[This book may be purchased as a Kindle book through Amazon or paperback on Amazon or Create Space.]
In the first week of April, 2017 Ralph was visiting his grandchildren, ages 9 and 7. Three times during that visit they asked, "Grandpa, you have written 25 books, why can't you write something we can read?"
During the 300 mile drive home, Ralph came up with the outlines for the three Pioneer Kids books. In May, when his grandchildren visited, he had them read the first two chapters of this book and they liked it and wanted to read more. By early June, he had finished the three books and a couple of weeks later they each received a copy of each of the books. In addition to writing these three books as something for his grandchildren to read, he had two additional purposes: 1) to teach today's children how much harder life was for pioneer children and 2) to teach today's children some games played by pioneer children that do not involve electronics.
This book starts out teaching how people lived on a prairie farm in the 1850s. It shows how children would use their imaginations to entertain themselves. These kids, Eve and Ethan, liked to name the wild animals they saw around their farm. The saw a wild colt just a few days old and named him Patch. During a buffalo stampede Patch's mother became injured. The kids repeatedly beg their parents to adopt the orphaned Patch. They do and through careful work are able to make friends with Patch.
At the end of the book is a Glossary with the directions on how to play the games described in the book.