A Land Remembered - by Patrick D Smith (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

A Land Remembered has become Florida's favorite novel. Now this Student Edition in two volumes makes this rich, rugged story of the American pioneer spirit more accessible to young readers. Patrick Smith tells of three generations of the MacIveys, a Florida family battling the hardships of the frontier. The story opens in 1858, when Tobias and Emma MacIvey arrive in the Florida wilderness with their son, Zech, to start a new life, and ends in 1968 with Solomon MacIvey, who realizes that his wealth has not been worth the cost to the land. Between is a sweeping story rich in Florida history with a cast of memorable characters who battle wild animals, rustlers, Confederate deserters, mosquitoes, starvation, hurricanes, and freezes to carve a kingdom out of the Florida swamp. In Volume 2, with the birth of Zech and Glenda's son, Solomon, a new generation of MacIveys learns to ride horses, drive cattle, and teach rustlers a thing or two. Sol and his family earn more and more gold doubloons from cattle sales, as well as dollars from their orange groves. They invest it in buying land, once free to all, now owned and fenced and increasingly populated, until it becomes just a land remembered.

From the Back Cover

A Land Remembered has become Florida's favorite novel. Now this Student Edition in two volumes makes this rich, rugged story of the American pioneer spirit more accessible to young readers. Patrick Smith tells of three generations of the MacIveys, a Florida family battling the hardships of the frontier. The story opens in 1858, when Tobias and Emma MacIvey arrive in the Florida wilderness with their son, Zech, to start a new life, and ends in 1968 with Solomon MacIvey, who realizes that his wealth has not been worth the cost to the land. Between is a sweeping story rich in Florida history with a cast of memorable characters battling wild animals, rustlers, Confederate deserters, mosquitoes, starvation, hurricanes, and freezes to carve a kingdom out of the Florida swamp.

In VOLUME 1, meet young Zech MacIvey, who learns to ride like the wind through the Florida scrub on Ishmael, his marshtackie horse, with his dogs, Nip and Tuck, at his side. His parents, Tobias and Emma, scratch a living from the land, gathering wild cows from the swamp and herding them across the state to market. Zech learns the ways of the land from the Seminoles, with whom his life becomes entwined as he grows into manhood.

In VOLUME 2, with the birth of Zech and Glenda's son, Solomon, a new generation of MacIveys learns to ride horses, drive cattle, and teach rustlers a thing or two. Sol and his family earn more and more gold doubloons from cattle sales, as well as dollars from their orange groves. They invest it in buying land, once free to all, now owned and fenced and increasingly populated, until it becomes just a land remembered.

A teacher's manual is available for using A Land Remembered to teach languagearts, social studies, and science coordinated with the Sunshine State Standards of the Florida Department of Education.

Review Quotes

""Well researched and impressively detailed.""

"This novel distinguishes itself as the personification of frontier life, the elemental struggle of man and nature."

"Well researched and impressively detailed."