At Home in Dogwood Mudhole Review – TOS #hsreviews

Here at our house we have a variety of animals and would love to be self sufficient.  I recently was able to read(and now review) a great book about a family who did just that.  Franklin Sanders from At Home in Dogwood Mudhole writes a very easy to read and compelling book!  Well it’s not just one book, it’s actually a series of three books, but I only was able to read and review At Home in Dogwood Mudhole, the first book in the series.

The book is written for adults, but can easily be used as a read aloud with your children.  In fact, I plan to use it as our next read aloud once we finish the series we’re currently reading.  There is nothing in it that would not be appropriate for children to hear, but young children would not be able to read it on their own, and I don’t think most children would understand and comprehend quite as much out of the book as the adults will.  It can be purchased in paperback for $22.95 or Kindle version for $16.95.

Volume One: Nothing that Eats and Volume Two: Best Thing We Ever Did are both available, but Volume Three: The Sage of Dogwood Mudhole is not out yet.  We read Nothing that Eats and can’t wait to see what happens next in Best Thing We Ever Did.  We received a paperback copy of Volume One to read.  I an read e-books but still love having a real solid book to hold and read.  Maybe I’m old fashioned, but to me it’s just the best thing!

Oh and did I mention that Franklin likes the Civil War and that his family likes to reenact!?  Yeah!  As you know so do we.  And of course, I love the way he states about “War of Northern Aggression” and doesn’t make it all out to be over slavery.  He’s got his history right!  Maybe one of these days we can sit and chat around a campfire and talk.  Maybe we have. . .  or at least my husband, he’s been at several events out East.   And to us here in the Midwest, where Franklin lives in Tennessee is definitely part of the “East”!

There are 25 photographs and maps within the book as well to help you really feel “at home” with them and make it so you can see where he is talking about and envision yourself there with him while he’s doing such things.

The family is also a family of faith.  Relying on God is second nature with them and you can see this within every page of the book.  If you are not a believer or don’t want to talk about God, then you probably won’t enjoy this book as much as the rest of us.

The paperback I received is 379 pages long and broken up into four sections with each section containing roughly 25-27 chapters.  But they’re not really chapters per say.  It’s more like listening to someone else when you’re carrying on a conversation.  They’re telling you what’s going on and you’re listening interjecting your opinion every once in a while.  The whole book is in Franklin Sanders voice, but of course it’s not all just about him!

This book is not a memoir written at the end of a life or the end of an age.  Franklin Sanders wrote a series of letters and compiled them into this book!  Pretty amazing.  Once a month for sixteen years he would write his letters to put in his monthly newsletter, The Moneychanger, and from those letters these books have emerged.  He then compiled them all together and had them published. . . or will have them published.  Two books are done and the third is coming soon(yes I know I’ve said that before, but I want to make sure you’re really reading and not just skimming).  I’m hoping we can get the second book soon and continue the story.

I love the self sustainability, though I do have to laugh as we’re one of those weird families that would take the freshly road killed deer and dress it out.  Really, venison is a great meat and my husband hunts every year so I giggled at that part and wondered why Franklin’s son wasn’t going to keep the deer and eat it himself.  But to each their own!

Make sure you check out the Main Crew Blog Post to see what everyone else thought of the book.  We all have different tastes in books and in life, so I’m sure they’ll have their own spin to this review!

I just was told that you can get free shipping if you live in the US on up to two books with code TOSFREE!!!!  I don’t know how long it will work but at this time it is working!