Will I love This Tender Land?

In the Summer of 1932, the orphan Odie O’Banion commits a terrible crime and is forced to flee the terrible institution where he is, in a very real sense, a prisoner. He and three of his young companions steel away in the night and begin to search for a new, better way of life.

This book has everything: an epic tale well told, a heroic journey, a paddle down a wild river, poignant adventure, and the growth of the soul. Think The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Odyssey.

I loved it from the very first page and could… show more.

A novel set during The Great Depression might at first seem like a downer. However, this thoughtful, moving, and beautifully told story is definitely worth escaping with.

I love an emotional story, rich in setting, where characters leap from the page to face challenges head on while striving for a better life. This novel, with its socially dreary backdrop, serves to highlight what is truly important in the lives of four children and those they encounter along the way.

Family, acceptance, forgiveness, and perseverance are at the heart of this novel and the reason This Tender Land has stayed with… show more.

The story of 4 vagabonds during the Depression. Abused orphans who take fate into their own hands. Coming of age story during a trying time in America’s history.

Love their story. Well written, and I learned more about the time period, but the human condition and man’s inhumanity to fellow men is the same. Emotional and heartfelt. Highly recommend.

This story also tells of a river journey by four young orphans who in 1932 escape from a horrid Indian training school and travel for months down the Mississippi River. They head into the unknown, unprotected from the perils they encounter.

On my journey, I needed to be constantly vigilant for natural predators like lions, hippos, and crocs. These children had to be on the lookout for human predators: the search party sent looking for them, drifters, grifters, and traveling faith healers. Facing each obstacle we encountered on our trips, we managed not only to survive but actually thrive in… show more.

Few books grab me from the first page, but This Tender Land opens with a little boy and his friend the rat, which hooked me from paragraph one.

Set in the Great Depression, this story of found family with a ragtag group of kids is reminiscent of Huck Finn, with longing and acceptance at its heartbeat. The cross-country adventure never lets up and I found myself rooting for little Odie every step of the way. This story stayed with me for a long time. 

The author, well known for his mysteries, used to write daily from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. at the St. Clair Broiler by our first home in St. Paul. In 2019, he penned a gorgeous narrative chronicling three boys and a sweet young girl named Emma and their 1932 odyssey from an Indian training school breakout down the Mississippi River. Krueger drops readers smack-dab into the Great Depression and a magical trek. It reminds me of Amor Towles' Lincoln Highway but was written first.

This American saga is an amazing story of four orphans who escape from an abusive orphanage on an epic odyssey down the Mississippi River in 1932. Their journey through a beautifully described American landscape connects them with others who are displaced and adrift in search of solace and redemption. 

What I love about Young Adult books like these is that we all become children again. We are the young explorer, finding the meaning of life in all its richness. There’s a freedom to believe in something beautiful that is made up of all the experiences along the way.

This is a powerful story set in Depression-era America, about a handful of children who escape an orphanage in the Midwest, riding the rails to find their way to freedom, and discovering much about love and sacrifice along the way. Full of atmosphere and poignancy, it is a triumphant story about the power of friendship and perseverance, set in a world of Hoovervilles and desperation, yet with incredible beauty for America’s heartland.