The Fields of Home

Written by Ralph Moody

Narrated by Cameron Beierle

The fatherless Moody family moves from Colorado to Medford, Massachusetts in 1912 as Ralph enters his teen years. He tries as hard as he can to be a “City boy,” but without much luck. Little things that would have been just fine in Colorado are always getting him into trouble, so he is sent to his eccentric Grandfather Thomas’ farm in Maine. With his Grandfather’s cantankerous ways, an “onery yella colt’s stubbornness,” Uncle Levi’s wise gentleness and the pretty girl next door’s kindness, young Ralph manages to find a whole new set of adventures....

• Language: English
• Publisher: Books in Motion
• Release date: Dec 15, 2001
• ISBN: 9781581162264

Reviews for The Fields of Home

[artnking_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:Ralph and his Grandfather, June 11, 2000The whole set of Ralph Moody books rank at the very top of read-aloud books with our children. We have read them all several times. This is my favorite. What a powerful story of the contending of wills between an old man and his grandson. You won't forget this story.

[eaechols · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A wonderful story of friendship and love told with no flash or over drama. I recommend it to anyone.

[Monique Renee Hurtado · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It was probably my least favorite but I really liked the end

[satyridae · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Easily my least favorite of the series. Grandfather's an evil, abusive, horrible man. I don't give the proverbial south end of a northbound rat that he shows his softer side by the end, he's still a pure D jerk. Every time he opened his mouth to berate someone, I cringed. Every time he begrudged Ralph or Millie the very food they ate, I got mad.

This book was also much more overtly religious than the others, with the unlikely proselytizer being the evil grandfather. I can't imagine that such a deeply misanthropic git as the grandfather would be welcomed by St. Peter, based on what I know of religion.

I understand the lesson here, about loving those who are not lovable, and suffering long and becoming a better person because of it. However, I don't believe this philosophy, and would have run away to Colorado by the end of the first week. Though I did, in fact, suffer through every word of this book.

The narrator, in addition to the over-enunciation I've almost grown used to, mispronounces several words throughout. It sounds inauthentic in the extreme to hear farm people referring to 'vicTWOulls' and 'hay MOs', among other things.