In 1912, a young naturalist named Robert Cushman Murphy was offered the opportunity of a lifetime - to spend two years on one of the last Yankee whaleships out of New Bedford, on a voyage to Antarctica.

In a whimsical and witty memoir, the author describes her odyssey into the heart of America's cooking competitions as she describes her participation in the Pillsbury Bake-Off contest, her amazement when she won the million-dollar prize, ...

In 1948, nine-year-old Katy Sue's mother dies suddenly, and she and her family spend the next year trying to recover from their loss, assisted by her Aunt Katherine, who quits her teaching job to help out on their Iowa farm.