Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression

Mildred Armstrong Kalish grew up on her grandparents' Iowa farm during the Great Depression. Kalish counts herself among the lucky of that era. She had caring grandparents who possessed the pioneer virtues of their forebears, teachers who inspired and befriended her, and a barnyard full of animals ready to be tamed and loved. She, her siblings and their cousins worked hard and played hard.

Filled with recipes and how-to tips, Little Heathens portrays a world of hardship tempered by kinship, kindness, and simple pleasures. Recounted in a luminous narrative filled with tenderness and humor, KALISH's memoir of her childhood shows how even the bleakest of times can seem like "quite a romp."