GRASSLANDS

Despite uneven storytelling, this debut novel convincingly illustrates the gaps between the romance of the West and the realities of daily life on a struggling Kansas farm in the early 1880s. At 13, the narrator, Thomas, has already journeyed twice in a covered wagon—westward, from his maternal grandparents' home in Virginia, and then back east soon after, following the death of his mother. Raised by his grandparents, Thomas fantasizes about his father, imagining him as a cowboy, "the kind of man who would not be stuck inside reading The Pilgrim's Progress while dogwoods were blooming." His father, remarried and settled with stepchildren, invites Thomas and his sister, Becky, to come live with him, and while Becky chooses to stay at her academy, Thomas eagerly agrees. Seely homes in on the rigors of the prairie—the cramped farmhouse, the roughness of Thomas's task-minded stepmother, the constant chores (at which his younger step-siblings easily outshine him) and the hunger and privation. The narrative offers harsher examples, too (a toddler loses her way in the grass and dies). While Thomas has an engaging voice, some aspects of the plotting seem teacherly, as in the introduction of characters who mostly defy stereotypes (e.g., horsewomen and black cowboys), and in the dashing of Thomas's fancies when he is finally swept up in an actual cowboy adventure. And, unfortunately, the novel's resolution, in which Thomas reaffirms his love for the land, seems abrupt. Ages 10-14. (Oct.)