April 15, 2022
Ginny Rose Gilley's family struggled to survive as migrant farm workers after losing their Oklahoma farm to the Dust Bowl. On her birthday, Ginny Rose had to do something no newly 6-year-old should ever have to do: help her father bury her two younger brothers who died of dysentery. Now it's 1947, and her father is working at a railway station, 16-year-old Ginny Rose has a job at a cannery, and the family is finally putting down roots in a town in California's Central Valley they know well from their migrant farming days. However, their improving circumstances do little to ease her mother's all-consuming grief that makes life difficult for Ginny Rose and her three younger sisters. Working gives Ginny Rose new freedom, and a rekindled childhood friendship with peach farmer's daughter Peggy Simmons allows her to be a carefree teenager for the first time. Peggy's wealthy best friend threatens to get in the way of the friendship, but an out-of-the-ordinary adventure unexpectedly brings the girls together. Themes of class and wealth are handled with a light but impactful touch, and the presumed White main characters resist the gender and economic inequalities they face with courage and grit. Unfortunately, racial themes are less well developed: Mexican fieldworkers' lives are presented without nuance, and Japanese American farming families, a significant population in this region until their recent wartime incarceration, are not mentioned at all. Highlights bonds between unforgettable female characters. (Historical fiction. 13-18)
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April 18, 2022
In a historical novel set in 1947 California, Van Draanen (Hope in the Mail) chronicles the friendship of two presumed white teens whose friendship is constrained by societal attitudes. Ten years before this book’s present, 16-year-old Ginny Rose’s little brothers died of dysentery in a shantytown after the family lost everything in Oklahoma. Now, her father’s permanent job at the Ferrybank train yard means a settled home for the family, which previously took on work as migrant farmers. Her childhood friend, Peggy—whose family owns a peach farm where Ginny’s dad once worked—is happy that Ginny’s back, though both families disapprove of their friendship’s disregard for class boundaries. While Ginny Rose navigates a grueling new job and protects her sisters from their grieving mother’s increasingly unpredictable moods, Peggy learns uncomfortable truths about those closest to her. Soon, the teens commit to a risky plan to bring closure to Ginny’s family’s painful past, and their bond offers them both a new feeling of freedom. Exploring gender roles and class hierarchies alongside postwar U.S. attitudes that resonate today, Van Draanen’s heartfelt telling captures the close bond of two lovable heroines. Ages 12–up. Agent: Ginger Knowlton, Curtis Brown.
August 26, 2022
Gr 8 Up-Van Draanen's foray into historical fiction is a successful snapshot of post-Depression America. Even more importantly, she continues to capture the souls of teenage girls, perfectly penning the hopes and fears of her protagonists' progression. The two narrators-Ginny Rose and Peggy-are distinct. Ginny Rose grapples with settling down after years of Dust Bowl travels and heartbreak, experiences reflected in her steely outlook and resolve. She works to provide for her family, both physically and emotionally. Peggy also experiences growth, minus the tragic backstory. She inhabits the optimism of a kid growing up through wartime, seeing life and gender roles change and now finding herself unwilling to move backward. The friendship between these girls, and the relationships of the siblings and acquaintances around them, are all built on compassion. There are no simple villains here. Everyone has a story, everyone is complex, and the post-Depression era setting serves to educate while highlighting fundamental lessons about empathy. All main characters cue white. VERDICT A compelling story of friendship and learning from tragedy, set against a historically accurate and fascinating backdrop.-Cat McCarrey
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