Announcing the publication of Jackie Jackson's life work:
“Jackie Jackson throws open the Round Barn doors at the Dougan family farm to tell us an American story. She gives us a rich history of farm life at the mercy of the forces of science and the market but grounded in rock-solid Wisconsin values.” —Dick Durbin, U.S. Senator
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“A Biography of an American Farm.”
Jacqueline Dougan Jackson, age 17
—from PROLOGUE
Jackie is fourteen. She sits on the arm of Grampa's easy chair. She rumples his thinning hair and shapes it into a Kewpie-doll
twist. This is a ritual, with all the grandchildren, ever since they were little. Grampa laughs with his stomach, silently.
An idea strikes Jackie. She takes a pencil and paper. These are always near Grampa, for Grampa is deaf. They are always near Jackie, too, for Jackie writes things down. Maybe she has this habit from writing for Grampa all her life. Being his ears. She writes, "Grampa, I am going to write you a book. I am going to call it, The Round Barn."
Grampa studies the paper. He takes a long time to ponder it. Then he nods slowly. "The Round Barn," he says. "Yes, the round barn will have a lot to say." He crinkles all over his face and laughs silently. He is pleased, she can tell.
"I can write," Jackie says to herself, "what the round barn sees. Not just what I know it sees. But what Grampa knows it sees. And Daddy. The milkmen. The cows. All of us! For the round barn is in the middle of us all, and it sees everything. It is the center."
