Marshfield Dreams

The book not only took me down a path of simpler times, but it allowed me to see the heart of a family, and especially the growing of a boy. Thank you, it was a great read!

I originally bought this book many many years ago as an example of what life was like where I lived as a child. Ironically I too and from the same Marshfield in this book. I was on my way to teach internationally and I wanted my students to be able to get a window into what life was like for me when I was their age. I bought this copy to share with my daughter who spends parts of her time in the same Marshfield visiting her grandparents. It's a perfect mentor text for teachers who are teaching a small moment writing as every chapter in this book is a perfect example of how to write a small moment. I love that many of the small moments in this book are translated into novels of their own.

I'd never read this book before and I started reading it this year for our 5th grade writing unit on memoirs. It is such a great book and easy to read to students. My 5th graders have been very invested in Ralph Fletcher's stories of his life and it has been guiding them in their own writing. They are able to model their work after him since his writing is easy to understand.I've also started to use the book for my tutoring of another 5th grade student. He did not understand memoirs before and the format of this book has been helping him understand this and guide his writing of his own memoir.Great read!

Really sweet. I love books like this -- where we can remember the sweetness of our childhood, or wish we had such sweetness in our childhood to remember -- and had the ability to write about it as honestly as Ralph Fletcher does in this all-too-brief book. I noticed that the author has written several other books, so I checked them out at Amazon, hoping that he continues his story, but apparently he hasn't done that -- yet.I grew up in the 1940s and '50s and it's true: we pretty much had freedom from morning till dusk and we were allowed to go here, there, and everywhere but for the most part we found our fun in our own neighborhoods and with our friends who lived right there. Hard to believe the United States has changed so much and so fast!I love the family photos included in the book, and of course every kid, or the kid in every adult, loves the hand-drawn map here, similar to one of the old Treasure maps included in so many old-time books for children. The author makes it all sound so good that I went to Google Maps and looked up Acorn Street in Marshfield, MA and there it is, and it still looks great!

We loved this book. I did it as a read aloud with my 4th grader this summer, and we enjoyed it so much. I grew in in Marshfield, and my kids are growing up here as well.

My daughter's 3rd grade teacher read this to her class. My eight year old just hung on every word! She loved the book so much that she asked her teacher if she could bring the book home and read it to me. It is not a "children's" book, but very appropriate for kids. I loved the book just as much as she did. It's full of heartwarming and funny stories about a young boy's pivotal growing up years. Highly recommend for ages 8 - 108!

It has been a long time since I read a book in one day. I loved it and couldn't put it down. It was as if I was in Marshfield. Ralph is about 7 years younger than me and my siblings, but his stories in the woods could have been written by me. Marshfield was a wonderful place to grow up. Thanks, Ralph!

Ralph Fletcher is a wonderful choice to teach my 5th graders about craft. Clean simple but effective writing. Terrific stories!

O livro e muito bom recomendo para pessoas que gosta de historias não muito grades porém interessantes gostei dos personagens e da história em si

I really liked the book, it is very easy to read I didn’t gave 5 stars because IDK. Whatever, byeeee!!

I use this book as a mentor text for teaching memoir writing with my students. They love hearing me read the samples in this book, and Mr. Fletcher has included excellent writing advice tailored to youth.

Loved this book! I don't really have 17 words to write about it, just that this is a great book.