Dakota Dreams: Fannie Sabra Howe's Own Story Janet Howe Townsley. Print-version Price: $0.00 Cloth 77 pages 6 x 9 inches 41 line drawings, 14 b&w photographs, map, glossary ISBN: 0971517142 Special offer on last remaining copies in print Winner of a Certificate of Commendation, American Association for State and Local History “An engaging book for young readers. . . . There are as many pioneer stories as there were pioneers, but few memoirs and diaries have been preserved, and fewer yet shaped for modern readers, especially adolescents, in a way that makes the experience vivid and comprehensible more than a century later.”—South Dakota Magazine “This book is especially recommended for all school and public libraries in South Dakota. It provides educational reading for children through adults and does so with an interesting and enjoyable approach.”—Book Marks, South Dakota Library Association In the summer of 1881, opportunity beckoned from Dakota Territory, and a Wisconsin family—the Howes—followed their dreams west. A true story based on young Fannie Sabra Howe’s diary, Dakota Dreams paints a vivid picture of the family’s first summer on the prairie. Beginning with her solo train trip to their new home and life in a tent while the family proves up their homestead, Fannie’s story concludes dramatically with the building of a round “castle” in the new town of Mellette, just in time for Christmas 1884. Fannie’s grandniece Janet Howe Townsley relates this eventful period in Fannie’s life, frequently quoting from Fannie’s diary and adding illustrations based on Fannie’s experiences. Through sidebars about bedbugs, remembrance quilts, and other elements of homestead life, Townsley offers additional explanation to modern-day readers.