Middle Grade Pick: On Snowden Mountain

On Snowden Mountain
by Jeri Watts
Candlewick Press
2019
193 pages
ISBN: 9780763697440

Twelve year old Ellen's father goes off to fight World War II, and her mother sinks into her deepest depression yet. Ellen has nowhere to turn except her distant Aunt Pearl. Pearl shows up, takes everything into her own hands and packs the family up to live in her small frame home at the base of the mountains in West Virginia.

Ellen is used to big city Baltimore and going to school with children her age. In the mountains, there's nothing but a one room schoolhouse, a gruff teacher, farm kids, mountain kids and a stinky skunk kid. There's nothing to do in the small village and Ellen isn't one to explore the mountain. Her mother is like a walking zombie, and Ellen fears she may end up with her mother's illness after she learns her grandmother also suffered depression.

Aunt Pearl's distance thaws out over time, and Ellen enjoys spending time with her and hearing about the past. Although her mother doesn't seem any better, Ellen gets a letter with news her father is coming home.

Issues of abuse, mental illness, poverty, depression, war and friendship are deftly handled by author Jeri Watts. Although the issues seem for a much older crowd this is a lower middle grade read that could easily be read by age eight and up.

Recommended grade 4 and up and for introspective readers who enjoy a "quiet" story.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.

High School Pick: The Pearl Thief (Guest Reviewer Leslie D. Rush)

Guest Review by Leslie D. Rush. Follow Leslie on Twitter @LeslieDRush

The Pearl Thief

Elizabeth Wein

Disney-Hyperion

217

317 pages (with  author’s notes)

ISBN: 97814847165

     The Pearl Thief is the coming of age story of Julia Beaufort-Stuart, whose privileged life in the world of Scottish nobility collides with prejudice and her own sexual stirrings in the summer of 1938.

     Julie’s Grandfather, the Earl of Strathfearn, has died deep in debt, and the family is spending their last summer at the estate. Grandfather’s historical collection is catalogued and the estate grounds are being converted to an elite boarding school. Shortly after arriving, Julie is knocked unconscious on the banks of the river and wakes up in the hospital with little recollection of the attack, or the following three days, during which she was rescued and tended to by a family of Scottish gypsies, known as Travellers.

     Julie befriends the family of Travellers, but the disappearance of one of the estate historians is tied to the attack on Julie. This disappearance becomes a suspected suicide, but when the river gives up body parts, the inquiry turns into a murder investigation. Long-ingrained class prejudice against the Travellers surfaces among the local law enforcement, Julie’s librarian friend, and her own family. As her memory of the initial attack begins to return, Julie must solve the mystery before her friends are framed for murder.

        Throughout the book Julie has a burgeoning crush on Frank, the remaining historian. He is at least fifteen years older than Julie, but she implies she is older than her almost-sixteen years and  flirts with him constantly. Frank keeps Julie at arm’s length but is obviously attracted to her. Julie also has a crush on the beautiful, prickly Ellen, a member of the Travellers, and a well-drawn, interesting character, who teaches Julie how boys kiss “when they mean it.”  

     The unfolding mystery is solid, and the historical background is fascinating. I struggled with Julie’s wildly inappropriate relationship with Frank, despite its underlying message as a cautionary tale. The excessive use of parentheticals and italics to establish Julie’s voice was distracting, but eloquent descriptions of the landscape and history of the region create a powerful setting.

       This book is the prequel to the much-praised Code Name Verity. It stands on its own fairly well, but I suspect it will have more impact on readers who know Julie’s eventual fate. This one feels like Nancy Drew confronts British class prejudice and kisses a girl.

     The Pearl Thief is recommended for ages fifteen and up. Recommended for readers of Code Name Verity and anyone who loves historical fiction and  mystery.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received the book from the publisher for #Cybils panel. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review nor did the guest reviewer.

Sure to Become a Classic Pick: Wolf Hollow

Wolf Hollow
by Lauren Wolk
Dutton Children's Books
2016
291 pages
ISBN" 9781101994825


Wolf Hollow is sure to become a classic of children's literature. It is the triumphant story of a rural childhood during World War II set in the hills and hollows of Pennsylvania's mountains. Annabelle lives on a farm where life is defined by the rising and setting of the sun and the passing of seasons. There are always chores to do before and after school: stock to be tended, stalls to be cleaned, food to be prepared, clothes to be washed. The list is never-ending, but Annabelle never complains. It is expected of children to help in the home and on the farm.

Life seems idyllic besides the work, but when Betty Glengarry moves in with her grandparents, she threatens Annabelle's quiet life. Betty has been shipped off to her grandparents in the country because she is "incorrigable." Annabelle thinks that Betty is just plain mean and evil.  Betty tells Annabelle to bring her something, or she will hurt Annabelle and her two younger brothers. Annabelle brings a penny, all that she has, and Betty laughs and hits her with a stick.

Annabelle decides she is not going to back down to Betty's threats after that. She does not want to tell her parents either. She decides that she will have to stand up to Betty. A silent witness who makes his home in the woods sees all. Toby, a silent loner who arrived after World War I, roams the hills around Annabelle's farm. She is not afraid of him. Toby is gentle and quiet. He just wants to be left alone. He leads a simple life, hunting what meat he can find, and Annabelle's mother makes sure to send a plate of food with Annabelle up the road where she will leave it for Toby to find. The next day the washed plate is always left right where Annabelle set it, and Annabelle knows that Toby got a decent meal.

As the taunting and bullying from Betty comes to a head, suddenly Betty finds another ally. Farm boy Andy comes to school and soon Betty is too smitten by his attentions to bother Annabelle until the day that someone hurts Annabelle's friend Ruth. A rock thrown from the trees on the hill  changes Ruth's life forever and affects the entire community.

Betty blames Toby by saying that he was probably aiming at Mr. Ansel's wagon or Mr. Ansel. Annabelle knows Toby would never hurt anyone, and she wants to prove his innocence.

The life lessons contained in Wolf Hollow are reason enough for everyone to read this book. WWII changed the landscape of America forever. Many boys did not come home, and those who did never talked about the horrors of war they faced. They became silent witnesses, like Toby. Maybe some became scapegoats for others' crimes and misdeeds.

It is brilliant that a child like Annabelle could see the shining light in Toby when the adults could not. Maybe they did not look for it or did not look deeply or long enough. Adults can  be too quick to judge. They can form opinions of a quiet loner. They may think he is crazy, or stupid, or a lazy bum or a threat. But a child sees his honestly, his care, and his grace.

Bring tissues. Wolf Hollow will both break your heart and refresh your spirit!

This is the BEST childhood classic I have read in a very long time. It reminds me of Charlotte's Web and A Secret Garden. Every child and every adult should read this book. Do NOT miss this one.
School book clubs and reading clubs must read this book!

FTC Required Disclaimer: I purchased this book for my library. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.

Book Club Pick: The Atomic Weight of Love

The Atomic Weight of Love
by Elizabeth J. Church
Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill
2016
333 pages
ISBN: 9781616204846
NOW available

#1 Indie Next Pick, May 2016

Reviews:


“Church's debut novel explores the relationship between sacrifice and love...Church's commentary on the American nuclear family, particularly the expectations placed on women, showcases iterations ranging from doting housewives and mothers who are content in their roles to the rebellious. Each sentence drives the plot further, exploring love's limits and its spoils. But it's Church's exploration of Meridian's role in her relationships that is the most gracefully executed feat of the novel. Meridian's voice is poignant, a mixture of poetry and observation...An elegant glimpse into the evolution of love and womanhood.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Oh, what a incandescent debut! From the atomic bomb tests at Los Alamos to the Vietnam War protests to the fascinating lives of crows, Church follows one extraordinary woman, who is brave to enough to challenge the times, take defiant wing, and chart her own extraordinary flight path. So engrossing, I couldn’t wait to read another page, and so alive, I never wanted the story to end.” —Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of Is This Tomorrow and Pictures of You

My Review:

A  sweeping epic, The Atomic Weight of Love,  has everything a book needs: a strong woman who challenges herself and her times, the promise of passionate lifetime love, a trip across America, a husband (who is much older)  and  has top secret clearance during WWII, an intelligence and passion for living and work, and all the unanswered questions of life.

Meridian follows her scientist husband to Albuquerque where she will stay while he works on a secret government project in Los Alamos. Alden and his team are working on  a way to defeat the enemy: the atomic bomb. He cannot tell Meri what he's working on but he says, "It has the power to end the war...It also has the power to end life as we know it. It will change the world." Meri herself is a scientist, and as spouses, Alden and she have lengthy scientific discussions.  She is a brilliant student of ornithology and  just beginning  her labor of love: the study of crow behavior.

Putting her graduate studies on hold, Meri follows Alden back to Los Alamos after the war and feels defeated herself. She longs to finish her degree and do real work in her field and questions whether her work is less important than Alden's simply because she's a wife. She doesn't want to be like the other wives of Alden's colleagues and she refers to them as "fungible" (great word: look it up).

Meridian becomes a housewife and tries to fit in--throwing dinner parties, making special meals, trying to make friends with fungible women, but it's all not enough. She feels lost and trapped. She continues to observe crows in the canyon and one day is surprised to meet a young man, a soldier back from Viet Nam. Suddenly, everything changes for her.  Mari experiences true freedom for the first time in her life and it's exhilarating and it's frightening.

The Atomic Weight of Love is full of promises, those kept and those let go. Circumstances can change in a fleeting second and the weight of life's decisions and those we love influences the decisions we make. Meridian looks back not with remorse but with knowledge and love.

Recommended for adult readers and book clubs. This is not a feel good book. This is a book about real life and it's not uplifting but nonetheless an important read. Hundreds of thousands if not millions of women, like Meridian,  have encountered ties that bind, ties that choke, ties that kill.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.

Book Club Pick: Heading Out To Wonderful (now in paperback)

Heading Out to Wonderful
by Robert Goolrick
Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill
2013 (hardcover edition 2012)
292 pages

now in paperback

Poignant, passionate, and perfect, Heading Out to Wonderful weaves a cautionary tale for young men who dare to dream and young women who reach for the blazing stars.

Charlie Beale arrives in sleepy Brownsburg, Virginia, with a dream, a past, and a ton of money. He is a stranger to the people here, and they don't trust strangers. He buys land down near the river and keeps to himself. Charlie takes a job at the local butcher shop and becomes friendly with the butcher, his wife and young son. A single, good looking young man in a small town becomes fodder for the town's gossip mills; there are whispers about what Charlie does and what he really  wants.

Charlie just wants to buy land...a lot of it. He has a yearning to own property--a need so deep that even when he owns more land than anyone, he is not sated. Charlie doesn't have a name for what bothers him...until he sees...her. Sylvan Glass, the wife of the town's richest and most powerful man.

Sylvan is a country girl; she is a hillbilly with no education, but she has dreams. She always wanted to be a movie star or live like one. She is infatuated with movie star glamour and hires the best seamstress in town to sew her Hollywood style outfits. Sylvan dreams of money, glamour and romance. Through her rose colored glasses, anything is possible.  Charlie becomes her movie star and she becomes his muse.

It is only natural for masculine speciman Charlie and beautiful, dreamy Sylvan  to fall hopelessly in love. They share a bond so deep, so tangible, that it can only result in trouble. The duo is destined for tragedy from their first encounter.

Goolrick builds a great story layer upon layer, deftly telling the story of Charlie and Sylvan's star-crossed romance while he builds the back story of a young boy's coming of age story--where the boy has to accept that his hero is not perfect.

Heading Out to Wonderful will resonate with  readers. The setting of small town post-war Virginia harkens back to Mayberry RFD, and you expect Gomer or Andy to wave hello to you. This is Anywhere, USA--1948--and it couldn't be more nostalgic.

The novel has a tragic ending, of course, but one I wasn't prepared for. I loved the storytelling and I loved the love story, but it took me two weeks to digest this story. It is a beautiful story and it is a terrible story. There is much to discover here for book club members.

Highly, highly recommended for mature readers and book clubs. Grade 9-adult. Sex and mature situations.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.

Book Giveaway: Exciting Wartime Spy Thriller

Shadow on the Mountain
by Maggie Preus
Amulet (Abrams)
2012
304 pages

I have 10 copies of the arc (advance reader copy) of Shadow on the Mountain compliments of Amulet (Abrams) up for grabs.

Read about the book from the publisher's website:

"About the book
Shadow on the Mountain recounts the adventures of a 14-year-old Norwegian boy named Espen during World War II. After Nazi Germany invades and occupies Norway, Espen and his friends are swept up in the Norwegian resistance movement. Espen gets his start by delivering illegal newspapers, then graduates to the role of courier and finally becomes a spy, dodging the Gestapo along the way. During five years under the Nazi regime, he gains—and loses—friends, falls in love, and makes one small mistake that threatens to catch up with him as he sets out to escape on skis over the mountains to Sweden.
Preus incorporates archival photographs, maps, and other images to tell this story based on the real-life adventures of Norwegian Erling Storrusten, whom Preus interviewed in Norway."

Here are what others are saying:

"STARRED REVIEW
"Newbery Honor winner Preus infuses the story with the good-natured humor of a largely unified, peace-loving people trying to keep their sanity in a world gone awry. Based on a true story, the narrative is woven with lively enough daily historical detail to inspire older middle-grade readers to want to learn more about the Resistance movement and imitate Espen’s adventures."
—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"A closely researched historical novel... relates this wartime tale with intelligence and humor...Ms. Preus deftly uses together historical fact (Espen is based on a real-life spy) and elements of Norwegian culture to conjure a time and place not so terribly long ago."
—The Wall Street Journal

"Margi Preus, who won a Newbery honor for Heart of a Samurai, returns with another riveting work of historical fiction... This fine novel, which includes an author’s note, a timeline, a bibliography and even a recipe for invisible ink, is based on extensive research... The result is an authentic coming-of-age story, perfect for readers fascinated by the diary of Anne Frank or Lois Lowry’s classic, Number the Stars."
—BookPage

If you would love a chance for a copy, please post a comment to the blog and include your first name, city, state, and email contact address. Sorry, we can only ship to U.S. addresses.

Deadline for posts is September 26 at noon MST. Winners are chosen randomly by Randomizer. Winners will be notified after noon on the 26th. Please check your email. Winners have 24 hours to respond to the email and send me their mailing information. Books will ship from New York courtesy of Amulet (Abrams).

Don't miss this fascinating ya title.

Start posting and good luck!
Pamela