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    Barn Boot Blues
    Barn Boot Blues
    Barn Boot Blues
    Audiobook3 hours

    Barn Boot Blues

    Written by Catherine Friend

    Narrated by Kate Rudd

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Meet Taylor McNamara: She’s twelve. She’s a city girl. But her parents have just moved her to a sheep farm in the middle of nowhere. Meet the farm animals: forty chickens, twenty sheep, ten ducks, and four goats, one of which can pee on his own head. Meet the principal and kids in Taylor’s new school: Kids tease her about her ugly barn boots and the chicken poop in her hair, yet they admire her pluck. Taylor struggles to adapt to her new life, but finds it hard to adjust to the farm’s daily surprises, especially those that prove to be embarrassing at school. With the help of her friend Megan, Taylor embarks on a nearly disastrous plan to move her family back to the city. But one lonely night, in the barn, Taylor discovers that farming isn’t all bad.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateOct 2, 2012
    ISBN9781469215686
    Barn Boot Blues
    Author

    Catherine Friend

    Catherine Friend and her partner of over twenty-five years raise sheep, ducks, and goats on their southeastern Minnesota farm. Her memoir, Hit by a Farm: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Barn, was an Insightout Bookclub bestseller and chronicles what happened to her relationship and her writing career when she agreed to help her partner start the farm. (It has a happy ending.) Hit by a Farm won a 2007 GCLS award and was a finalist for a 2006 Lambda Literary Award. Catherine has also written six books for children and was awarded a 2007 Loft/McKnight Fellowship in Children's Literature.Catherine's interests range from writing, to reading about writing, to talking about writing, all the way to worrying about not writing. She was an economist, a project manager for a technical writing firm, taught writing for ten years, edited novels, and has taken some very odd jobs to avoid returning to the corporate world. In her spare time she plays the piano, paints, and hangs out with her partner, who makes her laugh every day.

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    Reviews for Barn Boot Blues

    3.5/5

    9 ratings3 reviews

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    • 3/5
      City-girl Taylor was used to visiting the Mall of America anytime she wanted. Now, however, visits to the mall are few and far between. Taylor's parents have purchased a farm in a small rural town, and instead of shopping, Taylor spends her weekends collecting eggs, feeding sheep, and helping her parents make improvements to their badly neglected farm. Taylor's new classmates quickly nickname her "Boots" when she accidentally wears an ugly, old pair of barn boots to school on her first day, and her reputation doesn't improve in the following weeks when she suffers a series of unfortuante learning experiences on the farm. Happily,Taylor does pick up a new hobby and she makes some new friends. In fact, these friends convince Taylor they can help her carry out a plan to convince Taylor's parents to sell the farm and return to the big city. Taylor must decide if her friends' plan is worth the sacrifices necessary to allow her to return to her old life.
    • 3/5
      City-girl Taylor was used to visiting the Mall of America anytime she wanted. Now, however, visits to the mall are few and far between. Taylor's parents have purchased a farm in a small rural town, and instead of shopping, Taylor spends her weekends collecting eggs, feeding sheep, and helping her parents make improvements to their badly neglected farm. Taylor's new classmates quickly nickname her "Boots" when she accidentally wears an ugly, old pair of barn boots to school on her first day, and her reputation doesn't improve in the following weeks when she suffers a series of unfortuante learning experiences on the farm. Happily,Taylor does pick up a new hobby and she makes some new friends. In fact, these friends convince Taylor they can help her carry out a plan to convince Taylor's parents to sell the farm and return to the big city. Taylor must decide if her friends' plan is worth the sacrifices necessary to allow her to return to her old life.
    • 4/5
      Twelve-year-old Taylor McNamara has been forced to move from Minneapolis, Minnesota to the small farming community of Melberg because her mother has always wanted to farm. She has to start a new school, leave all of her friends behind, and learn how to adjust to farm living. It is alot for anyone to experience let alone a middle school student!Barn Boot Blues tells the story of how Taylor adjusts to her new life. She is a good kid and tries very hard to be a good farmer. However, embarrassing situations such as wearing her barn boots to school on the first day cause Taylor to feel overwhelmed by her new life. She finds solace in spinning yarn and a few new friends, but she still misses living in the city. Furthermore, her parents are so busy they barely have time for her so she feels so "discombulated." Eventually, Taylor decides to follow her friends' advice to act poorly so her parents will be forced to move off of their farm. Following this plan is not like Taylor, but she is so miserable after some of her favorite farm animals die that she decides to go ahead with operation TEFF (Taylor Escapes From Farm). Will her plan work or will it cause even worse problems?While this novel isn't always well-developed, it is a fun read. It is a quick and enjoyable book, and I think many preteen/young teen girls will have fun reading about Taylor's adventures.