This Newbery Honor winning, New York Times bestseller celebrates the true spirit of independence on the American frontier.

 

For most of her life, sixteen-year-old Hattie Brooks has been shuttled from one distant relative to another. Tired of being Hattie Here-and-There, she summons the courage to leave Iowa and move all by herself to Vida, Montana, to prove up on her late uncle’s homestead claim.

 

Under the big sky, Hattie braves hard weather, hard times, a cantankerous cow, and her own hopeless hand at the cookstove. Her quest to make a home is championed by new neighbors Perilee Mueller, her German husband, and their children. For the first time in her life, Hattie feels part of a family, finding the strength to stand up against Traft Martin’s schemes to buy her out and against increasing pressure to be a “loyal” American at a time when anything—or anyone—German is suspect. Despite daily trials, Hattie continues to work her uncle’s claim until an unforeseen tragedy causes her to search her soul for the real meaning of home.

 

This young pioneer’s story is lovingly stitched together from Kirby Larson’s own family history and the sights, sounds, and scents of homesteading life. 

★ 美國紐伯瑞兒童文學榮譽獎

在遼闊無垠的蒙大拿天空下，在草原上墾荒的那一年，我確實找到了一個家。

我在自己身上找到了家，也在別人心裡找到了家。

 

十六歲的海蒂孤苦無依，不斷在許多親戚家之間搬來遷去。已故舅舅的一封信，卻從此改變她四處為家的命運。海蒂決心獨自前往舅舅在蒙大拿的墾地墾荒。她勇敢的離開愛荷華州，憑著固執且不屈不撓的個性，堅強面對大草原上的嚴寒、旱災和暴風雪。儘管得面對無數艱難，她卻越挫越勇，並且透過信件和刊登在家鄉報紙的文章，跟朋友們──尤其是在法國打仗的查理──分享她的冒險。

 

大草原上的鄰居們紛紛對海蒂伸出熱情的雙臂，尤其是慕勒(德國姓氏)一家人的友誼與支持，更讓海蒂渴望擁有屬於自己的「家」。然而，當時正值第一次世界大戰，美國的反德風潮正盛，身為一個「忠誠」的美國人，是不准與德裔人士交朋友的，這個少女因此備受威脅。但是海蒂仍舊不顧一切，決心留下來，同時還得提防馬丁一家的陰謀。一場突如其來的悲劇，讓她發現了家庭的真義……
 

——中文簡介摘至台灣東方出版《海蒂的天空》

 

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