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3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
Wow! This author can really suck you into a time and place!
I want to get my complaint out of the way first, especially because it has nothing to do with the actual content of the story: My biggest complaint was with the text - why oh why do publishers insist on printing in anything other than black!? The red text was hard enough to read, but the faded red on the letters was extremely difficult and I know a number of people who would not be able to read this book simply because of the text color.
Now to reviewing the actual story:
This was a sweet slice of life in the North Carolina mountains in the 20s. I liked how it called out some of the problematic issues with some of the people that came into the mountains to "help" without vilifying them.
I liked the voice of Arie Mae and her letters. I liked the rise and fall of the story and the use of stories throughout the book to tie people together and help friendships develop.
Now to reviewing the actual story:
This was a sweet slice of life in the North Carolina mountains in the 20s. I liked how it called out some of the problematic issues with some of the people that came into the mountains to "help" without vilifying them.
I liked the voice of Arie Mae and her letters. I liked the rise and fall of the story and the use of stories throughout the book to tie people together and help friendships develop.
A poignant story of trying to fulfill the deep ache for friendship in an isolated setting. Arie Mae is unable to find a true best friend within her small NC mountain community, so she decides to begin a correspondence with the cousin in Raleigh that she's never met. Despite receiving no response, she continues to write. Each letter is a new chapter that details her everyday life along with the effects of the arrival of a small band of children from Baltimore who come with their families to establish a traditional crafts school.
Author Dowell gently conveys issues of classism as she juxtaposes the different lifestyles and has Arie Mae reflect on her feelings of embarrassment and inferiority. I especially liked the treatment given to the songcatcher women who came to the mountains to preserve the ballads -- I hadn't before considered that what they were looking for was a time already passed even in the 20s.
Arie Mae is a lovely protagonist: strong willed, thoughtful, and persistent. Her vernacular and writing style easily convey the mountain accent without putting the reader off.
A sweet without being saccharine exploration of a historical period with relevance to my area's audience.
Author Dowell gently conveys issues of classism as she juxtaposes the different lifestyles and has Arie Mae reflect on her feelings of embarrassment and inferiority. I especially liked the treatment given to the songcatcher women who came to the mountains to preserve the ballads -- I hadn't before considered that what they were looking for was a time already passed even in the 20s.
Arie Mae is a lovely protagonist: strong willed, thoughtful, and persistent. Her vernacular and writing style easily convey the mountain accent without putting the reader off.
A sweet without being saccharine exploration of a historical period with relevance to my area's audience.
http://librarianosnark.blogspot.com/2014/08/review-anybody-shining.html
12-year-old Arie Mae loves living in the Appalachian Mountains. She is so proud of her mother, who sings the old songs like an angel and her father who loves modern and traditional music. All that is missing in her life is a best friend. Arie Mae starts writing letters to her cousin who lives far away in Baltimore and whose mother had grown up in the mountains. After sending letter after letter, Arie Mae gets no response, but continues writing anyway, sharing the details of her life and adventures. Then Arie Mae gets another chance to make a new friend. A group of children from Baltimore are coming to the mountains along with the song catcher ladies, who will record the traditional songs and who have also created a new school for people to learn traditional crafts that can then be sold. Arie Mae knows right away that she won’t be friends with the bossy girl who looks down on the mountain children. But there is a boy with a limp who loves to hear the traditional stories and refuses to let his limp stop him from exploring. His mother warns Arie Mae that he should not exert himself much because of his health, but nothing is going to slow either of them down now that they are friends and there are woods and mountains to discover together.
Dowell writes with a beauty that brings the Appalachians to life. She captures the lifestyle of these people without flinching from the poverty that they live in, but also revealing the incredible simplicity of this life that makes it possible. She shows the tension between traditional ways of life and the modern world in a very developed way, where the outsiders are the ones who want the traditions to continue and their lives to be undisturbed by modern conventions. This is a beautiful novel about the power of writing, the question of whether those living in the mountains need saving, and the quest for a best friend.
Arie Mae is a wonderful character. She is the lens through which we see the mountains and it is her love for them that appears on the page. So does her voice, which is clarion clear and written with the rhythm of the mountains entwined in it. Here is a passage from page 22 of the e-galley where she writes to her cousin about how writing has changed her:
"I have found that since I started writing letters to you I’ve been paying close attention to all the doings and comings and goings of a day. It’s like saving secrets to share with a friend late in the evening, when the lights are dimmed but for a single lantern hanging on a neighbor’s porch across the holler."
These are the sorts of images shared throughout the book, sprinkled throughout. The setting of the mountains is as much a character on the page as Arie Mae is. And it is brought to life just as vividly.
Strongly written, with beautiful passages, this novel for middle graders invites them to spend time with Arie Mae in the mountains and to join in the adventures. Appropriate for ages 9-12.
Dowell writes with a beauty that brings the Appalachians to life. She captures the lifestyle of these people without flinching from the poverty that they live in, but also revealing the incredible simplicity of this life that makes it possible. She shows the tension between traditional ways of life and the modern world in a very developed way, where the outsiders are the ones who want the traditions to continue and their lives to be undisturbed by modern conventions. This is a beautiful novel about the power of writing, the question of whether those living in the mountains need saving, and the quest for a best friend.
Arie Mae is a wonderful character. She is the lens through which we see the mountains and it is her love for them that appears on the page. So does her voice, which is clarion clear and written with the rhythm of the mountains entwined in it. Here is a passage from page 22 of the e-galley where she writes to her cousin about how writing has changed her:
"I have found that since I started writing letters to you I’ve been paying close attention to all the doings and comings and goings of a day. It’s like saving secrets to share with a friend late in the evening, when the lights are dimmed but for a single lantern hanging on a neighbor’s porch across the holler."
These are the sorts of images shared throughout the book, sprinkled throughout. The setting of the mountains is as much a character on the page as Arie Mae is. And it is brought to life just as vividly.
Strongly written, with beautiful passages, this novel for middle graders invites them to spend time with Arie Mae in the mountains and to join in the adventures. Appropriate for ages 9-12.