Imagine 19th century Florida: sweltering heat with no air conditioning, swarms of mosquitoes, nights lit only by campfires and the harsh reality that any meat on your plate had to be hunted and killed by you.
These gritty details aren’t just history – they’re lessons coming to life for 15,000 fourth graders, statewide, as they read A Land Remembered, a best-selling historical novel by Patrick Smith. The book focuses on three generations of the MacIvey family, from the frontier days of the 1800s to the era of modern Florida development.
A Land Remembered is central to a curriculum developed by Bridget Stice, a Polk County livestock Extension agent. She has two major goals with the program…