There are many different recipes for baking-powder biscuits. Here is the one my parents (especially my dad!) always made at my house when I was a girl:
RUSS HOPKINSON’S BAKING-POWDER BISCUITS
2 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
¼ cup Crisco (butter or margarine may also be used)
1 cup milk
Combine ingredients quickly in a bowl. Spoon batter into an ungreased muffin tin, dividing equally among the cups. The batter will rise when baking, so don’t fill the cups to the top. Bake at 450 degrees for about 12 minutes, or until golden brown. Makes twelve biscuits. Serve with butter and jam, or as strawberry shortcake.
ABOUT KANSAS HOME
Our Kansas Home is fiction, but it is based on a period of time in the 1850s when the Kansas Territory was known as “Bleeding Kansas.” During this time people in our country were arguing about whether slavery should spread to new territories in the West. The summer of 1856, when this story takes place, was a time of conflict between proslavery people and freestate settlers in Kansas. Eventually Kansas entered the Union as a free state in 1861. Many historians think that studying what happened in Kansas helps us to better understand the roots of the Civil War.
In this book Charlie and his family and friends are made-up. Other characters that are mentioned, such as Sheriff Samuel Jones, John Brown, and Charles Robinson, really lived. Some events in the story, such as the burning of the Free State Hotel in Lawrence on May 21, 1856, are based on things that did take place.
To research the Prairie Skies books I read many works written by people who lived in Kansas during this time. For instance, many abolitionists lived in Lawrence, Kansas, and the town played an active role in the Underground Railroad. The story of Lizzie is based on an incident in Richard Cordley’s Pioneer Days in Kansas, written in 1903. Mr. Cordley and his wife were living in a stone house south of Lawrence in 1859 when a young woman named Lizzie, who was fleeing slavery, came to stay with them until arrangements could be made to take her to Canada on the Underground Railroad.
When they learned Lizzie’s master was pursuing her, the Cordleys came up with a plan to hide her. Mrs. Cordley’s friend would lie in bed, pretending to be sick, with Mrs. Cordley at her side. Lizzie would then hide between the mattress and the feather bed. They felt sure the searchers would not disturb a sick woman. Mr. Cordley wrote that Lizzie said, “I will make myself just as small as ever I can, and I will lie as still as still can be.” Eventually Lizzie was helped to go to Canada by her friends in Lawrence.
History is like a giant quilt, with many pieces. Our Kansas Home tells only a small part of a complicated story. You can learn more about Kansas history by reading other books, visiting museums or historical sites, or looking on the Internet.
More information on Kansas history can be found at:
Kansas State Historical Society
www.kshs.org
The Kansas Collection
www.kancoll.org
Ready-for-Chapters
Enjoy the very best first chapter book fiction in Ready-for-Chapters books from Aladdin Paperbacks.
Jake Drake, Bully Buster by Andrew Clements
Annabel the Actress Starring in Gorilla My Dreams by Ellen Conford
The Bears on Hemlock Mountain by Alice Dalgliesh
The Courage of Sarah Noble by Alice Dalgliesh
The Girl with 500 Middle Names by Margaret Peterson Haddix
The Werewolf Club #1 The Magic Pretzel by Daniel Pinkwater
The Werewolf Club #2 The Lunchroom of Doom by Daniel Pinkwater
The Werewolf Club #3 The Werewolf Club Meets Dorkula by Daniel Pinkwater
The Cobble Street Cousins #1 In Aunt Lucy’s Kitchen by Cynthia Rylant
The Cobble Street Cousins #2 A Little Shopping by Cynthia Rylant
The Cobble Street Cousins #3 Special Gifts by Cynthia Rylant
Third-Grade Detectives #1 The Clue of the Left-Handed Envelope by George Edward Stanley
Third-Grade Detectives #2 The Puzzle of the Pretty Pink Handkerchief by George Edward Stanley
Third-Grade Detectives #3 The Mystery of the Hairy Tomatoes by George Edward Stanley
Aladdin Paperbacks
Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing · www.SimonSaysKids.com
PRAIRIE SKIES
Acclaimed author DEBORAH HOPKINSON follows a Massachusetts family’s first dramatic year as pioneers in “Bleeding Kansas” in the period leading up to the Civil War.
PIONEER SUMMER
0-689-84349-6 (paperback)
“Rolls at a promising clip.”
—Publishers Weekly
“[An] engaging saga … [a] superb story.”
—Kirkus Reviews
CABIN IN THE SNOW
0-689-84351-8 (paperback)
“Once again, Hopkinson tells a good story, steeped in rich history and research, and leaves her young readers satisfied, yet ready to know more.”
—Kirkus Reviews
OUR KANSAS HOME
0-689-843534 (paperback)
Visit Deborah Hopkinson’s Web site at www.deborahhopkinson.com
ALADDIN PAPERBACKS Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division www.SimonSaysKids.com
DEBORAH HOPKINSON is the author of many acclaimed picture books, including A Band of Angels, Fanny in the Kitchen, and Under the Quilt of Night, a sequel to her award-winning Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt. She lives with her husband and two children in Walla Walla Washington.
Our Kansas Home Page 4