An introduction to life in the Great Plains and prairie areas of the United States.

A little girl dreams of adventures in the water and feels the spirit of the ocean all around her . . . even though she lives on the prairie, with flat land as far as the eye can see. But she won't let a little detail like that stand in the way of being a meadow mermaid! Frolicking in the "waves" of wheat and "oceans" of grass, spying sea horses and . . . a shipwrecked sailor? Even if that shipwreck is actually an overturned bike and the sailor a new...

Looks at the plains, the prairies and the people of North America's heartland.

"This lushly illustrated book from bestselling author Marta McDowell examines Laura Ingalls Wilder's relationship to the landscape and illuminates how it inspired the beloved Little House Books" --

Tells the story of one of the world's great ecosystems and its transformation from natural landscape to farmland. The tallgrass prairie was once a prominent feature of the North American continent that was reduced, in less than a century, to the vanishing point.

Jacob's farm is in trouble from a severe drought. Jacob and Sarah begin to wonder if Sarah can stay, and what will happen to Jacob if she and the children have to leave the farm.