The Wide Horizon / Loula Grace Erdman

In this second book about the Pierce family, more than five years have passed since their first moving into the Texas Panhandle. They have learned to live in a primitive sod house and have overcome—and even come to love—the odds that the land with its weather and unusual neighbors presents. Even so, 15-year-old Katie, gentle and artistic, is eager to return to East Texas to be schooled in all the finer things that this pioneer country lacks. Then an accident to Grandmother reverses everything! Katie, to her own surprise, finds herself volunteering to stay home to feed and care for Papa, the boys and Carolyn on the farm, while Mama makes the eastward journey to care for her mother. During the next few months, timid Katie encounters one distressful situation after another, from humiliating cooking disasters, to tough boys at school, to a battle with a blizzard. Despite fears and setbacks, she resolves to do whatever seems needed, acts which often turn out to contain a lot of heroism. As Katie’s confidence grows, so does her interaction with family and new and old friends deepen—all against the picturesque backdrop of homesteading life in the Texas Panhandle during the late 1800’s.