Strawberry Girl

Strawberry Girl is a children’s historical fiction novel published in 1945. It explores the trials and successes of a rural settler community in Florida in the early 1900s. The central protagonist is a kind, hard-working, upbeat girl named Birdie who contributes to the building of her community. Strawberry Girl utilizes colloquialisms, imagery, and a happy conclusion to capture the lessons of hard work, integrity, and community.

Lois Lenski wrote Strawberry Girl as part of her mission to use historical fiction to introduce lesser-taught stories of marginalized people in America to children. Lenski wrote and published 98 books, including children’s literature and her memoir entitled Journey Into Childhood (1972). Strawberry Girl earned the prestigious Newberry Medal among other accolades.

This guide refers to the Open Road Integrated Media edition published in 2011.

Content Warning: The source material and this guide include descriptions of alcohol abuse and poverty.

Plot Summary

At the start of the 20th century, Birdie Boyer and her family move from northern Monroe County, Florida to a little farther south. Florida is still a relatively unsettled state, and Birdie’s family’s move is during the decades after the Seminole Wars and the arrival of the first pioneers. The Boyer family are religious, affectionate toward one another, and hard-working. They know how to farm and raise animals, and they incorporate some contemporarily modern methods.

Mrs. Slater, the matriarch of the closest neighboring family, visits with three of her children. Mrs. Slater and her children show the signs of their poverty. Birdie and Mrs. Boyer welcome them in, give them food, and wash them up. The Boyers are kind, but their big house and material goods unsettle the Slaters. Mrs. Slater decides that they are “uppity.”

Birdie starts school. She is eager to make friends and fit in. The other kids consider her an outsider because of her accent and her nice dress. Birdie is patient with the other kids and knows that they’ll soon accept her. Birdie is smart and works well in school. The two elder Slater sons come in late, disrupt the class, and then beat up the schoolteacher when he tries to discipline them. School is canceled for weeks because there is no one to replace the schoolteacher.

Birdie’s family raises cattle and food crops. They plan to grow and sell strawberries and oranges. Shoestring Slater, who is around Birdie’s age and much kinder than his elder brothers, befriends Birdie. He is shocked that her family plans to profit from their farm. Shoestring’s father considers making anything out of Florida’s unforgiving land impossible. Birdie and her family prove that hard work and diligent care yield excellent results. As they cultivate their oranges and strawberries, they are faced with their first challenge: Mr. Slater’s animals. Mr. Slater believes that all the land surrounding his own is free range for his cattle. He lets his animals roam freely, which means that his animals trample or eat the Boyers’ crops. Mr. Boyer builds a fence around his property to keep Mr. Slater’s animals out. Shoestring warns Birdie that his father will be very angry about this.

Birdie and her family join the local church and start making friends with the other neighbors in the community. Mr. Slater attends the church function, and he and Mr. Boyer exchange words and warnings about land ownership and violations.

Tension escalates between Mr. Slater and Mr. Boyer. When Mr. Slater’s hogs invade Mr. Boyer’s land, Mr. Boyer cuts off their ears to send a message to Mr. Slater. Mrs. Boyer tries another tactic: She sprinkles flour over the crops, which makes Mr. Slater believe that her crops are poisoned. Mr. Slater continues to allow his animals roam freely and ignores Mr. Boyer’s right to his land. Meanwhile, Birdie tries to maintain her friendship with Shoestring, and Mrs. Boyer continues to generously share her food with Mrs. Slater.

Birdie focuses on her strawberries. She works hard to maintain them, even though the natural elements of Florida’s climate often kill the crop. But ultimately, the Boyers succeed. They sell so many strawberries that Mr. Boyer even invests in icebox transportation via the train. As the Boyers grow wealthier, the Slaters fall deeper into poverty and hunger.

Mr. Boyer and Birdie find one of the Slaters’ cows abandoned in the swamp. They save its life, and when they return the cow, the Slaters are surprised that anyone would actively take care of their animals. Mr. Boyer is a farmer who respects land and animals, so he beats Shoestring for not taking better care of his animals.

In a major moment of escalated tension, Mr. Slater sets fire to the forest around the Boyers’ land. The Boyers put the fire out before it can burn down their house, but the fire spreads and burns down the local schoolhouse.

Mr. Slater disappears on a drunken bender. While he is gone, Mrs. Slater explores the Bible she bought, influenced by Mrs. Boyer. Mrs. Slater falls deathly ill, and Mrs. Boyer takes care of her. Mrs. Boyer saves Mrs. Slater’s life. A pastor passes through town and helps Mrs. Slater embrace religion even more. When Mr. Slater finally returns, he ends his feud with the Boyers because Mrs. Boyer saved his wife’s life. He meets the pastor, discovers religious faith, and gives up alcohol. Mr. Slater completely turns his life around.

The changes Florida is undergoing trigger Mr. Slater. He is accustomed to the former pioneer life in which people didn’t technically own land. Now that land is being parceled and sold, and a government will surely develop Florida further, he has to deal with the realities of change. Mr. Slater decides to sell the cattle he doesn’t know how to look after and get a job with a phosphorous company.

The community rebuilds the schoolhouse and the church organist, Miss Dunnaway, becomes the teacher. Birdie happily returns to school, this time with Shoestring, whose social ostracization ends with his father’s epiphany and life changes. The Boyers purchase an organ for Birdie and arrange lessons for her as a gift for her hard work and her contribution to their success.