Lois Lenski Books: Discovering America Through the Lives of Children
Some authors create imaginary worlds. Lois Lenski traveled through the real one, listened to the people she met, and turned their experiences into stories.
For nearly five decades, Lenski wrote and illustrated books about children: children riding trains, living on farms, attending prairie schools, picking cotton, living in coal camps, traveling as migrant workers, and growing up in communities across the United States.
Her books range from simple picture books for young children to substantial historical and regional novels. What connects them is Lenski’s fascination with children and the places where they live.
For today’s school library, her work also offers opportunities to discuss historical fiction, regional history, primary-source research, changing language and attitudes, and how children’s literature itself changes over time.
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A Short Biography of Lois Lenski
Lois Lenski was born October 14, 1893, in Springfield, Ohio. She studied at Ohio State University, initially preparing to become a teacher while also studying art. After graduation, she pursued art in New York and later worked as an illustrator. She eventually wrote and illustrated her own books, beginning with Skipping Village in 1927.
Young readers may already know Lenski’s artwork without realizing it: she illustrated the early Betsy-Tacy books by Maud Hart Lovelace.
Lenski became especially interested in portraying children’s lives in different parts of the United States. For her Regional books, she traveled to communities, talked with families and children, observed daily life, and incorporated what she learned into fictional stories. Her Strawberry Girl won the 1946 Newbery Medal, while Indian Captive and Phebe Fairchild: Her Book received Newbery Honors.
By the time of her death in 1974, Lenski had written and illustrated well over 100 children’s books, according to the foundation that bears her name.
Picture Books & Primary Grades
The Little Train — Lois Lenski
Fiction / Transportation / Mr. Small Series
Engineer Small takes young readers through running a train, from preparing for the journey to traveling along the tracks.
Lenski’s illustrations do much of the storytelling, making the book especially appealing to young children fascinated by transportation and how things work.
Possible uses: Transportation, community helpers, sequencing, machines
Try this: After reading, have students put the stages of a train journey in order.
The Little Fire Engine — Lois Lenski
Fiction / Community Helpers
Fireman Small and his crew respond when the alarm sounds.
The book combines a simple story with information about firefighters and their equipment. https://link.amazon/B0cFzxuya
Possible uses: Fire safety, community helpers, transportation
This would also pair nicely with the Fire Prevention Week content we’ve already prepared.
The Little Airplane — Lois Lenski
Fiction / Transportation
Pilot Small prepares his airplane and takes to the skies. https://link.amazon/B04T3OAfu
Possible uses: Aviation, transportation, STEM, sequencing
Try this: Have students identify all the steps Pilot Small must complete before, during, and after his flight.
The Little Sailboat — Lois Lenski
Fiction / Transportation
Captain Small takes readers sailing while introducing some of the basics of operating a sailboat. https://link.amazon/B02C1XFek
Possible uses: Boats, water transportation, vocabulary, weather
The Little Farm — Lois Lenski
Fiction / Farm Life
Farmer Small introduces children to farm work and routines. https://link.amazon/B04D3IGi2
Possible uses: Farms, food production, community, seasons
Try this: Ask students:
How many things in our lunch began on a farm?
Cowboy Small — Lois Lenski
Fiction / Western Life
Cowboy Small rides his horse, cares for cattle, and introduces younger readers to ranch life. https://link.amazon/B09Ibj6Tn
Possible uses: Cowboys, occupations, horses, American West
Pair it with a modern nonfiction book about ranching and ask students what has changed.
Policeman Small — Lois Lenski
Fiction / Community Helpers
Mr. Small takes on the role of a police officer in another of Lenski’s occupation-centered books. https://link.amazon/B0fSbPz7P
Possible uses: Community helpers, neighborhoods, occupations
Papa Small — Lois Lenski
Fiction / Family Life
This Mr. Small title focuses on everyday family activities rather than a particular occupation.
Possible uses: Families, daily routines, comparing past and present
Lenski wrote the Mr. Small books partly from conversations with her young son, Stephen, who was fascinated by mechanical things. Lenski emphasized factual details while allowing her illustrations to carry much of the story.
A Mr. Small Library Activity
Create a simple:
MR. SMALL’S WORLD
display with categories:
Things That Go
Train • Airplane • Auto • Sailboat
People at Work
Firefighter • Police Officer • Farmer • Cowboy
Then ask students:
What Mr. Small book would you create today?
Maybe:
Computer Programmer Small
Veterinarian Small
Librarian Small
Astronaut Small
Students could design the cover.
Elementary
Strawberry Girl — Lois Lenski
Historical Fiction / Regional America
Birdie Boyer and her family are trying to make a life on their Florida farm when conflict develops with a neighboring family.
Lenski spent time in central Florida interviewing and observing local families before creating the story. Strawberry Girl won the 1946 Newbery Medal. https://link.amazon/B04VS2n1W
Possible uses: Florida history, farming, regional culture, historical fiction
Try this: Lenski the Researcher
Before reading, ask students:
What would an author need to know before writing a story about children living on a Florida farm 100 years ago?
Build a research list.
Food? Clothing? Weather? Crops? School? Homes? Work? Language?
Then look for evidence of Lenski’s research as you read.
Prairie School — Lois Lenski
Fiction / Regional America
Lenski takes readers into the life of a rural school community on the Great Plains. https://link.amazon/B0fO1NwTP
Possible uses: School history, prairie life, education, past versus present
Try this: Compare:
A SCHOOL DAY THEN | A SCHOOL DAY NOW
Students can investigate school buildings, supplies, transportation, subjects, recess, homework, and classroom technology.
Flood Friday — Lois Lenski
Fiction / Disaster / Regional America
Based on the devastating 1955 Connecticut flood, the story follows children and families as they experience a natural disaster. https://link.amazon/B00VnHKzq
Possible uses: Natural disasters, community response, local history
Try this: Pair the story with historical photographs or newspaper accounts of the 1955 flood.
Which details in Lenski’s fictional account can students verify through nonfiction sources?
Houseboat Girl — Lois Lenski
Fiction / Regional America
Patsy lives with her family aboard a houseboat on the Mississippi River. https://link.amazon/B04O096TU
Possible uses: Mississippi River, geography, family life, regional culture
Try this: Follow the Mississippi on a map and identify communities along the river.
Then ask:
How might living beside—or on—a river shape everyday life?
Cotton in My Sack — Lois Lenski
Fiction / Regional America
Lenski based this story on research she conducted in northeast Arkansas after a rural school community invited her to visit.
Possible uses: Agriculture, sharecropping, Arkansas history, economic history
For modern students, pair the novel with current nonfiction about cotton farming and investigate what has changed.
Judy’s Journey — Lois Lenski
Fiction / Migrant Families
Judy’s family travels in search of agricultural work.
The book marked Lenski’s move toward examining contemporary social and economic issues within her Regional series. https://link.amazon/B03YCrTtI
Possible uses: Migration, agricultural workers, poverty, family, American history
Try this: Map Judy’s journey as students read.
More Regional America Books
Lenski eventually created a remarkable collection of books exploring communities around the country. Her Regional titles include:
- Bayou Suzette — Louisiana bayou life
- Blue Ridge Billy — North Carolina mountains
- Boom Town Boy — Colorado
- Texas Tomboy — Texas ranch country
- Mama Hattie’s Girl — urban Black life
- Corn-Farm Boy — Iowa farm country
- San Francisco Boy — San Francisco
- Coal Camp Girl — Pennsylvania coal country
- Shoo-Fly Girl — Pennsylvania Dutch country
- To Be a Logger — Pacific Northwest
- Deer Valley Girl — Vermont
Lenski’s bibliography also includes her shorter Roundabout America books, which were created partly for readers who had outgrown her picture books but weren’t yet ready for the longer Regional novels. See more titles here: https://link.amazon/B04WrSqYQ
Turn It Into a Geography Challenge
Put a large U.S. map on your display.
Add a marker for each Lenski Regional book.
Then ask:
HOW MANY PARTS OF AMERICA DID LOIS LENSKI WRITE ABOUT?
Students can choose a title based on the region they’d most like to visit.
That’s an easy combination of literature + geography.
Middle School
Indian Captive: The Story of Mary Jemison — Lois Lenski
Historical Fiction / Biographical Fiction
This Newbery Honor book tells the story of Mary Jemison, who was captured during the French and Indian War and eventually chose to remain with the Seneca people rather than return to colonial society. https://link.amazon/B0aJcJjyr
Possible uses: Colonial America, Seneca history, historical fiction, perspective
This is also an excellent book for teaching students to evaluate older historical fiction.
Pair Lenski’s book with contemporary sources about Mary Jemison and Seneca history.
Ask:
- What did Lenski get right?
- What might a writer approach differently today?
- Whose perspective is telling the story?
Phebe Fairchild: Her Book — Lois Lenski
Historical Fiction
Young Phebe leaves her home to live with relatives in Connecticut, giving readers a detailed picture of everyday life in an earlier period of American history.
The novel received a Newbery Honor.
Possible uses: Colonial/early American life, material culture, historical research
Try this: Ask students to find five everyday objects in the story that would look different today.
Research one.
Ocean-Born Mary — Lois Lenski
Historical Fiction
Lenski builds a story around the New England legend of Mary Wilson Wallace, popularly known as Ocean-Born Mary.
Possible uses: History versus legend, New England history, evaluating sources
This provides a terrific information-literacy question:
What happens when a story gets repeated so often that people begin treating it as history?
Students can investigate which parts of the Ocean-Born Mary story are documented and which belong to folklore.
A-Going to the Westward — Lois Lenski
Historical Fiction
A story of westward movement and frontier life.
Possible uses: Westward expansion, migration, historical fiction
Have students compare Lenski’s fictional depiction with primary-source diaries from settlers moving west.
Blueberry Corners — Lois Lenski
Historical Fiction
Another of Lenski’s earlier historical novels, offering students a window into American family and community life of an earlier period.
Possible uses: Historical fiction, daily life, material culture
High School
Lenski wasn’t primarily writing for today’s high-school market, so I wouldn’t try to make her Regional novels into YA recommendations simply to fill the category.
Instead, high-school students can use Lenski’s work for something more interesting: studying how children’s literature documents—and interprets—American history.
Journey Into Childhood: The Autobiography of Lois Lenski
Nonfiction / Autobiography
This is the most obvious Lenski title for older readers.
Published in 1972, Lenski’s autobiography discusses her childhood, art-school years, career, and the experiences that led to many of her books. She explains that she researched her Regional stories “on location,” often with local children inspiring fictional characters.
Possible uses: Author study, autobiography, children’s literature, writing process
Try this: Have students choose one Lenski novel and use the autobiography to investigate:
Where did this story come from?
Many of Lenski’s books are out of print. Her early works are in the public domain, but accessible digital copies are hard to find. Here are a few that were available as I was writing this.
| Book | Year | Link |
| Skipping Village | 1927 | Internet Archive |
| A Little Girl of Nineteen Hundred | 1928 | Internet Archive |
| Alphabet People | 1928 | Internet Archive |
Pair Lenski With Modern Nonfiction
Older students could choose a Regional novel and investigate the same community today.
For example:
- Coal Camp Girl → coal-mining communities
- Cotton in My Sack → agricultural labor
- Houseboat Girl → Mississippi River communities
- Judy’s Journey → migrant agricultural workers
- Strawberry Girl → Florida agriculture
Then ask:
WHAT CHANGED? WHAT DIDN’T?
That turns an older children’s novel into a starting point for research.
Reading Lois Lenski Today
Lenski was intentionally trying to help children understand people whose lives were different from their own. She traveled, interviewed families, lived in communities, observed children, and incorporated what she learned into her stories. Her foundation describes her goal as fostering greater understanding among people from different regions, cultures, faiths, races, and backgrounds.
At the same time, these books were written primarily between the 1930s and 1960s.
Some contain terminology, dialect, cultural descriptions, and portrayals that readers today may find dated, stereotypical, or offensive. The Lois Lenski Covey Foundation specifically acknowledges this and notes that the books remain unrevised so they can also become part of conversations about how language and cultural understanding change.
That doesn’t necessarily make these books less useful.
It can make them useful in a different way.
With older students, ask:
- How has the way we write about other people’s communities changed?
- Who gets to tell a community’s story?
- What responsibilities does an author have when writing about a culture other than their own?
- Can a book be both historically important and imperfect?
Those are worthwhile questions for developing critical readers.
Don’t Forget Lois Lenski the Illustrator
An author study can also include books Lenski illustrated but didn’t write.
Most notably, she illustrated the early books in Maud Hart Lovelace’s beloved Betsy-Tacy series. https://link.amazon/B07W2ic68
Put a Betsy-Tacy book beside one of Lenski’s own books and ask students:
CAN YOU RECOGNIZE AN ILLUSTRATOR’S STYLE?
Look at:
- faces
- clothing
- line
- movement
- buildings
- household details
- expressions
It’s a nice reminder that Lenski was an artist before she became known primarily as an author.
A Lois Lenski “Read Across America” Display
Not the Read Across America program—literally read across the map.
Use the heading:
READ YOUR WAY ACROSS AMERICA WITH LOIS LENSKI
Place a U.S. map in the center.
Around it, display Regional titles and connect each one to its setting with string or arrows.
Add:
- Florida — Strawberry Girl
- Louisiana — Bayou Suzette
- Arkansas — Cotton in My Sack
- Texas — Texas Tomboy
- Iowa — Corn-Farm Boy
- California — San Francisco Boy
- Pennsylvania — Coal Camp Girl
- Vermont — Deer Valley Girl
Students could choose: Which part of America would you like to read about?
This might be my favorite activity for this author because it immediately shows what made Lenski’s body of work so unusual.
Rediscovering Lois Lenski
Lois Lenski wanted children to see beyond the boundaries of their own communities.
She took them onto Florida strawberry farms and Mississippi houseboats, into coal camps and cotton fields, onto Western ranches and prairie schoolyards. She introduced them to children whose homes, families, work, and communities might have been completely unfamiliar.
Her books also give today’s readers another opportunity: the chance to examine how children’s literature—and our understanding of the people represented in it—has changed.
Start younger students with Mr. Small.
Give elementary readers a map and let them travel through the Regional books.
Let middle-school students compare Indian Captive with contemporary historical sources.
And invite older students to examine Lenski herself—as researcher, illustrator, storyteller, and a writer working within the assumptions of her own time.
Nearly a century after her first book appeared, readers still have plenty to discover in Lois Lenski’s world.
I have not read all of these books. Please preview them for yourself before adding them to your school library.
Read more Bibliography and Book List posts.
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