BAREFOOT ON THE PRAIRIE: MEMORIES OF LIFE ON A PRAIRIE HOMESTEAD Ferne Nelson Saskatoon, Western Producer Prairie Books, 1989. 128pp, cloth, $18.95 ISBN 0-88833-296-3. CIP Grades 11 and up/Ages 16 and up Reviewed by Gerald R. Brown. Volume 18 Number 2 1990 March A buggy trip home from school, an afternoon poisoning gophers, or a trip to the chilly outhouse could be turned into adventure. Picking fresh berries in fields strewn with wildflowers, the excitement of Christmas with home­made popcorn strings and cranberry ropes, and the memorable social occasion of the newlyweds' shivaree filled their lives with delight. Against this backdrop of shared experience, Ferne Nelson sets down a personal memoir that will slay with readers long after they have closed the covers of the book. Many sections of this first novel could be read aloud to elementary children to give them background information for frontier and pioneer life in Canada seventy years ago. Similarly, this material has a valuable place in local collections at public libraries. Born in 1913 on a homestead near Viking, Alberta, Ferne Nelson now lives in Burnaby, British Columbia. She turned to writing only in the last three years, and Barefoot on the Prairie is her first book. Gerald R. Brown, Winnipeg, Man.