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What Order for the Ralph Moody Books?


vanmeterk4
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Man of the Family is the second book. I've read them all. Here is a partly annotated list I cobbled off the internet - Note Home Ranch overlaps some of Man of the Family which is what makes the sequence confusing.

 

Little Britches (you know what this one is about!)

 

Man of the Family

At 11 years old, Ralph becomes man of the family and an entrepreneur. He continues his horse riding, cattle driving, and the Moodys start a cooking business. The struggles of a family who refuses to rely on charity are enormous. Then Mom gets a revelation about washing and stretching lace curtains...

 

The Home Ranch

This book repeats some experiences and adds new ones to the time period of Man of the Family.

 

Mary Emma and Company (I LOVE this book!0

In January, 1913, the Moodys must relocate, and go east to Medford, Massachusetts. Mrs. Moody, a widow with six children, struggles to find a job and establish their home. Ralph, at thirteen, is still a resourceful entrepreneur, but Mom and Grace figure prominantly in this book. With much faith, perseverance, and God's blessings, Mom (Mary Emma), Grace, and Ralph are living in a beautiful home and running their own business by May of the same year.

 

The Fields of Home

Probably the most frustrating book of the series, about when Ralph moves to Maine to work his grandfather's farm. Grandfather is not a very reasonable man, to put it nicely. Hang in there readers, and the ending will be your reward.

 

The rest of the series is more grown-up...

 

Shaking the Nickel Bush

Ralph moves back west because of health reasons and becomes a movie stunt "fall rider" and then an itinerant artist. He meets a friend, Lonnie, who convinces him to buy his first car. The book has a surprise ending and life lesson: don't keep your life savings in the cuff of your pants!

 

The Dry Divide

Ralph is thrown off a train in McCook, Nebraska, with only a dime in his pocket, and is hired as a wheat pitcher. He discovers why his hateful share-cropper employer travels to distant towns to find a crew. Fate intervenes, however, and Ralph becomes the boss and leads his motley crew to succeed in more than one business venture. As always, Ralph inspires loyalty and friendship in the hired hands: Doc, a "medicine man" when he gets into the tanglefoot, Gus and Lars, the Swedish workers with a hidden talent ("Yiminy, Dat is Fun!"), and Paco, a young Mexican with the gift of understanding horses.

 

Horse of a Different Color

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But I just wanted to chime in and say that we read the first two books adn I think they loved them more than my kids! I cried at the end of each (somewhat to the puzzlement and embarrassment of them!) These are wonderful books and I hope we can continue the saga.

 

jeri

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