moody was a child at the beginning of the 1900s.  He is learning how to herd cows, and at the end of the day his father tells him - "...spare your horse, a cowboy with a spent horse is in as bad a spot as if he didn't have any horse at all...Always remember, Son, the best boss is the one who bosses the least.  Whether it's cattle, or horses, or men; the least government is the best government."

"There are only two kinds of men in this world: Honest men and dishonest men...Some men work almost entirely with their brains; some almost entirely with their hands; though most of us have to use both.  But we all fall into one of the two classes - honest and dishonest.  Any man who says the world owes him a living is dishonest.  The same God that made you and me made this earth.  And He planned it so that it would yield every single thing that the people on it need.  But He was careful to plan it so that it would only yield up its wealth in exchange for the labor of man.  Any man who tries to share in that wealth without contributing the work of his brain or his hands is dishonest."

To sum up: getcha this book.  It's waaayyy better than just these two quotes.