Over the River [Hardcover]

Sharelle Byars Moranville (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 11, 2002 | Age Level: 10 and up

A young girl comes to terms with the father she thought didn’t love her.

“Your daddy isn’t a bad man,” Aunty Rose said. “He just doesn’t have anything to do with us. So why do you keep asking?”

It seems like everything eleven-year-old Willa Mae wants to know just isn’t proper material for her curiosity. But some mysteries have a way of unraveling on their own. When her long-absent father returns after the war and sets about laying claim, Willa Mae finds her quiet country life suddenly stirred into a mix of buried secrets. Why does Grandpa despise her daddy, and what does it have to do with Mama’s death? But before Willa Mae can find the answers to these questions, she is pulled away from her rural Illinois home to begin a new life with her father across the river in Oklahoma. As pleased as Willa Mae is to finally have her daddy back, she misses her home and wants desperately to return. Will she be forced to choose one side of the family over the other?

In this beautifully written novel set in the late 1940s, Sharelle Byars Moranville explores a critical time in a young girl’s life, as Willa Mae comes to accept her parents, her sense of home, and especially what it means to be loved.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In her debut novel, Moranville adroitly parallels the changes occurring in post-WWII rural America with more personal disruptions affecting Willa Mae, the narrator who turns 12 during the course of the book. The first scene, set in a cemetery, introduces three compelling mysteries: the cause of death of Willa Mae's mother and infant son (whom Willa Mae can't recall ever being born) and uncertainty about why Willa Mae's guardian grandparents hold such a grudge against her long-absent father. Although the narrative occasionally moves awkwardly from one dramatic turn of events to another (e.g., Willa Mae's father suddenly returns from the navy and whisks his daughter off to Oklahoma), the author creates a palpable sense of place. Readers enter the rhythms of life on Willa Mae's grandparents' farm and can nearly smell a pie baking in the oven or hear Grandpa milking the cows. Willa Mae describes crossing the Mississippi River in a way that youngsters can experience her thrill. At last, truths about the past come to light, unfortunately leading to a rather contrived resolution. Implications behind her mother's second pregnancy and sudden death may sail over the heads of middle-grade readers. Still, Willa Mae's loyalty and affection for her grandparents and teenage Aunt Rose communicate her sense of homesickness while she is on the road with her father, and her feelings for her father remain credibly ambiguous during and after her trip West. The narrator's strong, appealing voice and detailed setting mark this author as one to watch. Ages 9-14.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-9-Having been raised for the past five years on an Illinois farm by her devoted maternal grandparents, 11-year-old Willa Mae Clark wishes for answers she suspects everyone else has. Why didn't her father come home when her mother died? Why is he still not home even though World War II ended two years ago? And why is the mysterious Baby Clark buried near the cemetery fence? Eventually, her father does arrive, but, unable to overcome Grandpa Shannon's anger or find work, he takes Willa Mae with him to Oklahoma for a fresh start in a rundown apartment. When he realizes how homesick his daughter is, he decides that he has earned enough money to return home honorably. There, in tiny Huxley, things remain the same with a powerful distance between the Shannons and the Clarks until a terrible storm arrives. Willa Mae's narration allows her character to unfold beautifully. There is a wonderful juxtaposition of custom and place as illustrated by the solemnity of a Decoration Day visit to the country cemetery; the delight in the luxury of a first-time bath with indoor plumbing; the marvel of rural electrification; the naive appeal of chenille bedspreads that hang on roadside clotheslines; and the natural charity of good, homespun people. Somewhat reminiscent in theme and setting of A. LaFaye's Nissa's Place (S & S, 1999), Moranville's offering is superbly crafted and has a dramatically tensioned climax.
Cindy Darling Codell, Clark Middle School, Winchester, KY
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR); 1st edition (October 11, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805070494
• ISBN-13: 978-0805070491
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,698,000 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Every day I write. And every now and then, blissfully, I actually sell a book. I'm always thrilled when someone reads one of them and tells me how it makes them feel. When I read, I like to be moved. Good books make me cry. Great books make me laugh and cry. Think THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP or MICK HARTE WAS HERE. I'm a writer, teacher, and gardener. I used to be a social worker. I want to be a . . .

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A beautifully told story, December 8, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Over the River (Hardcover)

Sharelle Byars Moranville's "Over the River" is an exquisitely written, hauntingly told story of an 11 year old girl who must deal with the upheaval of her formerly safe, comfortable life.
Moranville's beautiful writing makes us clearly see the unfolding events as if we were viewing them through her eyes.
Her descriptions of country life in the postwar 40s are accurate and evocative. Her plotting and pacing are superb, and the climactic events keep the reader on the edge of his or her seat.
Don't miss this one. It's a winner.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Work of Art, January 14, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Over the River (Hardcover)

Could there be a better combination than a cold January week in Iowa and a delicious book to settle into? Over the River is an amazing tale-- I held my breath as I read, not because the suspense was Hollywood intense, but because the author writes so intimately, carefully and beautifully that I didn't want to miss one single word or image. Sharelle's descriptions of ordinary things-- like the Mason jars of peaches in the back of a pickup truck, Willa Mae's first bath, handwashing with Lifebuoy soap with Grandpa-- seem mundane on the very surface, but when the reader lingers a bit on the images-- these same "snapshots" help us figure out who the characters in the story really are and it's then that the exquisite beauty is revealed.
Sharelle treats each one of her characters with the utmost of respect yet she courageously lets the reader in on their flaws, too. I loved her descriptions of Willa Mae's daddy's physical movements-- how those movements conveyed nervousness, frustration, love, tenderness and finally forgiveness. I could smell his sweat at times!
My only advice for the reader of this new author is to take your time in reading. This book is not meant to be gulped.
It is a feast meant to be enjoyed.

5.0 out of 5 stars Timeless historical fiction, September 9, 2011

By 

wendyd - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Over the River (Paperback)

Historical fiction for young readers at its best. A timeless story of family and home set in the post-WWII era.