Shiloh...the Rest of the Story...

Shiloh Season is the second book in the Shiloh series  and Saving Shiloh is the third and final.  I really did enjoy these books, a lot.  I thought that the relationship between Marty and Judd, the man with the drinking problem who previously owned Shiloh.  I can see why this is very popular.

Everybody Loves Jill

That is a pretty catchy song.  I have two friends with that name and I torture one of them weekly by signing this song.
Everybody also loves Shiloh.  I had to see what the love was all about and I can see why it receives much praise.
A boy and his dog story, but the dog doesn't die!

Ghost from the Past

A million years ago I was told that Jade Green was a very good book.  I never picked it up.  Don't know why.  It is quite short.  It has a good cover.  It's about ghosts!  But I never even picked it up.  But there it was, on the shelf, looking like such a lovely thin book.  And even though it is set a million years ago, when there were still carriages instead of cars, I am glad that I did.  The language was that old-timey kind, told in the first person, and I didn't care for that, but I still did like the story of Judith Sparrow, a recently orphaned young girl who must move from Ohio to South Carolina to live with her uncle.  Her uncle is a nice dude and lives in a huge old mansion with a sweet house keeper.  Judith also has a rotten cousin, much older than she.  Cousin Charles is a lazy, womanizing dirtball.  He lives in town, but still comes over to freeload food.  He really doesn't like having Judith around, you can tell right away.  But the bigger problem is that when Judith was told she could come live with her uncle, she was told not to bring anything green with her.  Weird?  Yes.  Did she sneak something green into the house?  Yes.  Does she regret it.  You could say that.  Judith learns about Jade Green, a young girl who lived in the house and all was great and rosy--until she killed herself.  Judith knows that the bann of green things probably has to do with Jade Green- the name and all, but she can't figure it out.  At first. 
This book was in the kids' section, but there is an attempted rape and some things that some little kids aren't probably ready for, like I don't know. 
Anyway, it is South Carolina! 

Faith, Hope and Love and Ivy June

I added the "love" as Faith, Hope and Ivy June is the title of the book, the first book I've ever read by children's author powerhouse, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor.  I needed to "love" because I truly loved this book, even though it isn't my style.  It's a sleepy kind of book, but not boring.  It's a lot of thinking and talking and reflecting and set in the country, but even if you don't like books set in the country, books with lots of thinking and reflecting and talking, I think you will still be charmed by this book.  Charming.  That's it.  But it's more than charming.  It has danger!  If you remember the tragedy of the Sago Mine Disaster, you will feel that danger pretty deeply. 

I don't want to write about Sago.  I thought I did.  But I remember it too well.  I remember watching television when it was believed that all of the miners were found alive.  I went to bed so thankful and happy.  I woke up and learned that all but one were dead.  I had to preach that Sunday.  It was hard.  I talked about miracles and when they don't happen.  Anyway, I don't want to write about Sago right now.  Maybe another post, another day. 

Ivy June is from the backwoods of Kentucky, living in a modest home with no indoor plumbing.  Her school and a private girls' school in Lexington have decided to take part in an exchange program wherein one girl from Ivy June's school comes to live with a girl from the private school for two weeks and then, a week later, the private school girl spends two weeks in the backwoods.  Ivy June is chosen from her school and Catherine is chosen from the Lexington academy. 

There are so many cookie-cutter ways that this story could have gone. 

- the rich girl from Lexington is spoiled and only comes to appreciate "real" life in the backwoods of the impoverished country

- the girl from the country has her eyes opened to a whole new world of education and possibility and a bright future instead of the dead-end life in the coal town.

- everyone could have been a stereotype at first and then, miracle of miracles, no one really was as they seemed to be.

All of those things could have happened and have happened in books that don't measure up to the quality of Faith, Hope and Ivy June. 

This book doesn't fall into one single trap.  Both girls are "real" girls and any reader can see that. 

Life in the hollow (holler) and life in the wealthy areas of Lexington are very different from one another.  You can see that even when you just drive through, say Butcher Holler  or stay for awhile in Lexington.  But this book shows, and not in a preachy or cheesey way, that people are people, no matter where they sleep at night or use the rest room.  Good stuff!