Blue River Boy: Omnibus Edition

By Kate Burke

It's 1943. The black cloud of World War II hangs low over Europe and the Pacific.In America's heartland, the sun shines hard on central Nebraska. As far as young Ron Burke's feet can take him (bare, in the summertime), he has the freedom to roam while his dad and Grandpa Ed work the farm. Armed with his pocketknife and the companionship of his little dog, Lassie, Ron takes on everything that comes his way.Sometimes it's the worst weather nature unleashes on the Great Plains: tornadoes, blizzards, deadly heat and hail the size of baseballs.Sometimes it's an angry cow, or the much, much bigger angry bull.Sometimes it's his own carelessness.Ron is growing up in a special place at a unique time. The little town of Stromsburg was settled by Swedish immigrants within the last eighty years. His Grandma Jennie and Grandpa Ed still say their prayers in Swedish. Ron goes to the same one-room schoolhouse Grandma Jennie did. He walks there every day, rain or shine. The whole school has only 14 students.The town schools have modern, indoor lavatories. The kids at Blue View have to run to the outhouse when nature calls. That's what they do at home, too, even in the middle of a blizzard!Families in town have electric lights, refrigerators and modern furnaces. The Burkes still heat their house with a coal-burning stove. Grandma Jennie cooks huge Sunday feasts on her cob-fired cookstove. They read the newspaper by the light of kerosene lamps. Ron still takes baths in a galvanized steel tub in the basement.Ron's farm chores start out light, like collecting eggs and feeding the chickens. Eventually, he is milking the cows and raising hogs. When he is tall enough for his feet to reach the pedals, he starts driving the tractor. He shares the field work with Mr. Burke and Grandpa Ed. His regular responsibilities are essential to keeping the farm, and the family, vital and healthy.He also has 40 acres of pastureland to roam, and the waters of the Big Blue River to fish. At 8 years old, he gets his first lesson in handling a rifle. By the time he is eleven, he is hunting on his own. At age fourteen, he buys his first car, an old Ford Model A. He builds his own crystal radio set, and hears the new rock 'n roll music on radio stations in New Orleans, Chicago and New York.Six meals a day and a naturally optimistic temperament help keep young Ron going through broken bones, concussions, deadly storms and numerous accidents. Through all of his adventures, Ron is picked up, patched up and loved by his parents, Grandpa Ed and Grandma Jennie, Grandma Myers, Aunt Peggy, and many more family and friends.Kate Burke's BLUE RIVER BOY chapter books are the 20th century literary descendant of Laura Ingalls Wilder's 19th century LITTLE HOUSE books. The BLUE RIVER BOY series spans Ron Burke's real-life adventures, from age 6 in 1943, to 16 in 1953. His was the last American generation to grow up essentially as its forefathers had, a hundred years before. Young readers will delight in discovering a way of life that has disappeared from the modern American experience.This Omnibus Edition includes all five books of the series: Blue River Boy, Blue River Adventures, Blue River Seasons, Blue River Rambler , and Blue River Goodbye .Great reading for all ages.Kate Burke is the wife of Ron Burke. For twelve years, they lived on the Nebraska farm where Ron grew up. Kate is a native of Clarence, New York.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1980914729
• ISBN13: 9781980914723
• Release Date: May 2018
• Publisher: Independently published
• Length: 646 Pages
• Weight: 2.34 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 1.6" x 6.0"