Buttermilk Hill [Hardcover]

Ruth White (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 10 and up

Finding a way to cope through poetry

The days seem carefree for Piper Berry in her hometown of Buttermilk Hill, North Carolina -- days filled with fishing with her daddy and ten-year-old aunt/best friend Lindy and listening to her grandmother's stories. But then Mama, Tiny Lambert (whom readers may remember from Weeping Willow), announces she wants more out of life than being a housewife, and Daddy thinks this is unreasonable. He moves out and that ugly word d-i-v-o-r-c-e becomes a reality. Soon Mama's time becomes consumed with waiting tables and taking college classes. Daddy remarries, adopts two sons, and has a new baby daughter. Piper can't help but feel as if she doesn't belong anywhere anymore, and her only comfort is found in spending time with Lindy and their friend Bucky, whose life is full of his own share of family trouble. Piper's growing interest in and talent for poetry help her find a voice to say the things that are hardest and make an important decision about following her own dreams.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 4-7–Piper's narration traverses the years 1973-'77 in a small Southern town. The 10-year-old's grandparents and her aunt (who is Piper's age and her best friend) are the constants in her life as other things change. Her parents divorce, her father remarries and is subsumed by his new family, her mother completes the college education she'd jettisoned for marriage, but leaves the girl to her own devices while she works, attends classes, or goes off with a new boyfriend. All this contributes to Piper's sense of abandonment, especially when combined with the naturally occurring dislocation of early adolescence. Piper finds some solace in writing. She's long been addicted to collecting unusual words. Now she turns increasingly to poetry as an emotional outlet, eventually producing a poem that she reads aloud at the public library to high acclaim. The approbation of the adults in town awakens Piper's parents to her talents and her pain, and the book ends with the promise of better communication among them. White attempts to cover so much territory that the plot sometimes jumps abruptly from one situation to the next, and some of the characters are underdeveloped. A subplot involving the long-suppressed truth about the parentage of a boy who is friends with the two girls is interesting, but less convincing than Piper's chronicle. Still, the protagonist is real enough to hold the interest of girls on the verge of becoming teens.–Miriam Lang Budin, Chappaqua Public Library, NY
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Gr. 4-6. White's story, set in Buttermilk Hill, North Carolina, begins in 1973, when Piper Berry is 10. Life is good for her, but it's not as happy for her mother, who aspires to more than small-town life and living in a trailer. There's a divorce, her mother goes back to college, and her father remarries and has a new family, leaving Piper to learn both acceptance and how to shape her own future--which she does through her poetry. The first-person narrative rings true, and the book is at its best when Piper deals with situations divorced children face, such as stepfamilies, and diminished time spent with a loved parent. A subplot about a friend who turns out to be a stolen child adds an interesting if unrealistic note to the story, as does the fairy-tale ending, in which Piper gets a poetry scholarship to an exclusive school. Still, this is a good balance of happiness and hard knocks, and many readers will recognize what Piper is up against when it comes to family life. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR); 1st edition (August 26, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374351120
• ISBN-13: 978-0374351120
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,725,389 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Little Gem - A book to Savor, June 15, 2007

By 

Maya's Veil "Maya" (Missouri, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Buttermilk Hill (Paperback)

Piper Berry is special. She has a dog named Booger, a small town that surrounds her (complete with waggling tongues) and her poetry. When Piper's family splits up she is left to make sense of it. While her parents act like children, Piper turns to writing and finds her world through her words.

Buttermilk Hill is an unassuming book - the cover looks like a "dog story" and preteenish....but remember - do not judge this book by its cover. What you will find when you open the cover is a touching story of a girl who notices everything, writes about a lot of it and has a lot to teach readers.

Unlike a lot of fiction for young adults and children, Buttermilk Hill does not preach or belittle its readers. The characters are treated with rescue and affection by the writer. This book is the perfect read for almost everyone I know.

At only 168 pages, the story is complete - touching and beautiful. I'd highly recommended it for readers who love a good story about people and how they cope with what life hands them. Relax, enjoy and savor. I'm really quite moved.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing!In love with it., October 25, 2006

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Buttermilk Hill (Paperback)

This book made me think of myself so much,
Because in my life my parents divorced too
and I also write poetry all the time.
I loved this book so much for those reasons,
cause ive always liked books that could
relate to myself, and this book really did.
If you haven't read it yet, your missing out,
which means you need to read it!<3

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a quick page turner, March 30, 2009

By 

R. Stevens "mtnlump33" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Buttermilk Hill (Paperback)

Overall I think that Buttermilk Hill is a great book. The thing that appealed to me most about it was that the author did an excellent job of writing the story of the main characters life from age ten to fourteen. Another reason I liked it was because unlike many other books, I never felt like there was too much detail. I thought the way things were described was amazing and the author always painted that perfect picture in my mind so I felt as if I was actually there. I hope other people can get as much enjoyment out of it as I did.