26. Ruby Holler

Ruby Holler, by Sharon Creech, is ultimately a story about love and family. The story centers around thirteen year old twins, Dallas and Florida. They grew up at the Boxton Creek Home for Children as they were orphaned shortly after they were born. Unfortunately, Boxton Creek Home for Children is not a nice place to grow up as the owners are only interested in one thing - their profits. Because Dallas and Florida have been there so long, they know all of the rules and break most of them. The owners refer to the twins as the "trouble twins." Although they have been to a number of foster homes, they always gget sent back to the Home. Their luck changes when Tiller and Sairy, a much older couple with grown children, asks the Home if they can have the twins stay with them in Ruby Holler as they need some help preparing for a trip. Suspicious, the twins do not understand why they are NOT always in trouble. Their lives turn into a wonderful adventure in Ruby Holler and they solve a mystery that puts an end to the Boxton Creek Home for Children. They learn that parenting does not have to be cruel and that family is forever.

Ruby Holler won the Carnegie Award for Children's Literature in 2002.

From the author's website:
About six years ago I received a letter from my aunt in which she related a story about my father when he was young. She ended the story with "and that was when we lived in the holler." Holler? I hadn't known about the holler and was intrigued by the notion of my father and his many siblings and parents living in this place. I began to imagine the place, and as I did so, I knew it would be a great setting for a story, but it was several years before I began to see who the characters might be who would live in this holler. I think that the older couple, Tiller and Sairy, evolved because I was thinking of my grandparents living in a holler, and this couple resembles my grandparents in some ways. The children, Dallas and Florida, probably came to life because I'd been thinking of my father as a mischievous child (that was evident in the original story my aunt told) and his equally-mischievous siblings. After I'd begun the story, I saw a real photo of my grandparents' house in the holler. The house was but a tiny shack, rather decrepit looking, and the holler wasn't as enchanting as the one I imagined. I'm glad I didn't see the photo before I began the story!

TITLE: Ruby Holler
AUTHOR: Sharon Creech
COPYRIGHT: 2002
PAGES: 310
TYPE: Fiction
RECOMMEND: While I liked this book, I did not love it. Still I think it might offer some interesting lessons for young children

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13. The Patron Saint of Liars

This first novel from Ann Patchett begins with a lie of omission. The consequences of that lie and how the characters deal with them is at the heart of the remainder of the book. Which is laden with lies. The story is told from three perspectives: Rose, who left her husband who did not know she was pregnant and traveled from California to Kentucky to stay at a Catholic Home for Unwed mothers to deliver her child and give it up for adoption. Son, the older man who is a maintenance man for the home who eventually marries Rose and serves as a father to Rose's daughter. And Sissy - the daughter who wants a mother to love her. No one in this story really gets what they want. Actually it was the side characters that I really enjoyed in this book - a young girl whose baby dies at birth, a nun who can see the future for the unborn babes, and the other girls who wind up at St. Elizabeth's.

I enjoyed the book as it was told from Rose's and even Son's perspective. I did not care for the daughter's perspective which included an ending that was too abrupt although somewhat expected.

TITLE: The Patron Saint of Liars
AUTHOR: Ann Patchett
COPYRIGHT: 1992
PAGES: 335
TYPE: Fiction
RECOMMEND: Yes, it is worth the read especially if you are Catholic

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3. The Girls Who Went Away

The Girls Who Went Away

Ann Fessler interviewed over 100 birth mothers who were forced to give up their babies for adoption during the post-WWII years. The stories were related by the mothers themselves and were heartbreaking. Through these stories, the despair and long-lasting emotional effects of giving up one's child were clearly portrayed. The work is somewhat repetitive, but perhaps it was the author's intent to lead the reader to understand the widespread societal norms of the times. I feel that the author would have completed the work with some indication of how these practices have been replaced with today's solution to unwed pregnancies. She, of course, indicates that post Roe v. Wade, young women have had the option for abortion. I think perhaps the same social stigmas are intact, at least in the Deep South. But certainly, the options are greater. However, the pain may be the same.

The most interesting outcome, for me, while reading this book was to remember my own teen years during the 60s and 70s. My best friend "went away" and there were rumors that she was pregnant. I never believed it because I could not believe that I, as her best friend, would not know. When she came back, we were no longer friends and I could not understand what had changed. Now I think I understand. Because she could not share this intimate secret with me, she must have felt it was difficult to continue our friendship. We continued to know one another through high school graduation and I know that she is now married with three children because I sometimes see her mother-in-law. I hope that she is happy and I am sorry that she had to experience what the women interviewed by Fessler described.

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