We currently have a big display in the library about Diverse
Books and are looking for more, including titles from less known publishers
like She Writes Press who recently
released TO THE STARS THROUGH DIFFICULTIES by Romalyn Tilghman. The novel is set in contemporary Kansas, but
also focuses on events of roughly a century ago when Andrew Carnegie was
donating money to fund local library buildings.
He said, “A library outranks any other one thing a community can do to
benefit its people. It is a never
failing spring in the desert.”
In TO THE STARS THROUGH DIFFICULTIES, there
are three main characters whose lives become entwined with each other’s and
with those of the local townspeople from New Hope and neighboring Prairie
Hill:
- Angelina – an all-but-dissertation PhD candidate who is writing about and researching Carnegie libraries. She travels to Kansas because her grandmother had settled in New Hope and helped to start its library.
- Traci – a self-taught artist known also as Trash who uses the finds from her “dumpster dives” to create art. She comes to Kansas as an “artist in residence” and soon works with the No Guilt Quilters and a group of troubled teens.
- Gayle – was living in Prairie Hill, but lost her home and all of its contents to a recent tornado. She was traumatized by that event and needs to make the difficult decision to rebuild or not.
I thought that all of these women were well-drawn characters
and I loved learning about the history of Carnegie libraries and the close-knit
communities. Plenty of secondary
characters are librarians by profession, either “the kind who want to know
everything on the universe [or] the kind who want to categorize
everything.” A not-so-subtle theme is the role of women and their strength in effecting
positive change by banding together – something it seems we need to relearn
with every generation.
There are numerous references to The Wizard of Oz and
to Kansas history (like the orphan trains) which is apt since Tilghman was
Executive Director of the Association of Community Arts Councils of Kansas and
a regional representative for the National Endowment for the Arts. TO THE STARS THROUGH DIFFICULTIES
could easily be chosen as a Junior Theme selection (let us know if you are
aware of a similar title about Illinois) and is recommended for making readers
reflect on their own life choices or passions and those of the strong women who
preceded us.
