Cracker Cow Tallahassee History Shop Cracker Cow Category:  History Publisher: IRC Books ISBN-10:  2007920831 Type: Non-Fiction Pages: 104 Copyright: February 24, 2007 ISBN-13: 9780979288500 Maggie the Cracker Cow is the co-author of this unique history of Florida.  This Florida history book provides a fun way to learn the history of a state through the character Magnolia, a Cracker Cow. (otherwise known as Maggie) Maggie interrupts the narrator to tell about her ancestors who came to Florida with Ponce de Leon in 1521 and started the whole cattle industry in the state. She interjects humor throughout the book although she is uncertain of her own fate until the last page of the book.     Excerpt By 1890, Florida was the only state east of the Mississippi that had acres of land with fewer than two people for each square mile.There were cow camps set up in most parts of the state.This great expanse of palmetto grasses, hardwood hammocks,and cypress stands, was referred to as the Palmetto Prairie.

Editor: Cedar Key Beacon
"Plenty of historians use the device of an exemplary narrator to make a historic account more personal or accessible. Usually, however, that narrator has a human voice.
Barbara Cairns, in her recent Florida history book, CRACKER COW, takes a different approach to the narrator voice. With her look at the history of stock-keeping in Florida, she makes her narrator a modern-day Cracker cow named Magnolia, Maggie for short.
In between Maggie's narration, Cairns uses a more typical third-person technique to describe the history of Florida since the arrival of the Spanish in the early 16th century.
Cairns' tale of this portion of Florida's environmental and agricultural history is fascinating, and she provides plenty of resources for the interested person to learn more.
CRACKER COW is available through the author's website at www.crackercow.com"

Author of A Land Remembered: Patrick Smith
"CRACKER COW provides an interesting journey through Florida history, going back to the native Indians, then the Spanish, French, British, and the early American pioneers. It also traces the history of cattle and horses in Florida. Many people don't know that Florida was this country's first cattle state, and even today, the number one beef-producing ranch in the nation is located in Florida.
One unique aspect of CRACKER COW is the use of Magnolia, a cracker cow that narrates parts of the book. She provides information about many things, including herself, and you become concerned about her fate. All she wants is to be set free in a place where she can eat sweet grass and drink clear water. You will learn what happens to her on the last page of the book. Barbara Cairns has packed a lot of information into just 83 pages."

Home-schooling Parent
"After reading your wonderful book (and falling in love with Maggie), I thought it was a wonderful tool for teaching my children Florida history. Since I was home-schooling, I incorporated excerpts from your book in my lesson plans.
The humor and insight made this book a delicious compliment to what they had previously thought was a dry and unappetizing subject.
I recommend your book to all who are looking for a way to make our state history fun. Please give us more.