From School Library Journal
Grade 4-7. Iris Anderson, 13, loves her family farm in the Green Mountains of Vermont and hopes that she will never have to leave it. She only wishes that her father would realize that she and not her older brother, Lucien, should carry on the legacy of farming this land. Lucien has already made it clear to their father that he wants to be a writer, not a farmer, creating continual tension between the two. When the barn burns down and their father is seriously injured in a logging accident, it looks as though the farm will have to be sold. The Andersons grow closer together as they struggle with their individual pain and that of their close relatives. Fortunately, an alternative to drastic action is eventually found, and both Iris and her brother are able to look forward to pursuing their dreams. This is a powerful and beautifully written story of love and determination set during the 1950s. The characters are complex and believable, especially the appealing young heroine. The author masterfully captures the gamut of Iris's feelings from passion for the land and compassion for a classmate whose family is homeless to hatred for her cousin who caused the fire. As Iris works through these emotions, she is able to forgive her cousin, reach out to her classmate, and appreciate that being with her family is more important than holding on to the land. This brief, finely crafted novel will stay with readers long after the story ends.?Carol Schene, Taunton Public Schools, MA
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Gr. 5^-8. Iris, 13, feels deeply rooted on the family farm in northern Vermont and wants to spend all her life there. Her father plans for her older brother, Lucien, to take over the farm. Lucien just wants to get out of there. The family conflict is transformed when catastrophe strikes: someone sets the barn on fire, Iris' father loses his leg when a tree falls on him, and the farm must be sold. The plot is somewhat contrived (especially the last-minute happy ending that saves the farm for Iris), and the minor characters are flat (including the bossy, interfering aunt and Iris' friend, who remains a cipher); but the immediate family is drawn with real complexity, especially Iris and her brother, whose tense relationship changes gradually from hostility to respect. Most moving is Iris' quiet, lyrical, first-person narrative, which expresses her closeness to the land and her sense of freedom in taking care of a farm her parents and grandparents had lived on and worked and handed down.
Hazel Rochman
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
