Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression

By Mildred Armstrong Kalish: This is a charming memoir of Kalish's childhood growing up on an Iowan farm during the depression.
When her father leaves her mother stranded with four small children, she is forced to move to her strict Methodist parents' farm ("They never completely made it into the 20th century.") The children are frequently referred to as "little heathens", and now the process of instilling character and teaching values begins.

Rather than being ordered chronologically, her chapters are sorted by topic. Food (wow--did they really use cream and bacon/bacon fat in so many ways then??), language and its usages ("not on your tintype"??), work, chores, and more work, attending a one room school, and so on. I was amazed at their frugality and practicality. Will a woman really drive her family into the poorhouse if she doesn't wipe out every last drop of eggwhite from the inside of the egg shells? I tried out the recipe for applesauce cake--very yummy, and no cream needed.

I liked this paragraph from the NYTimes review:

It’s not merely that she appreciated the values instilled by the Great Depression, or that now, in her older years, she wants to preserve memories of a lost time (though all this is true). No — beyond that, she reports quite convincingly that she had a flat-out ball growing up (“It was quite a romp”) and her terrifically soaring love for those childhood memories saturates this book with pure charm, while coaxing the reader into the most unexpected series of sensations: joy, affection, wonder and even envy.