Girl on the Bluff

I immediately became enthralled in this wonderfully written book of a young girl in the frontier days of Fort Worth. This book makes history for children a fun and exciting adventure. It was a bonding time for my seven year old and I when we read it together. It's a MUST READ!

Well grounded in fact, the story proceeds briskly, with lots of dialogue and fascinating details to hold the reader's interest. Here I found confirmation of something I'd read recently in a book on pioneer crafts--that leather tanned the Indian way, using animal brains, was softer and more supple than today's commercially tanned leathers. The tidbit about making one's own ink from gall balls on oak trees is another of the many authentic touches that add color and interest to this highly readable tale. History buffs of any age will find much to enjoy in this meaty account of Susan Ann Farmer's girlhood on the Texas frontier.

I found this book captivating. It is evident the author did a phenomenal amount of historical research (see bibliography, photo section, including sketches by artist William B. Potter). The story of Susan Ann Farmer is told from a child's perspective in the conversational language of the pre-Civil War period. This book belongs on the shelves of elementary & middle school libraries & classrooms.

Captivating look into pioneer life, through the eyes of a young girl. The book makes you feel as though you are there and living in the times.

An exciting account of a young girl growing up in a frontier army fort in an era of danger, fear, tragedy, small pleasures, unknown sicknesses, comedy - and great loneliness...a fictional - but based on fact - account of a fort that becomes a town, with the central character being a real-life young woman, Susan Ann Farmer, the first white girl to live in Fort Worth, Texas. - Bill Fairley, Columnist, Fort Worth Star-Telegram