The Jumping-Off Place

By Marian Hurd McNeely and William Siegel

In the summer of 1910, four orphans leave their home in Wisconsin to "prove up" their claim to a parcel of land on the South Dakota prairie. Seventeen-year-old Becky Linville and her younger siblings — Dick, Phil, and Joan — hadn't intended to move to the newly opened Rosebud Reservation by themselves. But with their Uncle Jim's untimely death, the children are forced to follow up on the claim without adult supervision.
Uncle Jim left detailed instructions for his young relatives; but right from the start, homesteading turns out to be far more difficult than they expected. A family of ornery squatters have set up a shanty on the Linville claim and vandalized the property. A drought threatens the summer corn crop, and winter brings blizzards, relentless cold, and near-starvation. But prairie life isn't as lonely as it seems, and the Linvilles gradually form strong bonds within their far-flung community. The support of their new neighbors, together with their own growing self-reliance, helps the children rise to each challenge. An exciting tale of adventure, resilience, and triumph over adversity, this 1930 Newbery Honor Book was inspired by author Marian Hurd McNeely's homesteading years.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Release date: May 4, 2017
• ISBN: 9780486821399

Book preview

Storm

CHAPTER I

WHERE THE WEST BEGINS

DOWN on their knees, a boy and girl were taking up the kitchen linoleum. It was a queer time to be at that work — half-past eight in the evening — and there was an air of strangeness about the house; an unusual silence, a hollowness and a fragrance of crushed flowers in the air. The lighted candle, which had been set on the floor to piece out the electric light, shone on the towsled, red head of the boy and on the firm lips of his sister, who was working on the opposite side of the room.

The Linville kitchen was usually the noisiest room in the house, but tonight it was so still that the plack of the tacks, and an occasional grunt over a stubborn fastening, were the only sounds. It was not often that fifteen and seventeen worked together so silently or so soberly. As they approached each other along the sides of the room there was a cough and a step on the back porch, and someone tried the door. Both young people sat up, looking as though caught in the act.

Aunt Jule! whispered Becky.

"You bet it’s Aunt Jule, said Dick. Come back to see if we’ve read the will."

I know she expected to be asked to stay to supper this afternoon, commented his sister. But I did hope we’d be alone tonight. I suppose we’ve got to let her in.

You haven’t told her we were going?

There was an insistent knock on the door.

Becky shook her head. No, I knew she’d make a fuss about it and I didn’t want Uncle Jim bothered when he was so sick. But she might as well know now. Unlock the door, Dick.

I’d rather let in measles, growled the boy.

The visitor stepped over the threshold with a word of commendation, which was an unusual entrance for her. You children are wise to keep the door locked, she said. You can’t be too careful, now that you’re all alone. I never pick up a paper that I don’t read of a house being robbed somewhere.

Aunt Jule was fifty-nine and unyielding. The stiff clothes of 1910 were made for her type. Her black hair was drawn tightly over a stiff pompadour roll; her shirt waist was starchy; and in temperament she was like both hair and waist.

This is a fine to-do, she said, from the doorway. I come up here to talk over the services and cheer you up and I find you tearing the house down, in those filthy overalls. What if company drops in? What you doing in those clothes the day of a funeral, anyway? I don’t think you’re paying much respect to your dead uncle.

Oh, yes, we are, answered Dick. He told us to get the linoleum up as soon as he was gone. ‘That’s one job I’ll skip,’ he said. ‘I always despised taking out tacks.’ He smiled at the speech that brought Uncle Jim so near, but his eyes were ready to overflow. We can’t pull tacks in Sunday clothes.

Better not let anyone else see you grinning that way, advised his aunt, taking a chair. Of course Jim would make jokes on his death bed, but the day of a funeral is no time to repeat them. Why on earth are you children upsetting the house, this way?

We’re turning the linoleum, said Dick, sourly.

Becky gave her brother a reproving look. We’re getting ready to pack, Aunt Julia.

To pack? exclaimed Aunt Jule. For what?

For Dakota.

Dakota! You aren’t planning to go out to the Jumping-off Place to visit that homestead?

No, said Dick. Not to visit it, but to live on it.

Aunt Jule gasped. I thought that idea died when your Uncle Jim did. Or rather, when he was first taken sick. He must have known, after the first week of his stroke, that he never could farm again.

Becky’s eyes filled with tears. Yes, he knew it. He told us so just after his speech came back to him.

Well, said Aunt Jule, triumphantly, That put an end to it.

It put an end to it for him, but not for us. He wanted us to go on without him. Becky’s lips trembled, but her voice was resolute.

He must have been delirious.

Oh, no, he wasn’t. He called Dick and me into his room as soon as he could speak, and talked it over with us. He told us he knew that he was never going to be well again and that it was up to us to ‘run the engine alone.’ He asked us if we thought that we could hold down the claim for fourteen months for the sake of a good farm, some day. And we told him we could. Even Phil and Joan promised him that they’d help.

The man was certainly out of his head.

Becky’s eyes flashed. He never was saner in his life, Aunt Jule. He told us all about his plans, just what we’d have to pay for the land now, and what he thought it would be worth in ten years. He told us that if we were willing to put in fourteen months of hard work the claim would give each one of us a good schooling. He planned the whole trip for us. He had me bring him pencil and a note-book, and he kept them by the side of his bed all the time he was sick. And as he thought of things he’d either write them himself, or else have me jot them down: just how we were to go, what we would need to take, how we were to get started, how much land we were to have broken, what we were to plant, what clothes we would want — there wasn’t a thing that he didn’t plan for.

And his idea was for you children to go out alone, and live alone until you proved up?

Yes, it was. Becky went resolutely back to her linoleum.

I can’t believe he was himself. People often get those queer notions when they’re sick.

"Well, I can prove to you that he was himself, said Dick hotly. After he had most everything planned he said to us: ‘There’s only one thing that worries me. I’m not afraid that you can’t settle the land — you kids; but who’s going to settle your fights?’ Now, does that sound as if Uncle Jim were sane or not?"

Tears sprang to Becky’s eyes at the dear, familiar phrasing. Aunt Jule nodded grimly. Well, I admit it does, she said, But I can’t see what he was thinking about. You children, being orphans, have picked up some things about helping yourselves, but you’ve never tried running a house alone in your lives, even in a civilized community where there are churches and grocery stores. And to go out in that God-forsaken place, among dirty Indians and coyotes, with nothing growing but sage brush, would be new business for you. Jim himself told me that the nearest neighbor lived a quarter of a mile away. What would you do if you were sick? There’s always chills and fever in new country.

Take quinine, suggested Dick. That’s all we could do if our neighbors lived next door.

Why, there’s no house out there, said Aunt Jule. I’d like to know where you’re going to live. I s’pose you’ll argue that you don’t need a house. Or are Dick and Phil intending to put up a bungalow for you?

Dick bristled, but Becky pretended not to notice the sarcasm. Phil, at ten, could not be of much assistance at bungalow building.

Uncle Jim said that we could live in the new barn. That’s a good-sized building, and it’s partitioned off into three rooms. At first he only intended to have us live there while the house was being built, but after he was sick he said we’d better not plan for the house at all. There wouldn’t be enough left to build it, after we paid the bills for his sickness, and besides, we might not want to stay out there after our homesteading was over. He said the best Child in the world started out in a barn and it wouldn’t hurt us to live there fourteen months.

And where will you keep the stock if you use their stalls for your parlor? asked her aunt disagreeably.

We’re only going to have a cow and two horses. Uncle Jim had already bought the team or we wouldn’t need two. We may sell one when we get through hauling. He said that we could keep them in the shack that he had intended for a tool shed.

I suppose you’re going to farm, too?

Now, Aunt Jule, you know we can’t farm; Uncle Jim didn’t have any idea of our doing it after — after he was sick, said Dick, his face red with the combined effort of tack-pulling and temper-holding. He said that we were to have only ten acres broken and planted to corn for the stock. We’re going to put in a garden, ourselves, so that with our vegetables and our milk and our eggs we can get along. We can plant a garden and take care of the chickens and the animals. But we’re no farmers.

You’re right about that, said Aunt Jule, in a tone that was as aggravating as it was intended to be. No farmers, and not much gardeners, either, unless the Dakota air gives you new energy. Becky’s a pretty fair hand for work, but it’ll be a new thing for you, young man. Hoeing potatoes ain’t as entertaining as track-teaming, you’ll find. And how are you going to pay for all the things you’ll need, out there? You’ll find you’re not millionaires, when the will’s read.

Becky tried, for Uncle Jim’s sake, to keep resentment out of her voice. We shan’t have tq wait for a will to learn that. He always told us about his affairs, and we know exactly what we’ll have to live on. You see, Aunt Jule, he had everything — almost everything — bought and paid for last winter, for we expected to be out there early this spring. We’ll start out with enough to carry us until our first crop is due.

Easy come; easy go. You’ve never had any experience at handling money. What you going to count on for income if your crop fails?

We’ll have the rent from this house.

I s’pose you think twenty-five dollars a month would keep you.

It may have to.

Well, it’s a fool idea, all the way round. Of course I haven’t anything to say about it unless I’m appointed guardian, and I don’t suppose Jim ever looked ahead far enough to plan for that. I never was one to put my oar in, anyway. You children would be far better off if you stayed right here in Platteville. Becky’s all ready for normal school, and in three years she’d have her certificate and be ready to teach. Then she could support the rest of the family while Dick is preparing. Your uncle didn’t have any too much to leave you, anyway. You’d better not spend the last cent of it on a wild-goose chase like this.

But where could we live? said Becky. "This house is rented to the Glovers. We’d have to find a home, and we haven’t enough money to live and go to school and to pay rent, too. And we’d have to give up that land. Uncle Jim had already filed on it, he’d built the barn and the shack, and he paid for the stock this spring. A lot of our goods are already out there. No, we’ve gone too far to back out now. Uncle Jim thought it was best to go ahead. And besides, Aunt Jule, now that he’s — gone, I just feel as though I can’t stay on without him." She pulled at a bent and rusty tack with unseeing eyes.

Nonsense, said Aunt Jule. You can’t give up to any such feeling as that. Death comes to everybody in this world, sooner or later. I was prostrated when I lost Sam, but where would I be if I had given in to my grief? And he was a husband, not an uncle. You’ve all got to brace up, just as I did.

Dick rubbed his coat sleeve across his eyes. "We are bracing up," he said fiercely.

Aunt Jule settled back in her rocker. Well, I s’pose there’s no use trying to tell you anything if your uncle’s got your affairs all settled. You won’t starve during the summer — you’ll probably have enough money to carry you for awhile. But you’ll be back as soon as cold weather starts, and I’ll be expected to take the four of you in.

Becky shook her head.

You needn’t worry; we’d never come to you, exclaimed Dick.

"You may be glad to come, yet. I’ve heard those Dakota stories before. No homesteader is ever able to keep the land he settles; it always goes back to the bank that has loaned him money. And four children! How are you going to run a farm? Why, you’re not even old enough yet to keep from fighting among yourselves!"

It was impossible to deny this, much as they longed to do it. Neither meekness nor tolerance were characteristics of the Linvilles. Becky ignored the accusation, but she answered with spirit: We don’t intend to ‘run a farm.’ Uncle Jim had no idea of our doing that. What we expected to do was to hold down that claim for fourteen months till we got the title to the land. And we’re going to do it.

Fourteen months is fourteen months, remarked Aunt Jule, impersonally. There’ll be no grocery store to run to for canned peas, and wood and water won’t carry themselves.

Over her candlestick Becky gave Dick a wink. It was a wink of large proportions, signifying caution, self-restraint, and a third element which Dick well understood. Being interpreted it meant The less you say the less chance she gets. And knowing the truth of that hint, the boy held his tongue as well as his temper. It was Becky who said slowly:

We know that it’s going to be hard living, Aunt Jule; Uncle Jim told us the bad things as well as the good. But he had everything planned for us, and we’re going to do the best we can. If it were twice as hard living as he told us we’d still go, because he wanted it. I can go to normal school after we prove up, but it’s the proving up we’re going to do first.

Aunt Julia’s sharp little eyes swept over the room, taking note of all the gaps. So that’s why you’ve been moving out things, right along. I believe you gave me to understand that you were house-cleaning.

That was I; not Beck, said her nephew, without a show of repentance. "I didn’t tell you a lie, either. You asked me if we were housecleaning, and I told you that it was house-cleaning time. It is, isn’t it?"

Aunt Julia ignored him. You going to take all the furniture, Becky?

Part of it. Uncle Jim had everything that we would want listed, and most of it has already gone out. We’re going to pack the few last things we’ll need. The rest we’ll store or sell.

Aunt Jule made a noise with her tongue that sounded like tchick, tchick. Well, it’s a pretty poor notion, to my way of thinking. However, I wasn’t asked for my opinion, and I don’t intend to give it. You going to have enough money to carry you?

"We’re going to have enough to make our first payment on the land, to pay for our breaking, and what supplies we’ll need this summer. Uncle Jim had canned goods and claim clothes bought for a year, and he said we wouldn’t need much else. The horses and wagon and the cow are paid for. Even the chickens are ordered. He thought of everything.

Reviews for The Jumping-Off Place

[atimco-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Jumping-Off Place was a Newbery Honor book in 1930, and this lovely new edition is published by the South Dakota State Historical Society Press. I'm glad they have reprinted it, because it's a very well-written story, reminiscient of Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House books. But as Jean Patrick writes in the afterword, McNeely's book was written in 1929, three years before Wilder started publishing her books. And McNeely's story takes place about thirty years after the time period that Wilder wrote about. The title is taken from the name of the end of the railroad line where the children get off. It is more than just a place where the track ends; it is where you step off onto the prairie and take responsibility for your own survival. Four orphaned siblings — Becky, Dick, Phil, and Joan Linville — had been planning to move out to South Dakota's Tripp County to "prove up" a claim there with their Uncle Jim. But a few months before they were to start, Uncle Jim had a stroke. During the long months of his illness, he never gave up the dream he had for the children to continue with the plan. He filled a notebook with a month-by-month summary of what the children would need to do in order to survive on the prairie for the fourteen months they would have to stay. And then he died. Becky, age 17, is the head of the little family now, and they decide to carry on with Uncle Jim's plan by themselves. Once there, the Linvilles find that the struggle to survive would be even harder than they thought. There is another family, the Welps, that has laid claim to their land, and the Welps have no compunctions about vandalizing the children's property and even trying to cause Phil's death. This hostility and the harsh conditions of prairie life almost make the children give up. They have a number of unexpected expenses, and it seems like they are going to run out of food during the winter, until Becky is offered the position of schoolteacher for the area's children. Although she has no formal training, Becky takes on the challenge and becomes well-beloved by all the neighbors for her patience and good sense. On one occasion the children are caught in a prairie blizzard, and Becky keeps them alive by forcing them to march, march, march all night long in the schoolhouse. It is pleasing to see the community appreciate her worth and stand by her in the feud with the low-life Welps. On another occasion, Becky gets to see firsthand the squalor and poverty of some of the prairie settlers, when the Olesons' baby dies of a snakebite. Becky helps to clean the house and lay out the little child, even giving up her one beautiful nightgown to make a burying dress for the little child. This sad chapter is very well-handled by McNeely and is written in a way that does not sugarcoat the reality of death and sorrow. But there is no despair, somehow, and I don't think young readers will be crushed under the weight of the sadness. I found the writing style very graceful. On the second page, as soon as McNeely wrote that "it was not often that fifteen and seventeen worked together so silently or so soberly," I knew I was in for a lovely read. McNeely has such a spare, apt way of describing the relationships among the children and the way Becky in particular views her neighbors. McNeely's prose never falters. I love the part when Joan is contemplating the beauty of phosphorescence for the first time:Phosphorescence was a grown-up explanation; it was just as well not to dispute it. But one might have one's own thoughts. And Joan, stumbling over the dusky prairie at Becky's side, knew that she was to live for fourteen months in a wonder world, where fairy lights shone at night and fairy folk danced at the side of a creek.Lovely. Some modern readers may claim that the children are too good to be real and that Becky's selfless commitment to the needs of others is too idealistic and unbelievable. I disagree with that assessment. Becky has a rough time dealing with the heat during the prairie summer, and becomes very irritable as she tries to control her emotions. And her assessments of Dick are also telling; before the proving-up forced him to become a man, he was a rather thoughtless boy who was interested in little besides his athletic pursuits and his friends. And right from the beginning McNeely's characterizations are realistic; when their unpleasant Aunt Jule appears to discourage them from carrying out their plan, the children know that she makes a good point when she says they may be able to settle the land, but who will settle their fights? The Linvilles' decision to try to get over the petty things that cause arguments is portrayed as something of a struggle for them. These children aren't too good to be true — they are like us, and they deal with their problems in ways that we could (and should) emulate. It is not that they are too virtuous; it is that we have come to expect too little of ourselves.I should also mention William Siegel's lovely illustrations. They fit the feel of the story perfectly. The picture of Becky at the Oleson's house was particularly poignant. Overall, this is a wonderful book with believable characters, a good story, and graceful prose to carry it along. I highly recommend it, and I look forward to sharing it with my children someday. Thank you to the South Dakota State Historical Society Press and the LibraryThing Early Reviewer program for the opportunity to review this book!

[abigailadams26 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

First published in 1929, and chosen as one of six Newbery Honor Books in 1930 - along with A Daughter of the Seine, Pran of Albania, The Tangle-Coated Horse and Other Tales, Vaino: A Boy of New Finland, and Little Blacknose - Marian Hurd McNeely's The Jumping-Off Place is an immensely engaging work of historical fiction, which follows the story of four young homesteaders in South Dakota, in the early years of the twentieth century. When their beloved Uncle Jim dies, the four Linville siblings - Becky, Dick, Phil and Joan - decide to follow his plan (elaborately outlined in a notebook left for them) to homestead out west, on South Dakota's newly opened Rosebud Reservation. Leaving behind their home in Platteville, Wisconsin, they head for the endless prairie, where they encounter back-breaking work, daunting weather, and a family of hostile claim-jumpers whose many acts of vandalism and intimidation range from broken windows to assault. They also encounter community, a beautiful land, a new sense of purpose (in the case of Becky's school-teaching), and a place they can call their own...I enjoyed The Jumping-Off Place - named for Dallas, South Dakota, the last "jumping-off" place before heading into the prairie - immensely, gobbling it down in two days! It immediately grabs the reader's attention, and doesn't let go. Some of the incidents - as when Phil and Autie Wubber are hung over the side of a butte by (presumably) the nefarious Welps - are very serious indeed, but the overall feeling is cheerful, with a sense of hope, and of adapting to new circumstances, prevalent throughout. I admired all four Linville children, and the other homesteaders - how hard they worked! - and can understand why the South Dakota State Historical Society reprinted the book, in 2008, as it documents an important aspect of the history of that part of the country. I also understand why this has been compared favorably with Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House books (McNeely's was published first).That said, this is not entirely unproblematic, as a story for contemporary children. Teachers, parents and librarians should note that there is mention of "dirty Indians," and "working like a n*gger," in the course of the story. The former appears once, spoken by Aunt Jule, whom the children do not like, and who is a character held up to ridicule by the narrative. Although the children themselves later see Indians, on the train, they themselves do not refer to them, or think of them (as far as the narrative indicates) in this way. The latter also appears once, in a casual remark about working hard, and - in the absence of any African-American characters - does not seem to indicate any specific racial animus on the part of characters or author. Still, thoughtful adults should probably be aware of this, and stand ready to discuss the issue of changing ideas about race and language, with young readers. They might also want to discuss the historical reality behind this story - the theft of treaty land that makes the homesteading possible in the first place - as it is not something that the author references in any way.Despite these issues, The Jumping-Off Place is worth reading, both for its own story, and for its depiction of a specific place and time, and a specific experience. I understand that McNeely based it upon her own life, and that really shines through in the narrative, which is convincing, and at times moving.

[lefty33 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

After the death of their uncle, the four Linville children move out to the South Dakota land their uncle had claimed as a homestead. The children learn to grow up quickly and together while facing the difficulties of maintaining a new territory.At first I found this book to be tedious, wandering aimlessly as the prairie wind it so accurately described. Soon, however, I came to appreciate the characters as they demonstrated strength and depth that was not evident in the first pages.I moved from the New England area to the Midwest and so I fully understood the torment one can feel when buffeted by the constant wind. The battle against the wind served as the perfect symbol for the battles the Linvilles faced while "proving up" their homestead. The close-knit community formed between the settlers living around the Linvilles rings true to the Midwest atmosphere, giving the reader a sense of comfort and hope while escaping into the lost world of homesteading.

[teazle_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I greatly enjoyed this book about a family of siblings in pioneering days on the South Dakota plains. It is well written with just the right amount of tension about what's going to happen to the family, without detracting from the sense that the life described was how it was for many people.I shall definitely be keeping this book!

[davidpwhelan_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

"The Jumping-Off Place" is an enjoyable adventure of two brothers and two sisters who travel from Wisconsin to homestead in South Dakota. Written in 1929, it relates both the ups and downs of prairie life just after the turn of the century. The four children, who have just lost their beloved Uncle Jim, a guardian who cared for them after their parents died, take up his dream of "proving up" on a claim. The author sets the scene following Uncle Jim's death, and immediately they are off to the Jumping-Off Place. Her writing lovingly describes the prairie grass, "big sky", and sunsets of the country. It also makes you feel the isolation, the incessant wind, and the extreme temperatures. Readers familiar with the Laura Ingalls Wilders' books, which occur decades earlier in time, or Ralph Moody's autobiographical tales of ranching in Colorado during nearly the same time period as "The Jumping-Off Place" will find this story feels quite different. Rather than detailed descriptions of gardening or other activities, the author gets right to the Linville siblings' adventures. Becky and Dick are quickly faced with the travails of homesteading, and of neighbors who are openly trying to run them off their claim. Their quick maturing as homesteaders is nicely contrasted with the younger children, Joan and Phil, who are still very much children and experience the new life in a different way. The Welps are their enemy, and one feels the antagonism throughout the story. Every time the Linvilles leave their claim, there's an expectation of damage or ill will. At the same time, each trip away allows them to interact with the other homesteaders, many of whom are friendly or who put their own disappointments in perspective. The Linvilles have a number of adults within easy reach who ensure that they don't experience too much adversity. Everything works out in the end, and readers of all types will find something to enjoy in the strong boy and girl characters, and the adventures and relationships of the story. Joan provides some comic relief throughout, with her occasional poems and observations that remind the reader that the brothers and sisters are still children. The story's language is uncomplicated but still quite rich. Young readers will gain new vocabulary, but it will not slow down their ability to enjoy the story. There is one occurrence of a racial epithet which parents might want to anticipate, but it is more a reflection of the time in which the book was written, than of any importance to the story. The Afterword by Jean L. S. Patrick has some interesting historical context, and curious readers will appreciate the short glossary. The original illustrations are included, and are helpful visuals for many of the important events in the story.

[indianajane_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I began to read The Jumping-Off Place by book light in a camp bunk with barely a glance at the cover. There was a lovely old-fashioned quality to the writing and the characters that surprised me, until I looked more closely the next day and realized that the book was written in 1929.This is a wonderful story, set in one of the last bits of the frontier after the turn of the twentieth century. Four orphans, having just lost their beloved uncle, travel to South Dakota to "prove up" his claim. They face hardships--drought, blizzard, wind, and an adversarial neighbor--with maturity, hard work, generosity, and an unquenchable spirit. In the process they fell in love with the prairie and the community and it with them.This is an excellent book for all ages. It would make a very nice family read aloud, particularly because there is some lovely prose. The original illustrations have been retained and enhance the historical feel of the book. The South Dakota State Historical Society has added an afterword with historical background and author information and a word list, adding to the educational value of the book. This 1930 Newbery Honor Book was a joy, and I am very glad that the SDSHS Press has decided to return it to print.

[elizajane_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Reason for Reading: I'm reading all the Newbery Awards and Honors. I received a copy through LibraryThing's ER Program. I also very much love children's historical fiction about the early days of settling our land.Comments: Four children Becky (17), Dick (15), Phil (10) and Joan (8) live with their Uncle Joe in a nice little town in Wisconsin. Joe, a sea-going man, settled down with the children when they were orphaned but his heart always missed something. That is until the day he went to check out the land available in South Dakota and fell in love with the prairies which reminded him so much of the sea. He didn't win the lottery for land but he later came back and squatted some land that was unclaimed, registered it and set to work on it. When he came back for the children, he became deathly ill and spent a month in bed. He spent every moment talking to the children and writing down or dictating to them everything they would need to know on how to homestead the land themselves and one week before they were to leave Uncle Joe died. With determination and great love for Uncle Joe's will to be done the 4 children go to South Dakota and become homesteaders on their own. Becky turns into a woman and Dick into a man as they fight the elements, the land, the loneliness and the meanest folks you ever did see who've squatted on their land while Uncle Joe was dying. They also discover the glory of the land, the joys of making a home for oneself, the realities of life and death, and the bonds created between neighbours all living through the same circumstances.This is a wonderful story and while a work of fiction it draws heavily upon the author's own experiences as a homesteader in South Dakota. As the afterward mentions one can quickly compare this to Laura Ingalls Wilder, as there is a similarity in the two experiences of homesteading in South Dakota, Ms McNeely's book was published 3 years prior to Ms Wilder's and The Jumping-Off Place takes place nearly thirty years later than the Little House days in De Smet, South Dakota. A timeless classic that fortunately has been brought back to print. This is a book for the ages. A tale of hardships, pure joy from the results of hard work itself, humour, determination, growing up. The book is full of life lessons (though not didactic or preachy at all); the children just learn from living life and from not giving up for Uncle Joe's sake and downright pluckiness not to be beaten after they've put so much hard work into things. One note: the "n" word is used once, not in reference to a person but used nevertheless by a minor character in a state of dejection. From my point of view, the word was used in context within the historical period of the book and considering the year this book was written I can say wholeheartedly that there was nothing that *I* found objectionable in the book at all. The afterward doesn't mention this instance but it does contain a lot of information on the historical context of the book, Ms McNeely's life and tragic death. It was a welcome addition to the book. Unfortunately Marian Hurd McNeely died such an untimely death that she only wrote 3 children's novels and one posthumously published volume of short stories.Some people these days seem to have a problem with Laura Ingalls Wilder's books, if that is you, then this would make a great substitution if you don't mind moving forward to 1900. Highly recommended to anyone interested in the time period or the subject matter. Hopefully this book stays in print without any editing!

[rutabega_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Discovering this book was a lovely surprise, and I wish I had read it when I was in my grade-school Laura Ingalls Wilder phase. Homesteading is really the only thing The Jumping-Off Place has in common with the Little House books, besides the location in South Dakota and the centrality of family, and it is written with a slightly older reader in mind. It's a pity that Marian Hurd McNeely died so young, and that this is the only book of hers to be both in print and readily available in libraries and bookstores.

[wisewoman_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Jumping-Off Place was a Newbery Honor book in 1930, and this lovely new edition is published by the South Dakota State Historical Society Press. I'm glad they have reprinted it, because it's a very well-written story, reminiscient of Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House books. But as Jean Patrick writes in the afterword, McNeely's book was written in 1929, three years before Wilder started publishing her books. And McNeely's story takes place about thirty years after the time period that Wilder wrote about. The title is taken from the name of the end of the railroad line where the children get off. It is more than just a place where the track ends; it is where you step off onto the prairie and take responsibility for your own survival. Four orphaned siblings — Becky, Dick, Phil, and Joan Linville — had been planning to move out to South Dakota's Tripp County to "prove up" a claim there with their Uncle Jim. But a few months before they were to start, Uncle Jim had a stroke. During the long months of his illness, he never gave up the dream he had for the children to continue with the plan. He filled a notebook with a month-by-month summary of what the children would need to do in order to survive on the prairie for the fourteen months they would have to stay. And then he died. Becky, age 17, is the head of the little family now, and they decide to carry on with Uncle Jim's plan by themselves. Once there, the Linvilles find that the struggle to survive would be even harder than they thought. There is another family, the Welps, that has laid claim to their land, and the Welps have no compunctions about vandalizing the children's property and even trying to cause Phil's death. This hostility and the harsh conditions of prairie life almost make the children give up. They have a number of unexpected expenses, and it seems like they are going to run out of food during the winter, until Becky is offered the position of schoolteacher for the area's children. Although she has no formal training, Becky takes on the challenge and becomes well-beloved by all the neighbors for her patience and good sense. On one occasion the children are caught in a prairie blizzard, and Becky keeps them alive by forcing them to march, march, march all night long in the schoolhouse. It is pleasing to see the community appreciate her worth and stand by her in the feud with the low-life Welps. On another occasion, Becky gets to see firsthand the squalor and poverty of some of the prairie settlers, when the Olesons' baby dies of a snakebite. Becky helps to clean the house and lay out the little child, even giving up her one beautiful nightgown to make a burying dress for the little child. This sad chapter is very well-handled by McNeely and is written in a way that does not sugarcoat the reality of death and sorrow. But there is no despair, somehow, and I don't think young readers will be crushed under the weight of the sadness. I found the writing style very graceful. On the second page, as soon as McNeely wrote that "it was not often that fifteen and seventeen worked together so silently or so soberly," I knew I was in for a lovely read. McNeely has such a spare, apt way of describing the relationships among the children and the way Becky in particular views her neighbors. McNeely's prose never falters. I love the part when Joan is contemplating the beauty of phosphorescence for the first time:Phosphorescence was a grown-up explanation; it was just as well not to dispute it. But one might have one's own thoughts. And Joan, stumbling over the dusky prairie at Becky's side, knew that she was to live for fourteen months in a wonder world, where fairy lights shone at night and fairy folk danced at the side of a creek.Lovely. Some modern readers may claim that the children are too good to be real and that Becky's selfless commitment to the needs of others is too idealistic and unbelievable. I disagree with that assessment. Becky has a rough time dealing with the heat during the prairie summer, and becomes very irritable as she tries to control her emotions. And her assessments of Dick are also telling; before the proving-up forced him to become a man, he was a rather thoughtless boy who was interested in little besides his athletic pursuits and his friends. And right from the beginning McNeely's characterizations are realistic; when their unpleasant Aunt Jule appears to discourage them from carrying out their plan, the children know that she makes a good point when she says they may be able to settle the land, but who will settle their fights? The Linvilles' decision to try to get over the petty things that cause arguments is portrayed as something of a struggle for them. These children aren't too good to be true — they are like us, and they deal with their problems in ways that we could (and should) emulate. It is not that they are too virtuous; it is that we have come to expect too little of ourselves.I should also mention William Siegel's lovely illustrations. They fit the feel of the story perfectly. The picture of Becky at the Oleson's house was particularly poignant. Overall, this is a wonderful book with believable characters, a good story, and graceful prose to carry it along. I highly recommend it, and I look forward to sharing it with my children someday. Thank you to the South Dakota State Historical Society Press and the LibraryThing Early Reviewer program for the opportunity to review this book!

[thornton37814 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Four orphaned children set off to settle their uncle's claim in South Dakota by living on the land for 14 months. They endure the hardships of the prairie, including a squatter living on the land who does spiteful things to them and their neighbors. Because of the setting and the connection to homesteading, readers are certain to compare the book to the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, but the time periods of the settlement are different. This book was actually written before the Little House books. One must remember the time period in which this book was written when reading some of the words in the book. As a librarian, my favorite part of the book was when the library was developed. This was a quite pleasant read and certainly deserved the Newbery Honor that it was awarded. It is far more readable and will be appreciated more by today's younger readers than many other Newbery Medal and Honor books of that period.

[cbl_tn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Early in the 20th century, four orphaned children from small town Wisconsin carry out their recently deceased uncle's plans for homesteading in South Dakota. Their uncle lingered long enough after a stroke to provide detailed instructions for the children to follow. To fulfill the requirements for homesteaders, they must live on the property for 14 months and cultivate at least 10 acres. Once they gain title to the claim, they can sell it and use the income from the sale to get a good start in life.Although none of the four children are twins, the book reminded me a lot of the Bobbsey Twins books I loved as a child. The children pair up in the same way as the Bobbsey Twins. Seventeen-year-old Becky and 15-year-old Dick work well as a team to manage the family finances and household chores. Preteens Phil and Joan have chores to do, but they also have time for school and play.The language of the book hasn't aged quite as well as the story. A couple of references to Native Americans and African Americans are typical for that era but wouldn't be used by today's authors for children. This would be a quick and enjoyable way for family historians to learn about homesteaders and homesteading in the early 20th century.