42 pages • 1 hour read
Lois LenskiStrawberry Girl
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1945A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Prologue-Chapter 3Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Prologue Summary: “Trouble”
Essie Slater is worried about her family’s cow, who wanders off. Essie worries that if the cow reaches the neighbors’ orange tree and eats them, there will be trouble between her family and the neighbors. Essie’s father scoffs at this fear.
Chapter 1 Summary: “Callers”
Birdie Boyer admires the natural beauty around her new home. Her mother is pleasantly surprised when their neighbors, the Slater family, call on them to borrow some sugar. Mrs. Boyer welcomes Mrs. Slater and her younger children into the house. The Boyers have recently moved to southern Florida, first from Carolina, and then from Munroe County in northern Florida, where Birdie was born. She explains the Boyers plan to plant orange trees and raise cattle for profit. Mrs. Slater dismisses these plans; she informs Mrs. Boyer that nothing grows well enough in Florida to sell. Birdie notices that Mrs. Slater’s daughters, Zephy and Essie, are dirty and uncombed. She takes them outside to brush their hair and wash their faces. Their brother Jefferson Davis introduces himself as Shoestring.
Mrs. Boyer’s belongings, such as her plates and tablecloth, impress and offend Mrs. Slater, who declares, “Guess we know now how biggety you folks is, without seein’ nothin’ more” (12). She offers Mrs. Slater the sugar, and Birdie offers one of their beautifully planted flowers, but the Slaters leave in a huff.
Chapter 2 Summary: “Fences”
Birdie struggles to plow a field with the mule, Semina. She runs into Shoestring, who is fascinated by the way Birdie’s family herds their cows. She tells him that the family plans to grow strawberries to sell, as her father has learned that strawberries are a popular commodity. Shoestring mocks her for thinking she can grow anything on Florida’s poor soil. He brags about being a cowman and claims he can lasso anything. He proves himself by riding his horse to lasso first Birdie, then Semina. Birdie dares Shoestring to ride Semina. Semina bucks him off, and Shoestring retreats in shame with his pony.
Birdie’s father comes to check out the commotion. Birdie worries the Slaters won’t visit again, but Mr. Boyer assures her they will. He tells Birdie that he bought the strawberry plants and expects a long but prosperous journey planting them.
Shoestring returns and gives Birdie a turtle his father caught while fishing. He opines that the turtle makes delicious food.
The Boyers plant their strawberries, but the heat of Florida dries them out. Then, Shoestring’s horse gets loose in the Boyers’ field and crushes the strawberries.
On another day, Birdie finds Essie in the forest, looking for one of her cows. Birdie helps Essie get home. Birdie notices that her orange tree has signs of nibbling and blames Essie’s cow.
The Boyers construct a fence around their property to keep out the Slaters’ animals. Shoestring earnestly warns Birdie that his father, who gets mean when he’s drunk, won’t like the fence and will cause trouble.
Chapter 3 Summary: “School”
Birdie and her siblings, Dovey and Dan, start school. The other children deride them as Yankees, but Birdie insists that they’re Crackers just like the other kids. Birdie asks after the Slater kids and the others tell her that none of them interact with the Slaters. Birdie meets the teacher, Mr. Pearce. Despite the other kids calling her “uppity” because they consider her calico dress fancier than their flour sack dresses, “Birdie was happy. She knew she would soon like all the girls and they would like her” (31). The two older Slater sons, Gus and Joe, burst in and cause a scene. They trip Birdie and declare that their father says they don’t need to learn because hunting is more important. Mr. Pearce reaches for his bamboo rod to discipline Gus and Joe, but Gus and Joe attack him, take the rod, and beat him up. School is canceled for weeks because Mr. Pearce is too injured to teach.
Prologue-Chapter 3 Analysis
In the first chapters of Strawberry Girl, Lenski utilizes colloquial language to bring her characters to life. The regional accents in the novel serve to highlight class distinctions, as well as to dispel the stereotype that colloquialisms signify a lack of intelligence or education. An example of colloquial language can be found here: “‘Purty, yes!’ agreed her mother. ‘But lookin’ at posies don’t git the work done’” (6). Substituting “purty” for “pretty” or “git” for “get” provides dialectic realism to depict Southern speech and paints characters in local color.
In the first chapters of Strawberry Girl, Lenski establishes conflict. Rural communities are known to be characterized by community and comradery, but rural life is also harsh and isolating as families fight for survival against the natural elements. Therefore, there are two sources of antagonism: people and environment. While Birdie experiences some conflict with children at school, the Slater family is the primary source of antagonism. Shoestring foreshadows the looming threat of his father: “‘Can’t never tell when it’s Pa,’ Shoestring said slowly. ‘Pa’s mean, and when he’s drunk, you can’t never tell what he’ll do’” (26). Shoestring’s cautionary warning suggests that he knows his family’s reputation and feels ashamed of being associated with it. This also foreshadows that there is hope for Shoestring to remain a good person despite the influence of his father. Shoestring’s warning becomes reality when his older brothers beat up the local schoolteacher. Their anger and violence impact the entire community as none of the children can get their education while the teacher heals. This introduces the theme of The Importance of Community.
Beating Mr. Pearce also highlights that the Slaters do not respect certain societal norms and boundaries. This is another layer of foreshadowing, as rural communities can’t thrive when there are threats of unmitigated violence and no accountability. The antagonism of the Slaters is further implied through their animals, who are symbols of the family’s dysfunction and chaos. The cow that ruins Birdie’s orange tree and the horse that ruins her strawberries are representative of the Slaters and their lack of concern or care for other people. Because the Slaters blame the land, rather than their ignorance of better methods of animal husbandry and crop management for their impoverishment, they are offended that anybody else might try to succeed where they have failed.
The land is also a force of antagonism. The novel is set in Florida in the early 20th century when pockets of Florida are resettled by white people after driving Native American tribes out of their land through war. Florida is therefore newly in development, and it is people like Birdie’s family who are trying to transform Florida into the American Dream of prosperity, hard work, and ingenuity. Birdie is fully invested in her family’s plan to harvest oranges and strawberries for sale. Shoestring insists that using the land is futile: “‘Can’t raise nothin’ on this sorry ole piece o’ land but a fuss!’ He spat and frowned. ‘Sorriest you can find—either too wet or too dry. Not fitten for nothin’ but palmetto roots. Your strawberries won’t never make.’ Birdie lifted her small chin defiantly” (16). The land is therefore a symbol of barrenness and struggle, but Birdie’s defiant chin also characterizes the land as having potential for prosperity. Birdie’s resolve to work hard and make her family’s strawberry endeavor successful despite the odds and the dryness of the land is indicative of her fighting spirit and her can-do attitude. Birdie’s perspective is more reflective of the ethos of the American Dream, but Shoestring’s perspective also highlights the reality of struggle and hardship. Birdie’s commitment to her farm highlights the theme of The Importance of Hard Work.
In the first chapters of Strawberry Girl, Birdie is the central character. She is characterized by her fortitude and her generosity. When Birdie meets Essie and Zephy, she immediately extends kindness to them. Their poverty is physically present in their dirty faces and uncombed hair. Birdie looks past their poverty and “began to comb out their short, straggly hair. Combed smooth, it looked soft and pretty, curling up at the ends. In the bright sunshine, it shone like warm, glistening silver. Birdie brought the washbasin and washed their thin, pale faces” (10). Birdie’s maternal touch and lack of judgment characterize her as neighborly and compassionate. Birdie sees other kids as peers; she wants to make friends at school, is determined to be liked and to fit in, and is worried about Shoestring. Birdie sees herself in other children, even when those children are different. Therefore, Birdie is also deeply empathetic. Her characterization provides a hopeful tone that combats the antagonism of the Slater family. When the older Slater boys trip her at school, their actions emphasize a dichotomy between them and Birdie. But Birdie can look past differences and appreciate people. She is quickly established as a heroine as she works hard to help her family and make everyone feel that they belong. Birdie introduces the theme of The Importance of Being Kind.
