Little Britches: Father and I Were Ranchers

"Why, mame, there just isn’t any work at all to ranching in Colorado. We have three hundred and sixty five sunshiny days in a year; and all a man has to do is toss out seed in the spring and harvest his crop in the fall."


So it was with this promise that the author’s family took the train heading west from New Hampshire for a new life on the Front Range in 1906. It became the first in a series about a boy’s life growing up on a ranch and is still in print 60 years later.

It is 1906, and eight-year-old Ralph Moody’s family is getting ready to move. They live in East Rochester, NH, and Ralph’s father Charles works in the woolen mills, but it isn’t good for his lungs. Cousin Phil, who lives in Denver, CO, visits and convinces Father that ranching in Colorado would be better for his health. So Father, Mother, Grace, Muriel, Philip, Hal, and Ralph rent a ranch on the Fort Logan-Morrison road, near Littleton, CO, not far from Denver. This autobiographical book chronicles their first year which involves settling on the ranch, meeting neighbors, planting crops, raising animals, going to school, experiencing a huge wind storm,and fighting over irrigation rights. Ralph, who becomes known as “Little Britches,” learns how to be a cowboy and even participates in a rodeo, but will the ranch be successful? Will the family even survive?
This series of books has long been recommended by homeschoolers as the “Little House for Boys.” First, there are some negatives, one of which is language issues. One source says, “Be aware, however, that there is some inappropriate language used – no doubt in keeping with the actual verbiage of rugged cowboys and characters of the time.” Another source says, “an excellent read-aloud selection (which will allow you to filter out the smattering of ‘cuss’ words that occur, and which Moody himself wasn’t allowed to use as a lad).” And still another source says, “A customer pointed out that there are a few undesirable words used to watch out for.” Also, several who have read the entire series have noted that the later books, especially after Ralph goes to live with his grandfather in The Fields of Home, are not as good as the earlier ones which detail his childhood because they are more “dark” with lots of bad attitudes which are displayed over and over.
However, there are also some strong positives. Little Britches is rich in the values of family unity, honesty, inventiveness, earning others’ trust, and satisfaction in a job well done. And there is great emphasis on character development. Ralph gets in several predicaments and doesn’t always make the right choices, but he learns to do better by heeding hisfather’s wise advice, who said, “Any man who says the world owes him a living is dishonest. The same God that made you and me made this earth. And He planned it so that it would yield every single thing that the people on it need. But He was careful to plan it so that it would only yield up its wealth in exchange for the labor of man. Any man who tries to share in that wealth without contributing the work of his brain or his hands is dishonest.” Amen! What an important lesson that is so needed today! The seven sequels are Man of the Family, The Home Ranch, Mary Emma and Company, The Fields of Home, Shaking the Nickel Bush, The Dry Divide, and Horse of a Different Color. ( )

I absolutely loved this book. Every father should read this book in order to better understand how to be a father. Every boy should read this book in order to understand how to become a good man. Every child should read this book in order to better understand how to be a good human being. This will be a must read for my children when they are old enough. ( )

Simply wonderful. I still consider this one of those books that I must read every year. I never tire of reading about life in early 20th century Colorado and all that entailed; dust storms, wandering Indians, fights over water, dependence on neighbors, bobcats screaming in the night, second hand draft horses, wild west shows and simple Christmases. I also love how Ralph's father used the situations Ralph found himself in (often through his own actions) to teach him about character, choices and life. I can't recommend this book enough. ( )

Ralph Moody, similar to the style of Laura Ingalls Wilder, wrote a series of books about his life dating back to 1906. His first book, Little Britches, starts when he is eight years old and his family moves from New Hampshire to Colorado to start life on a ranch out west. His father’s health isn’t so great, so fresh air and wide open spaces was what the doctor ordered. They arrive to find things not quite as they were lead to believe. But, through hard work and ingenuity they find a way to make things work, for a little while. Ralph never really knew his father before then, but with Ralph the closest thing to another man to rely on his father started working with him and teaching things he would need to know to grow up and “build a house of character”. Between these lessons, and some others he learns the hard way, Ralph grows and talks about his experiences out west at the turn of the century.

I found myself enjoying this book quite a lot as it reminded me almost of a "boys" version of the Little House on the Prairie. I don't remember quite so much ethics being instilled in that series as there is in Little Britches. Ralph Moody talks about his father's lessons and writes some very strong themes about character and about morality about hard work and ethics and about what it takes to be a man that is respected.

His writing was simple and straight forward and very refreshing. It was very clean reading, and easy and simple for a ten-year-old to read and enjoy. The humor was also very well done, either in droll remembrances or occasionally in the dialog, some of it designed to go over eight-year-old Ralph's head, and some of it designed to go over a child reader's head as well to the parent over their shoulder. There is also some swearing, but it is mild and placed in a negative light.

I enjoyed reading about the variety of colorful characters introduced, from the Native American Two Dog to the Cowboy Hi. The situations and troubles he gets himself in and out of will be at once familiar to a school age child (fights at school, chores at home and interfering siblings) and potentially foreign (meeting the sheriff in a saloon, learning how to trick ride a horse, working as a cow hand on a ranch). Familiar enough to learn from, interesting enough to keep their attention.

I would definitely recommend this book and the series that follows to any young kids that might already be interested in similar books, such as the Little House on the Prairie series. It has some good strong messages and is some easy, clean reading that you can enjoy at any age. ( )