“Growing up on a farm in the early twentieth century was never easy, but for Elsie Lee and her sisters, the hard work they did as the children of tenant farmers in northeastern Illinois brought its own rewards. Nearly everything was done by hand -- washing the clothes with homemade lard soap, making butter, canning fruits and vegetables...and through the turns of each season, each event had its time.

“Elsie's gentle, moving, and true story of growing up with the natural changes in the land portrays a way of life that seems both distant and familiar, and opens a window on a very personal slice of American history. Painter Ken Stark, who was a friend of Elsie's, displays his clear love of the land and the family who took care of it as he captures the beauty of this idyllic setting in each turn of the year.”  G.P. Putnam’s Sons

Growing Seasons © 2000 by Carolyn Splear Pratt

ISBN 0-399-2346-8

Published by G.P. Putnam's Sons, a division of Penguin Group (USA)

Growing Seasons Website © 2000, ©2007, ©2008 by Carolyn Splear Pratt 

All rights reserved

Carolyn’s reading of all 15 chapters of Growing Seasons were provided to 130 National Public Radio [NPR] stations and dozens of the Armed Forces Radio and Television [AFN] radio stations overseas for transmission to the families of servicemen and women stationed outside the United States.  The CDs were produced by the staff of WILL-AM, Champaign, Illinois, an NPR station.

Growing Seasons is available from your favorite bookseller.