The Growing Season by Sarah Frey

THE GROWING SEASON by Sarah Frey (“America’s pumpkin queen”) was for me a surprisingly inspirational read. Frey tells the story of growing up in Southern Illinois with a dysfunctional family amidst extreme poverty. There were so many times when I would have given up – yet, she somehow found the inner strength to continue on. Examples include how isolated she and her siblings were and how hard they had to work on the family farm as well as several amusing anecdotes (“Who needed guard dogs when you had Baa-Baa the ram?”). One especially vivid memory concerns a dangerous snapping turtle that her father ordered her to capture; while some readers may find that they question the credibility of a few events like that one, they will certainly be entertained and encouraged by Frey’s account, subtitled “How I Saved an American Farm--and Built a New Life.” Fans of memoirs like Walls’ The Glass Castle and/or stories of entrepreneurial success will find much to enjoy in THE GROWING SEASON which received a starred review (“A must-read”) from Library Journal. Highly recommended.