It’s the Depression, and Jack’s father has lost his job. School is just over for the summer and the plan is to spend the next three months living in a tent on Jesse and Myrt’s farm in western Iowa. What could well have been a sad time, learning to live with outhouses and without electricity, turns out to be an excursion into the challenges of farming and the joys of nature, plus the adventure of solving a crime.
Not only does the temporary move include the parents, Jack and her three brothers, but also Two, the milk-cow, Cricket, the horse, and Trax, the dog. In the process of making the adjustment, Two falls in a well, Trax confronts a bobcat, and Cricket continues to be Jack’s solace. As is constant with Jack, adventure is always on the menu.
Jack is experiencing nightmares and premonitions that not only cause problems for the others trying to sleep with her in a hot tent, but also provide her brothers with plenty of ammunition to give her a rough time. As events unfold, these premonitions lead Jack into the pursuit of a grave robber who is occupying their cave and threatening the kids. With the guidance of the premonitions, Jack works with the sheriff in effort to capture the grave robber and stop the threat against her family.
The creek and the cave on Jesse and Myrt’s farm provide the setting for entertainment, mystery and challenge. It is there, with the help of the University Extension service, that they unearth the mystery of where the ancestral graveyard was, revealing a lot of their family history. Jesse tells the story of his parents living in a soddy before building their farmhouse and how the Indians found and brought back his little sister’s dead body.
As always, Jack learns more of life’s lessons through the challenges that ensue, much of it from Jesse’s wise counseling.
The Klingenhoeffers face an Iowa summer on the farm filled with adventure, excitement, danger and sorrow, with a strong-willed Jack in the center of everything. The question is: Will anyone ever be the same again?
Not only does the temporary move include the parents, Jack and her three brothers, but also Two, the milk-cow, Cricket, the horse, and Trax, the dog. In the process of making the adjustment, Two falls in a well, Trax confronts a bobcat, and Cricket continues to be Jack’s solace. As is constant with Jack, adventure is always on the menu.
Jack is experiencing nightmares and premonitions that not only cause problems for the others trying to sleep with her in a hot tent, but also provide her brothers with plenty of ammunition to give her a rough time. As events unfold, these premonitions lead Jack into the pursuit of a grave robber who is occupying their cave and threatening the kids. With the guidance of the premonitions, Jack works with the sheriff in effort to capture the grave robber and stop the threat against her family.
The creek and the cave on Jesse and Myrt’s farm provide the setting for entertainment, mystery and challenge. It is there, with the help of the University Extension service, that they unearth the mystery of where the ancestral graveyard was, revealing a lot of their family history. Jesse tells the story of his parents living in a soddy before building their farmhouse and how the Indians found and brought back his little sister’s dead body.
As always, Jack learns more of life’s lessons through the challenges that ensue, much of it from Jesse’s wise counseling.
The Klingenhoeffers face an Iowa summer on the farm filled with adventure, excitement, danger and sorrow, with a strong-willed Jack in the center of everything. The question is: Will anyone ever be the same again?
