The year is 1945 in this sequel to Hostetter’s earlier novel, Blue.  Ann Fay has returned from treatment in a polio hospital and her beloved father is back from the war.  Ann Fay thinks that she understands the changes that occurred at home during the war–the deprivation, the polio epidemic that killed her younger brother and disabled her–but she has no understanding of what her father went through.  Her father suffers from what we now call post-traumatic stress disorder.  Ann Fay and her father are both in search of healing and peace of mind–”comfort”.   Ann Fay is helped on her path by caring neighbors and treatment at the Warm Springs, Georgia polio treatment center.  Her father’s healing path is lonelier and the outcome uncertain.

Comfort touches on themes of family, community, racial prejudice, and social class, but the novel never bogs down in any way.  Ann Fay’s voice rings true in this beautiful coming-of-age story.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

Posted: November 13th, 2009 under 2000-, 2009, Catawba, Children & Young Adults, Hostetter, Joyce Moyer, Piedmont.
Comments: none

This is Emily’s last family vacation before she heads off to college.  Every two years her father takes the family to meet up with his college buddies and their families.  This year the gathering will be on the Outer Banks where Emily will be reunited with three friends who are children of her dad’s friends.  Emily and Heather think that it’s time that they had a summer fling.  As the girls start to checkout the boys of summer, they are thwarted by Adam and Spencer, sons of their father’s friends who now might be seeing the girls in a new light.  Since Emily narrates the story, readers get inside the head of a teenage girl, learning her interests, her lingo, her fears.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

Posted: October 19th, 2009 under 2000-, 2008, Children & Young Adults, Clark, Catherine, Coast, Dare.
Comments: none

A new college basketball season is just around the corner, so it’s an appropriate time to add this novel to your reading list.

Mickey Barton was the captain of his high school basketball team–a team that won the state championship and a national invitational tournament.  That should make him a hot prospect for the premier basketball colleges in his state.  But Mickey has a problem–he is only 5′ 6″.  The big time schools rebuff him, and his best friend and teammate 6′ 10″ Hub Duncan trades his friendship with Mickey for a chance to play for an elite coach.  Mickey, whose dad is dead, needs a scholarship to attend college.  Luckily, his high school coach becomes the basketball coach at Greyling Tech, the perennial cellar dweller in the conference.  Mickey joins Coach Royce there.  Despite the ragtag nature of the team and bad behavior by the coach’s son, they go on to glory.

Mickey’s college, Grayling Tech, is thought to be Wake Forest, but I could not identify any of the schools in the conference.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

Posted: October 19th, 2009 under 1950-1959, 1952, Children & Young Adults, Leonard, Burgess.
Comments: none

Four young boys from the North seek adventure in the mountains around Asheville.  They find hospitable Southerners, ornery sheriffs, runaway horses, moonshiners, and a long-lost brother. The plot might not hold the attention of the YouTube generation, but the cover illustration will delight all who see it.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

Posted: September 8th, 2009 under 1910-1919, 1912, Buncombe, Children & Young Adults, Lincoln, Andrew Carey, Mountains.
Comments: none

Zack Harper, a young scout for the Continental Army, plays a key role in providing the patriots with information prior to the battle for King’s Mountain.  Much of the story is told through dialogue, making this an easy read for young adults.

This is the second of four novels about Harper’s adventures in the Revolutionary War.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

Posted: September 1st, 2009 under 1960-1969, 1962, Children & Young Adults, Historical, Mountains, Wellman, Manly Wade.
Comments: none

This volume contains the first five books in the Mandie series of children’s books set in the early 20th century. The main character, Amanda “Mandie” Shaw, lives in the Nantahala Mountains with her family, where she goes adventuring and solves mysteries. In the first few books, Mandie is helped by her best friend Joe Woodward.  She meets another helpful pal, Celia Hamilton, after she is sent to boarding school in Asheville. Mandie’s cat, Snowball, also makes frequent appearances in the books.  Recurring themes in the books are Mandie’s attempts to behave properly, her Christian faith, and her partial-Cherokee background.  Titles included in this volume include: Mandie and the Secret Tunnel, Mandie and the Cherokee Legend, Mandie and the Ghost Bandits, Mandie and the Forbidden Attic, and Mandie and the Trunk’s Secret.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

Posted: August 31st, 2009 under 2000-, 2007, Buncombe, Children & Young Adults, Leppard, Lois Gladys, Mountains, Mystery, Novels in Series, Religious/Inspirational, Swain.
Comments: 2

This is the third and final installment of the Maggie Valley trilogy, and many of the Weems family members are facing difficult decisions. Livy Two is still hoping to break into the Nashville music scene. She’s encouraged to reach for her dreams when Grandma Horace gives her Mama’s childhood diary, filled with dreams she never had a chance to follow. The sisters are inspired by the entries in their mother’s diary, and sections of the diary are included throughout the book. While Mama currently struggles with the family’s financial problems and debates moving the family away from their valley home, Livy Two and her younger sister Jitters set out for Nashville and the biggest adventure of their lives. After returning to Maggie Valley the girls, still filled with entrepreneurial spirit, find a way to honor their hardworking Mama and solve the family’s financial problems.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

Posted: August 27th, 2009 under 2000-, 2008, Children & Young Adults, Haywood, Madden, Kerry, Mountains, Novels in Series.
Comments: none

In this sequel to Gentle’s Holler, Livy Two’s sister Louise is having a hard time going to school – she’s shy and would rather stay home and work on her art. Daddy is finally back at home after the accident, but the family’s financial problems are getting worse. The Weems children help out as they know how – Emmett still works for the carnival, Livy Two helps out with the bookmobile, Becksie waitresses at the nearby pancake house, and Louise begins to sell portraits. Through their endeavors to help the family, Livy Two and Louise begin to come into their own. The confidence Louise gains from selling her art helps her to stand up to the bullies at school in her own special way. Livy Two is also empowered by working and begins to send her songs to the music men in Nashville. However, when Daddy goes missing, will their confidence be shaken?

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

Posted: August 26th, 2009 under 2000-, 2007, Children & Young Adults, Haywood, Madden, Kerry, Mountains, Novels in Series.
Comments: none

When she’s not babysitting her younger siblings and helping out with household chores, twelve-year-old Livy Two Weems has a wild imagination and wanderlust about seeing the world outside of her mountain valley, largely inspired by the books she borrows from the mobile library. She’s also creative, and takes after her father, a struggling song writer and banjo player. The song lyrics and guitar riffs Livy Two writes about her life and family relationships are interspersed throughout the chapters.

Livy Two’s youngest sister is just a toddler, but Gentle was born blind and needs extra help. The emotional ties between the sisters are explored throughout the book. After Gentle is lost for a few hours in the valley, the tie between Livy Two and Gentle is cemented when Mama ties the two girls together with an apron to prevent Gentle from getting lost again. Through all this, Livy Two keeps her chin up, but when a terrible accident happens to her father, she isn’t sure if she can be strong enough to help her family through these trying times.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library Catalog.

Posted: August 25th, 2009 under 2000-, 2005, Children & Young Adults, Haywood, Madden, Kerry, Mountains, Novels in Series.
Comments: none

• Gentle’s Holler.  New York: Viking, 2005.
• Louisiana’s Song.  New York: Viking, 2007.
• Jessie’s Mountain.  New York: Viking, 2008.

Set in the mountains of North Carolina during the early 1960s, the books in the Maggie Valley trilogy follow the Weems family as they go through life in a small valley town in Haywood County.  Jessie and Tom Weems have ten children, with unique talents and personalities.  The books are narrated by Livy Two, their second oldest daughter who is twelve years old and full of moxie.  Livy Two writes her own songs, plays the guitar, and generally takes after her father.  Mountain music and song lyrics are included in many of the chapters, creatively explaining how Livy Two sees the relationships between family members and describing their way of life.  The Weems family is also joined by the cantankerous Grandma Horace and an affable pet dog, Uncle Hazard.  While nothing ever seems to be easy for the Weems family, their ties stay strong as they experience financial problems, health problems, and a major accident.  The novels explore the relationships among all the Weems children, but pay particular attention to three of the Weems daughters – Livy Two, Louise, and Jitters – as they come into their own.

Posted: August 25th, 2009 under Children & Young Adults, Haywood, Madden, Kerry, Mountains, Novels in Series, Series.
Comments: 1