Midwest Traditions (1999)
Original Softcover Edition
ISBN 1-883953-30-8
128 pages, 5.5" x 8.5"
Fiction/Juvenile (ages 8-12)
$10.95

The engaging sequel to Carrie and the Crazy Quilt

"a wonderful tale for young readers"
- Midwest Book Review

On October 8, 1871, two great disasters took place on the very same day. The most famous was known as the Great Chicago Fire. The other blaze, which happened 200 miles to the north, swept through the pioneer forests near the Wisconsin town of Green Bay. It became known as the Peshtigo Fire, for one of the little villages destroyed in the firestorm’s path.

In this engaging sequel to Carrie and the Crazy Quilt, young Carrie Heidenwoth has survived the fire by taking shelter in the waters of the Peshtigo River. But now she and her little brother Fritz face life as orphans.

As the book opens, 13-year-old Carrie and little Fritz have been taken to nearby Oconto. The two are taken in by the wealthy Omar Bentz and his reclusive wife, Erna, who is suffering her own losses from fire.

Soon, the spunky Carrie has made a new friend, a Menominee Indian girl named Fawn. With the help of heartfelt prayers and growing friendships, Carrie discovers her own path to healing and starting over.

Nelda Johnson Liebig was born in Oklahoma. She has taught elementary school in Alaska and adults in Russia. She is the author of many children’s short stories and the novel, Carrie and the Crazy Quilt, which received an Award of Merit in 1997 from the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. When she wrote this book, she lived in Oconto (near Peshtigo), but now she lives in the town of Trempealeau in west-central Wisconsin.

Blue Horse Books is an imprint of Midwest Traditions, Inc., a nonprofit publisher whose titles have won the Benjamin Franklin Award and have been short-listed for the Great Lakes Book Award, Minnesota Book Award, Independent Press Book Award, and others.