Laddie

A True Blue Story

By: Gene Stratton-Porter

Narrated by: Laurie Klein

Length: 14 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's Summary

This is a captivating, good-humored look at family life in a small farming community in Indiana in the early 1900s.

©1913 Gene Stratton-Porter (P)2004 Books in Motion

My Favorite Book Growing Up!

The description of this book, given by Audible, gives no hint of what a wonderful book this is. It is told from the viewpoint of a girl who is the youngest of 12 children and who adores her older brother, Laddie. The book is a wonderful portrait of an amazing family full of love and integrity. It is also a love story and a mystery. It beautifully describes farm life in the early 1900s. I have read this book over and over, and shared it with many people. My only complaint is with the woman who reads the book. While she is an excellent reader and does the women's voices really well, when she is reading "Little Sister's" lines she sounds like she is reading to three-year olds. It is way too cutsy and detracts from the story. And for some reason, whenever she reads a man's lines, especially the younger brother, she sounds like Donald Duck. She uses this really weird voice for all the men. It is really anoying. Even though this is told from a child's viewpoint, it really isn't a children's book. I think I read it first when I was 11 or 12 - and that's about the age it would take to really get all the nuances in the book. If you have an older brother you love, you will enjoy this book!

An American Classic

Let me start by saying I am not the target audience for this book. I am a 38 year old male and listened to this book by assignment. Of the books I was assigned this initially was the one I was least excited about. But this ended up being my favorite. The story and writing are excellent. The characters and story are interesting and best of all there are a number of important themes and lessons to read and ponder. This book will take you back to a simpler, and I would argue, better time. I helped me appreciate some of the principals my generation has lost. Unlike other reviewers I thought the narration was good and appreciated the narrator using different inflections to distinguish the characters. This is a true american classic at it's finest and should be required reading. Highly recommended.

A True blue Story

Life in rural Indiana in the early 1900’s is the essence of this book. It is told from the viewpoint of “Little Sister,” the youngest in a farm family of 12 children.

Little Sister, who we never find out her real name, adores her brother Laddie. When she was born, none of the other children wanted another baby except Laddie. He takes her under his wing and helps to raise her with a true and noble spirit like the Crusaders.

The mystery that runs through the story concerns the British family, the Pryors, who live in the community. The father declares there is no God and this sets all the neighbors against them. But something is wrong with the family. There has to be a reason they left England and settled in Indiana. Laddie falls in love with the daughter, Pamela, and sets out to win her.

A beautiful classic.

The narrator leaves much to be desired. This is a beautiful story that would make you laugh and cry and finish it feeling good. I'm not sure why this narrator was chosen. She reads well but the voices she uses . . . especially for Leon, is terrible. If I hadn't known the story and loved it, I would have had a hard time getting into the book because the narrator doesn't do that good of a job. Especially for the men's voices.

Fabulous Story, not great narrator

I've loved this story for decades. My mother introduced me to this one as her second favorite - Gene Stratton Porter's "Girl of the Limberlost" was her favorite. Trying the sample, the narrator sounded fine, but is not as great as the sample made it seem. Such a shame for such an excellent story. You can rely on Gene Stratton Porter's works to always be clean - no cursing and no taking my Lord's name in vain.

a little disturbing

not sure how I feel about this book. it contained many light hearted family friendly moments but also some unexpected dark ones. at one point the main character is hung by her brother and almost dies, farther on in the book a goose has a gruesome death. I couldn't go any farther after the death of the goose. I loved the Christian undertones and family values of the book but I couldn't get past the darker parts.

The most beautiful story ever!

This is a wonderful story to be read aloud to the whole family! I just finished it and want to start it over. Our family has thoroughly enjoyed the audio reading of this classic! Very well done.

wonderful family book. highly recommend.

loved this treasure. too bad this kind of life is too far outside of the box these days.

I will try again.

I have tried several times to start this book, but was so put off by the narrator that I quickly moved on to something eles. I came back to Audible to see why in the world I had pick this book. The one review I see here has inspired me to give the book one more try. There is obviously a gem here hidden behind the narration. I will let you know if I am sucessful.

Incredible

I absolutely love this book!! The reader is great at each of the different accents. And Gene Stratton Porter is a remarkable writer with an amazing way of touching on morals and truth.

Amazing

I love all of Gene Stratton Porter’s books. They some of the best books ever; I read a lot of books and these are the best.

I loved the plot, the characters, and every thing else.
-The story was very well built and as all of her books are very sweet and wholesome.
-The whole family was lovable and caring, they all helped each other.


About one of the other reviews, the blue goose ( peacock ) did die but it was not gruesome.
Yes, the girl almost died, but she agreed wholeheartedly. They were being silly and wanted to see how it felt to die. I will note that they are silly very often, that was the only time they acted like that.
I could hear the pages turn on occasion, but not very often and it did not matter because the story was so good. I think the narrater did great and had great voices.

I would encourage getting this book.