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Knee High by the Fourth of July: More Stories of Growing Up in and Around the Small Towns in the Midwest

Jean Tennant
Shapato Publishing (2009)
ISBN 9780982105870
Reviewed by Kam Aures for Rebeccasreads.com (03/10)


“Knee High by the Fourth of July: More Stories of Growing Up in and Around the Small Towns in the Midwest” is made up of 33 stories, with authors’ ages ranging from age twelve up to age eighty-seven.  The stories are about life in Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, Illinois, and other Midwestern states with the bulk of the stories seeming to be from Iowa.

 The book begins with the story “Picking Corn Ear by Ear” by Arlene Walker.  It is from this story which the title of the book is taken.  Although I personally did not grow up on a farm, I did grow up in the rural Midwest and as a Midwesterner am familiar with the title phrase “Knee High by the Fourth of July.”  For those unfamiliar, the corn stalks should be around knee high around July 4th in order for the crop to be on schedule.

Each story in the book is only about two to five pages long but jam-packed full of nostalgic moments.  It was fun being transported to a much simpler time and reading stories about long walks to school (uphill both ways), fairs, auctions, farms, and small rural schoolhouses.  I think that anyone who grew up in the Midwest would greatly enjoy this great collection of memories of days gone by!  I look forward to going back and reading Tennant’s previous 2008 compilation called “Walking Beans Wasn’t Something You Did With Your Dog:  Stories of Growing Up In and Around Small Towns in the Midwest.”