"Laddie"?

We listened to Laddie on librivox and my girls really enjoyed it.  It’s about a boy with one arm who goes to work for a logging company, falls inlove with the daughter of a rich man, and saves the logging company from some bad guys.

I can’t remember where the sibling relationship comes in. Maybe Laddie was a relative of someone important in the book, but he didn’t know it or something. I think Laddie was an orphan. It has been about 2 years since we listened to it. My girls would have been about 10, 8, 6, and 4.

In my opinion, it would be a hard book to read aloud – old words, old phrases, long sentences, lots of description, etc. That’s why we listened to it – in the car, on short trips (errands, dr. Appt., etc.) Over the  course of a summer. I think it’s definitely a book to take in small doses, b/c of the old way it’s written.

There was nothing objectionable in it, and the old language was sweet when talking about how much Laddie loved Angel. It was definitely a good book.

I think the above description by Karen is about the book Freckles by the same author.

Laddie is actually from the point of view of the youngest girl in a big family. She is a around 8 or 9, I think. The story does include her older brother’s romance and marriage as seen through her eyes. I really enjoyed reading it years ago but my children haven’t read it yet. I think it would be a good family read aloud but I wouldn’t choose it as a specific read aloud for a 7 year old.