A Land Remembered: What Other Readers Say

I assigned my stu­dents to read a book, fic­tion or non­fic­tion, set in Flori­da. Almost half of them read one of your books. They read and enjoyed For­ev­er Island and A Land Remem­bered! ~ Arlene Bounds, Cocoa, Florida

Pho­to Above: Dr. Mary Thomp­son, Busi­ness Teacher at Braden Riv­er High School, with her 4th peri­od begin­ning com­put­er stu­dents, show­ing what we have been read­ing. Stu­dents read the book and then sum­ma­rized the chap­ters into a movie! Kids became the direc­tors, decid­ing which inci­dents were movie-mate­r­i­al, illus­trat­ing with pho­tos, adding audio, and putting it all togeth­er as a mul­ti-media project.

My fourth and fifth grade enrich­ment stu­dents absolute­ly have loved read­ing Vol. 1 of the stu­dent edi­tion of ALR this school year. There has not been a sin­gle page of the book that has lost their atten­tion. I have been a huge fan of Patrick Smith’s excel­lent book for sev­er­al years now and rec­om­mend it to every­one that has any inter­est in Flori­da or his­tor­i­cal fic­tion of any kind. The char­ac­ters are very real and inspir­ing in their deci­sions and rela­tion­ships. ~Cheryl Bal­lard Chastain

Mr. Smith…I taught 4th grade stu­dents for many years and we used your book “A Land Remem­bered” as part of our Flori­da His­to­ry lessons and Unit of teach­ing. I have read it to my stu­dents year after year. So many of them loved your book so much that they read it again while in Mid­dle School. Thanks for your insight of the Crack­er Life and the gen­er­a­tions through­out a cen­tu­ry of time. Cin­di Clark- Bar­tow, FL

Pho­to Above: Dr. Mary Thomp­son, Busi­ness Teacher at Braden Riv­er High School, with FFA stu­dents read­ing A Land Remembered.

You are my favorite author. I am not a real big read­er except when it comes to your books. I sim­ply can not put them down. I don’t know how you do it but you make me feel like I am there. Thank you for adding qual­i­ty to my life. ~ Mark Akus

Hi my name is Sum­mer. I am a big fan of A land remem­bered! I love the book. ~ Sum­mer Pippins

Stu­dents at Braden Riv­er High School love A Land Remembered.

I have read almost all Mr. Smiths books. Mr. Smith is one of the best liv­ing authors on Flori­da today. My 6th grade son is now read­ing “A Land Remem­bered” and can hard­ly put it down. My 4th grad­er now wants to read it also. I had the oppor­tu­ni­ty to meet Mr. Smith on a few occa­sions includ­ing at his home. This man is a true Gen­tle­man. ~ Stephan J. Zawadzk

Look who who else loves read­ing A Land Remem­bered: Con­gress­man Bill Posey!

Mike, our bright 12 year old son, is dyslex­ic. Our fam­i­ly is read­ing “A Land Remem­bered” togeth­er. Your sto­ry and the his­to­ry of old flori­da has come alive for us to dis­cuss. Some of the moral situ­ta­tions has also helped us have an oppor­tu­ni­ty to express our views and lis­ten to our son’s thoughts. Thank You.
~ Vin­ny, Mike and Susan Asciutto

“As we read this book and dis­cuss it, the boys are sure the McIvey’s drove their herd through the remote north east Char­lotte Coun­ty where the school is locat­ed and each boy can share an actu­al spot on the prop­er­ty that they visu­al­ize dif­fer­ent times while read­ing the book (ham­mocks, praire, bay head, swamp, pine island). Pho­to sub­mit­ted by Greg Kanagy, Director

I first read A Land Remem­bered when I was in sev­enth grade and instant­ly fell in love with it, even at that young age. Now that I have grad­u­al­ly moved across the state, 7 years lat­er I just read the book for the sec­ond time and con­nect­ed to it 10 times more than the first time. As a sec­ond-gen­er­a­tion native Florid­i­an, it pains me to read so vivid­ly what Flori­da used to be and then look around me now in Pinel­las coun­ty with it’s high-rise build­ings and acres of park­ing lots.

I first read For­ev­er Island when I was about 10 years old and I fell in love with Mr.Smith’s books. I was very for­tu­nate, my moth­er being a 6th gen­er­a­tion Florid­i­an, loved his books and had just about all of them. Now I am 40 with chil­dren of my own and I have been able to pass my fam­i­ly’s love of these books on to anoth­er gen­er­a­tion. As a 7th gen­er­a­tion Flori­dan I can tru­ly say Mr. Smith has cap­tured alot of Flori­da’s his­to­ry for peo­ple who love and cher­ish their her­itage. ~ Brent Ballington

Mr. Smith, your book tru­ly touched me and recon­nect­ed me with my own Flori­da her­itage and cul­ture. Thank you for writ­ing such a vivid account of our beau­ti­ful state the way it was intend­ed to be. I only wish more peo­ple would read it and have a greater aware­ness of the cre­ation around us. ~ Kathleen

A friend of mine, who is a his­to­ry teacher here in Mel­bourne, rec­om­mend­ed this book to me and it has since become my favorite book! I can­not take a trip across the state now with­out think­ing about these char­ac­ter’s lives. I don’t look at cat­tle (or mos­qui­toes) the same way any­more! Thank you! ~ Denise Kaiser

A Land Remem­bered is an amaz­ing book. I am in 10th grade and we ad to read it for a project and I just love it. I am look­ing for­ward to read­ing more of your books. I love how your word­ing can paint an actu­al image in my mind about what is going on in every chap­ter. Hope every­thing goes well and you con­tin­ue the good work. ~ Saman­tha Kight Bell

A Land Remem­bered is the great­est book I have ever read in my life. It has giv­en me more pride about my state than ever before and has inspired me to devote my life to try­ing my best to pre­serve Fflori­da habi­tat. I’m 18 years old, and this book was not a school assign­ment. It is prob­a­bly the only book that will keep me on my front porch read­ing myself to sleep instead of going out with friends and par­ty­ing . I am almost dis­ap­point­ed that the book has an end­ing to it. I could read on for­ev­er! ~ Jor­dan Heymann

My teacher is read­ing to us this book it is awe­some! I am laugh­ing and I am sad at the same time. I am real­ly inter­est­ed in it. My class is lov­ing it. 4th grade is awe­some. Since we learn alot about Flori­da we are read­ing it. My class is on the 2nd book. I get hap­py when my teacher says come gath­er on the floor in front of the rock­ing chair. I know it is time to find out what is next! ~ 4th Grader

Dear Mr. Smith,

I writ­ing to you today, just fin­ish­ing your “A Land Remem­bered.” I must say, it’s one of the first books to ever make me cry to the point of sad­ness for the los­es of the char­ac­ters in your book. All of the ele­ments of life and truth were expressed in your book. I am a stu­dent at the Uni­ver­stiy of Flori­da, and when my room­mate told me that your book was one of the require­ments for her class, I was hap­py to know such a won­der­ful book was being giv­en, and as I mean giv­en, required to read for a grade, to stu­dents. I reas­sured my room­mate she would be read­ing an epic tale of OLD FLORIDA liv­ing. I, being from the Win­ter Haven, and liv­ing often by the Kissim­mee Riv­er in Lake Wales, Fl, I too knew the descrip­tion of the oak ham­mock and old Flori­da scrub. The sounds of the riv­er and the way a FL storm feels out­side your win­dow! I appre­ci­ate your words giv­en to the mil­lions of peo­ple, not men­tion­ing, the thou­sands of Florid­i­ans that take great pride in your words and your descrip­tions! Thank you so much. From the peo­ple of Camp Mack, FL and Win­ter Haven, FL THANK YOU!
Thanks ~ Jen­ny Lee Langa

I LOVE A LAND REMEMBERED! Me and my best friend are cur­rent­ly doing a book report on it. BEST BOOK EVER! ~ Molly

I am a mid­dle school librar­i­an and pre­vi­ous lan­guage arts teacher of 15 years. A Land Remem­bered was rec­om­mend­ed to me by my nephew many years ago. As soon as I read it, I knew I had to share it with my stu­dents. We have been read­ing it as a class nov­el ever since. ~ Lau­ra Kutz

Hel­lo Mr. Patrick D. Smith, We are cur­rent­ly read­ing this book in our class. I am enjoy­ing it alot. There is a lot of bad times and good. When­ev­er a char­ac­ter dies I can’t help but to cry because of how detailed you make it. I real­ly love the char­ac­ter “Sol,” in Vol­ume 2!!!! He’s awe­some and has gone through a lot and tak­ing it all very well. I would prob­a­bly have a ner­vous breakdown…lol!!! well c ya ~ Morgan

I heard about A Land Remem­bered years ago… I heard of teach­ers read­ing it to their stu­dents but I nev­er want­ed to tack­le a book of that mag­ni­tude. This past week I bought the stu­dent edi­tions and could not put them down. I’m not much of a fan of read­ing for “me” but I just let the laun­dry pile up and the dish­es stack up so I could fin­ish them. I became involved with the char­ac­ters; find­ing myself won­der­ing what would hap­pen next and what could have been done to pre­vent obsta­cles. Now, I am read­ing the orig­i­nal ver­sion to com­pare. I love the char­ac­ters so much that I have ordered copies for all my fourth grade teach­ers to read as a read aloud this year. Well done Mr. Smith! ~ Kim Yoder

I was so hap­py when one of my stu­dents came to me with the “kid’s” ver­sion of A Land Remem­bered. It gave us a chance to have a great dis­cus­sion. He loved the book as much as I did! ~ Deb­bie Little

As you prob­a­bly know, our entire school is read­ing the book this year.  Thank you for your con­tri­bu­tion to the chil­dren of Flori­da.  Have a hap­py birth­day.  ~ Mary Jo Han­cock, Math Teacher, Fort White High School

My 10 year old step-son reg­u­lar­ly re-reads the chil­dren’s ver­sion of A Land Remem­bered. Thank you for the slices of life, writ­ten from your heart. ~ Your Friend, Dick Peavy

“A Land Remem­bered” has had a pro­found impact on my fam­i­ly and my com­mu­ni­ty. I am not only a 4th gen­er­a­tion Flori­da Crack­er boy, I have South Car­oli­na roots as well, so I real­ly connnect­ed with the fam­i­ly. My 11 year old son (5th gen­er­a­tion Florid­i­an and avid read­er) con­sid­ers “A Land Remem­bered” his favorite book of all time. Now Fort White High School, where I am an admin­is­tra­tor, is using the book to do a school-wide book study, which is not com­mon in high schools. Hap­py Birth­day from Fort White, where some of “old Flori­da’ still exists! ~ Ed Carter

Hap­py Birth­day, Mr. Smith. I would like to thank you for all you have done through your amaz­ing sto­ry­telling. I use your books reg­u­lar­ly to teach 4th graders about Flori­da His­to­ry. Your lit­er­a­ture not only assists me in teach­ing Flori­da His­to­ry, but excites my chil­dren to no end. Thank you again for all you do. ~ Sarah Holland

I wish you the best as you cel­e­brate your birth­day this year! I also want to thank you for writ­ing a book that is so dear to me and my stu­dents. Every year, A Land Remem­bered is avid­ly read by my fourth grade stu­dents. They can’t put it down! We have inte­grat­ed your book with our oth­er cur­ricu­lum so that from Feb­ru­ary through April our stu­dents are immersed in ear­ly pio­neer life in Flori­da. We make our own braid­ed rugs and soap. Then we go on a “real” cat­tle dri­ve across a thou­sand acre ranch near our school. The stu­dents make all the food for our cat­tle dri­ve. They make but­ter, bis­cuits, beef stew, beef jerky, and straw­ber­ry jel­ly. We pack our pic­nic bas­kets and ride a hay wag­on as a local ranch­er dri­ves his cat­tle from one end of his farm to the oth­er end. I wish you could hear all the com­ments the stu­dents make as they watch the dogs work­ing the cat­tle!! “There’s Nip and there’s Tuck!” “There’s Bon­zo and Skillet!”

I am sure our school year would not be so excit­ing if you had not writ­ten your book. Thank you from the bot­tom of my heart! Hap­py Birth­day Mr. Smith! Hap­py Birthday!!

~ Mrs. Magrud­er, Cen­ter for Gift­ed and Tal­ent­ed Studies

I have shared these books with my chil­dren and now my grand­chil­dren and con­tin­ue to be amazed how each one reacts with awe through the book. The teach­ers at my school pry open eager minds to read­ing using your won­der­ful books. You are an amaz­ing sto­ry­teller. I espe­cial­ly loved your DVD on Sense of Place. ~ Helen Murray

Thank you for pro­vid­ing me many hours of fun, enjoy­ment, and edu­ca­tion about the area I live in with your books. I have used them to teach and have passed on the joy of read­ing to my stu­dents through them. Again, Hap­py Birth­day and many more. ~ Deb­bie Little

My daugh­ter was intro­duced to A Land Remem­bered in 4th grade and I read the nov­el as she read the stu­dent edi­tion. She is now 15 and has read the nov­el at least 4 times. I am a 3rd gen­er­a­tion North­east Flori­da native that so appre­ci­ates your words and the sto­ry that was told. I have read all your works and your writ­ing speaks to my Flori­da heart! ~ Don­na Pullium

My son, who is a senior at Nease high school, had to read your book for his 7th grade eng­lish class. I bought a copy and read along with him. It is our favorite book and we have passed it along, rec­comend­ed it and talked about it all of these years. I am about to start read­ing it again. ~ Melis­sa Gibbons

My chil­dren will be read­ing A Land Remem­bered soon. I can’t wait to share it with them. Thank you! ~ Carol

The best book I have ever read… it should be a book that every stu­dent in this state should have to read before they grad­u­ate high school… ~Mark McKinney

We read “A Land Remem­bered” to our son when he was 9 or 10 years old (about 16 or 17 years ago.)  It made such an impres­sion on him that his first child was born 11/29/10 and he named him Zeck­e­ri­ah (spelling is dif­fer­ent, but name cho­sen because of the book.) ~ Susan Flint, Defu­ni­ak Spring

A Land Remem­bered has been a part of my life for the past four years and I can­not imag­ine life with­out it! I have changed the lives of so many stu­dents, with the help of Patrick Smith and his vivid descrip­tions of old Flori­da and Flori­da’s rich his­to­ry. I will con­tin­ue to share this invalu­able nov­el with each stu­dent, every year! ~ Tam­mi Pur­din