Tag Archives: Norma Jean Lutz

Car Seats Designed So Baby Can See Out the Windshield? How Safe is That? Not!

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Hello again Book Lover ~~

Clean Teen ReadsBecause Althea’s car seat plays such an important role in Flower in the Hills, you might be interested in taking a look at what car seats used to look like.

No Seat Belts; No Secure Infant Seats

I can remember as a little kid standing up in the back seat of our family Buick. When my younger brother and sister came along, they did the same thing. As an adult, I brought both my babies home from the hospital lying on a pillow on my lap.

Clean Teen ReadsNo one was even using seat belts back then, let alone safe, secure infant seats.

The earliest car seats were not designed for safety. They were to keep the child confined and to allow them to see out the windshield as they traveled. (The one pictured on the left would be similar to the one Latina gave to the Clouse family.)

Think of how many decades that cars have been roaring down our highways all across this nation, and yet it wasn’t until 1985 that the first child passenger safety laws were passed. That’s a lot of years of infants and small children being injured, or killed, in car wrecks because they were flying missiles inside the vehicle. It’s much different today with highly regulated safety rules for all infant seats.(Like the one pictured below.)

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A Wonderful Gift

But in our story (Flower in the Hills) the car seat for little Althea was a wonderful gift to the family – even if it didn’t meet today’s strict regulations. Did you like how the car seat played an important role in the climax of the plot? Tell me in the comments section below!

“Latina’s making like Casper the Ghost…”

Did you ever suffer from motion sickness when you were younger? Or maybe you do now even today. It’s pure agony, I can tell you. Poor Latina gets car sick as she experiences her first glimpse of the dark, brooding Ozark hills. (The above quote is from her younger brother, Dirk.) We’ll talk about motion sickness in the next blog! See you there…

Meanwhile, keep on reading,

Norma Jean

PS: Heads up!  The second title in the Norma Jean Lutz Classic Collection is about a girl who’s all mixed up about whether to enjoy her passion in life –or worry about what others think of her.  Ever feel that way? Tiger Beetle at Kendallwood is coming soon!

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Tying Her Wraparound What??

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Hey Book Lover ~~

Clean Teen ReadsI’m sure it’s no secret to you that fashions change almost at the drop of a hat. (No pun intended!)

I can remember when Fridays were jeans/Levis day at our school. We wouldn’t have dreamed of wearing jeans any other day except on jeans day.  Wow! Did that fashion ever change.

In Flower in the Hills, our main character, Latina, is spending her summer in an old farmhouse in the Ozark hills in Missouri. If that were you, what would you be wearing every day? Probably shorts, right? It’s summer; it’s hot. But look at this.

 

A Wraparound What?Clean Teen Reads

As Latina is walking through the house to answer a knock at the door, she is “retying her wraparound skirt as she went.”

A skirt? She’s wearing a skirt? And a wraparound skirt at that.

A wraparound skit is one large piece of fabric with long ties. Usually there’s a hole in the waistband to pull the right tie through. The left tie is pulled around to the back and the two are then tied together. Some tie in the back, some on the side, some in the front.(As in the photo of this old Simplicity pattern.)

[As an interesting side note – these skirts are now actually coming back into style. You just never know do you!]

Skirts and Dresses Every Day

But back to the point. In Latina’s day, skirts and blouses, or simple cotton dresses were worn on a daily basis. Shorts? Once in a while.

How would that fit with your present wardrobe?

Other Drastic Changes

And speaking of changes. Omigoodness – have children’s car seats ever changed through the years. In Flower in the Hills, Althea’s car seat plays an important role in the story. I can tell you that that car seat in the story looked nothing like what you see today.

That’s coming up in the next blog!

Meanwhile, keep on reading,

Norma Jean

PS: What did your mom wear when she was in high school that you wouldn’t be caught dead wearing to school today?

PPS: Are you fashion-conscious? Or do clothes take second place in your life?

Leave your comments below. I love hearing from you.

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