Little White Farm House in Iowa

About the Book

Book 1 of the Precious Memories' series, entitled "Little White Farmhouse in Iowa", is the first of three books about the childhood of Katherine Kroontje (Vastenhout), a farm girl of Iowa and, later, Minnesota.  Book 1 describes farm life in Iowa during the depression years of the 1930s, before such luxuries as indoor plumbing, electric lights, and telephones -- while beds were still made from corn husks, and clothes sewn from feed sacks.  It begins with Katherine's birth exactly at midnight of June 3, 1930, during an horrific summer thunderstorm, and ends with the "Blizzard of the Century", the Armistice Day's Blizzard of 1940.  (We've had people tell us they didn't believe everything in there until they checked it out for themselves!!)  Book 2, "Little Yellow Farmhouse in Iowa", continues these Iowan farm childhood stories with Katherine's years in a second little farmhouse, colored yellow, with a focus on the World War II years and fascinating details of Uncle Bill Tilstra's involvement in the Japanese front of that war.  It begins with the traumatic move to the second house and ends with the exciting move to a third house in Minnesota, one with electricity!  Book 3, Strangers in Minnesota, about the last four years of Katherine's years at home, not only chronicles the loneliness of a move to another state, but becomes her romance, as well, while leading us into a third Amerian era, that of the Korean War.

About the Author

Carol Brands calls herself primarily a mother. Born the third of sixteen children, Carol was already a “mother” to her younger brothers and sisters during her adolescent years. After she finished college, Carol continued to work with children, teaching for twelve years. At age thirty, she married and became a mother to her own eight children, four boys and four girls. Once they were all in school, she worked for another twelve years in a local care center. Now she is thrilled to enter the stage of grandmother, anticipating her ninth grandchild in 2012. It was during her years at the care center that Carol came to know Katherine Vastenhout, a resident of the center. Several times Katherine commented, “My life should be written in a book!” Carol -- who enjoyed writing -- responded, “Let’s do it!” And so began the three-year saga of writing Katherine’s biography. Writing the stories of Katherine’s childhood turned into three books, of which you are holding the first. The first book tells of Katherine’s first ten years, the 1930s, also years of severe economic depression. The second book tells of her next seven years, also the years of World War II. The third book contains the family’s move to Minnesota to Katherine’s third and last childhood home. Carol comments: “I loved writing these stories; it was so interesting and I learned so much!” Her hope is that you also benefit as you enjoy the life story of Katherine, farm girl of Iowa.