42 pages • 1 hour read
Lois LenskiStrawberry Girl
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1945A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 9-12Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 9 Summary: “Strawberries”
Mrs. Slater visits with Mrs. Boyer. Mrs. Slater is desperate for milk for herself and her children. Mrs. Boyer offers Mrs. Slater milk from her cow. Mrs. Slater is shocked that Mrs. Boyer feeds her cow instead of putting it out to graze for food on its own.
As the winter months arrive, the strawberry crop blossoms. School is let out early for the winter so that children can help their parents pick berries. Birdie and her siblings work hard to pick the strawberries. Their father sells the first batch in town and the entire family is proud of their first crop.
Shoestring catches a rattlesnake and intends to make it his pet even though the snake is extremely dangerous. Birdie finds the rattlesnake in the Slaters’ chicken coop. She is disgusted that Shoestring has given the rattlesnake a live rabbit to eat. Birdie decides to save the rabbit even though “She knew what the bite of a rattlesnake meant. She knew how quickly they struck, and how great the danger was when no help was near. But she never thought of waiting till her father and Buzz returned. She never thought of herself at all” (115). Birdie saves the rabbit, and the rattlesnake doesn’t bother her. Shoestring’s snake dies of the cold. Birdie confesses to him that she saved the rabbit.
Birds eat the next picking of strawberries before the Boyers can harvest.
Chapter 10 Summary: “Alligator”
Mr. Boyer and other strawberry pickers purchase iceboxes that allow them to ship their crops via train and make more money quickly. On their way to the station, an enormous alligator forces Mr. Boyer and Birdie to a halt. They wait for the alligator to get out of their way, and then make it to the depot on time to ship the strawberries.
On their way back, they see a cow stuck in the swamp. Mr. Boyer lassos the cow out of the swamp and sees that it belongs to Mr. Slater. He brings the cow back to the Slaters, who don’t want to deal with it. Mr. Boyer is angry that the Slaters don’t take care of their animals. He calls Shoestring lazy and gives him a beating. Birdie knows the Slaters won’t forgive the Boyers for the beating. Mrs. Slater spent money on a Bible, which she blames on Mrs. Boyer because Mrs. Boyer bought one first. Mr. Boyer points out that Mrs. Slater wasn’t required to buy a Bible just because Mrs. Boyer did, but he also advises her to read the Bible and learn about loving neighbors.
Chapter 11 Summary: “Spotted Calf”
One of the Boyers’ cows gives birth to a spotted calf. But before Mr. Boyer can brand the calf, the Slaters steal the calf and brand it with their “circle-s” brand. This violation shocks Mr. Boyer. Birdie finds the two younger Slater girls tearfully leaving a note from their father for the Boyers. The note says: “Will git you yet iffen we got to burn you out!” (140). Mr. Slater finds three of his hogs dead and believes that Mr. Boyer killed them. Birdie shows her father the note. He assures her she doesn’t need to worry.
Birdie picks the last of the strawberries and sells them around the town. The townspeople call her Strawberry Girl. Birdie returns home and finds her mother and sister crying. Their mule, Semina, is dead. Mrs. Boyer believes the Slaters killed Semina with poison. Mrs. Boyer wants to move, but Mr. Boyer assures her that they’re doing well in this part of Florida and the conflict with the Slaters will eventually be over.
Chapter 12 Summary: “Grass Fire”
Birdie helps her father paint the house. Shoestring calls them “uppity” again for painting their house. As Birdie stands on the ladder to paint, she notices a fire in the distance. Birdie wonders if Mr. Slater set the fire. She wishes she weren’t so suspicious. The fire grows and spreads, so Birdie alerts her family. Birdie and her family “poured water on the fire, but it did little or no good. The dampened sacks were better. They beat the burning grass with them and thought they were making headway until they looked and saw that the line of fire was only moving off in other directions. It was about to encircle the house” (150-51). Birdie runs to the Slaters’ house for help with the fire. Mr. Slater and his older sons refuse to help. Birdie realizes the meaning of the note he left and confirms that he set the fire. Remembering that her younger siblings and the younger Slater children are playing together in the palmettos, Birdie rushes back home. Her house is fine, and her father brings the fire under control. They find the children in the palmettos, frightened but all right. The fire spreads to the schoolhouse and burns it down. Birdie publicly declares to the townspeople that Sam Slater is the meanest man. Shoestring overhears her and is sad.
Chapters 9-12 Analysis
In Chapters 9 through 12, the narrative shows farm life that was an integral part of the American identity. Rural workers such as the Boyer family emphasize classically American values like hard work, entrepreneurship, pride, honor in the land, and grit. Despite moving farther south from northern Florida, the Boyers prove that they fit in with the rest of the community. Farming allows them to demonstrate that they are just as good to the land and for business as the other Floridians. Farming is a part of the community identity, as “so many families were growing berries, it had been decided to give the children their vacation in the three winter months – the strawberry season – so they could pick berries. Throughout the strawberry area, the schools were soon to become known as ‘Strawberry Schools’” (107). Their primary crop becomes central to their identities because the success of the crop is evidence of their hard work and resilience as a community. The rural community’s connection to the land and the literal and metaphorical fruits that land can give them emphasizes dedication and the American Dream of self-sufficiency. This emphasizes the theme of The Importance of Community and Hard Work.
Birdie’s identity also becomes more attached to her family’s crop as she sees the positive results of their hard work. Birdie is a good and dedicated helper to her family. She works in hard, manual labor roles and genuinely enjoys being a part of the farm. Birdie takes a particular pride in the strawberries. She becomes so associated with her dedication to making the strawberry business work that “they all called her Strawberry Girl and said the berries were extra good for so late in the season” (143). Birdie’s status as the title’s namesake emphasizes her character as a moral, hard-working, generous heroine.
The ongoing feud with the Slaters challenges the Boyer family’s success. The tension between the two families takes on a darker tone as the aggression and violence escalate. Boundaries are crossed, and livelihoods and personal safety are called into question:
Birdie had stood by and watched it all. She knew how much her father loved animals and insisted on proper care and feed for them—even if they were not his own. She herself could not bear to see an animal suffer without wanting to help it. She wanted the poor cow to be taken care of, after its narrow escape. But she also knew that the Slaters would never forgive Pa for whipping Shoestring. It would be harder than ever to be friends with them after this (131-32).
Mr. Boyer is offended by the Slaters not only because they directly threaten him but also because they don’t respect animals or land. Mr. Boyer honors the animals under his care and cultivates his land, while the Slaters don’t organize their land or help their animals survive and thrive. For the Slaters, this is due in part to ignorance. They simply don’t know how to feed, herd, or take care of their animals. They don’t know how to cultivate the land for strawberries. But Mr. Slater’s ignorance is also willful; he doesn’t want to learn from his new, successful neighbors. Shoestring bears the brunt yet again for his family’s reputation when Mr. Boyer beats him for his insolence against animals. Shoestring is a punching bag in many ways, as he is eager to be a part of the community around him but must constantly deal with its judgment of him due to his family.
For Mr. Boyer, abandoning a cow to die in a swamp crosses a boundary, and for the Slaters, beating Shoestring crosses a boundary. Things only get worse when Mr. Boyer is accused of killing three of Mr. Slater’s hogs. The back-and-forth nature of their hits escalates into more violence when Mr. Slater sets fire to the forest near the Boyer house, which nearly kills some of his children. The fire is a sign of how hateful Mr. Slater truly is: He doesn’t care that the fire might also hurt his land and his family. The fire burns down the schoolhouse, which is symbolic of how the Slaters aren’t invested in the well-being of the community or the education that could lift some of their ignorance.
