Doing Her Bit: a Story About the Woman's Land Army of America

Reviewed by: Kathy George - Gray publlic Library, Gray, me., Southern Maine Library District

Review Date: February 14, 2017

Review

We have all read about the various things women did while the men were off fighting during World War II. They worked in factories, flew planes and even played baseball! During World War I, women were recruited to help farmers care for their livestock, plow fields and bring in the crops. this is the story of one such woman, Helen Stevens. she was a college girl who saw a poster that wanted girls to enlist in the Woman's Land Army. many had never seen a farm let alone work on one and those that had farm experience were limited in what they were allowed to do. In Helen's story, she is sent to the Women's Agricultural camp to learn about farming and to work on farms. But learning to plow, hoe, tend livestock, whitewash buildings farmers would not hire them and when they did, farmers did not want to pay them a man's wages. This fictionalized account of the "farmettes" brings to readers young and old another piece of American history that few people know about.

Overall Book Score: very good