Hattie Big Sky
Encyclopedia
Hattie Big Sky is a novel
written by Kirby Larson
. In 2007 the book was named a Newbery Honor book and an American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults. Hattie Big Sky was also an Illinois Rebecca Caudill nominee.
The protagonist
is Hattie Brooks, a sixteen-year-old orphan who has tired of being shuffled among relatives she hardly knows. Frustrated with her situation, she decides to move by herself to her uncle's abandoned homestead in Montana
. In the book we learn about Hattie through her letters
to her friend Charlie who is at war and to her Uncle Holt.
The story is based on bits of Larson's own family history. Her great-grandmother, Hattie Brooks, was a teenage homesteader on a plot of land in Montana in 1914. When Larson heard stories about her life on the Montana plains, she became interested in researching and writing about her.
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
written by Kirby Larson
Kirby Larson
Kirby Lane Larson is an award-winning author of a number of books for children, including Oppenheim Platinum Award-winner The Magic Kerchief, illustrated by Rosanne Litzinger. Her book, Hattie Big Sky, was a Finalist for the 2007 Scandiuzzi Book Award of the Washington State Book Awards, and won a...
. In 2007 the book was named a Newbery Honor book and an American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults. Hattie Big Sky was also an Illinois Rebecca Caudill nominee.
The protagonist
Protagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
is Hattie Brooks, a sixteen-year-old orphan who has tired of being shuffled among relatives she hardly knows. Frustrated with her situation, she decides to move by herself to her uncle's abandoned homestead in Montana
Montana
Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
. In the book we learn about Hattie through her letters
Epistolary novel
An epistolary novel is a novel written as a series of documents. The usual form is letters, although diary entries, newspaper clippings and other documents are sometimes used. Recently, electronic "documents" such as recordings and radio, blogs, and e-mails have also come into use...
to her friend Charlie who is at war and to her Uncle Holt.
The story is based on bits of Larson's own family history. Her great-grandmother, Hattie Brooks, was a teenage homesteader on a plot of land in Montana in 1914. When Larson heard stories about her life on the Montana plains, she became interested in researching and writing about her.