The Fifteen Wonders of Daniel Green by Erica Boyce

THE FIFTEEN WONDERS OF DANIEL GREEN by Erica Boyce has a bit of a sci-fi vibe (crop circles), some romance, and a mystery, but it is mostly about the relationships which we develop – especially when we can be open and vulnerable to others. As such, this debut novel is a melancholy story with a hopeful, uplifting ending. Daniel Green is a young man who creates crop circles and Sam, a resilient farmer devoted to his community in Vermont, secretly engages Daniel to fashion one and create excitement about the area. All seems to be going according to plan until Sam receives bad news about his health, causing his daughter Nessa to take off on a cross country driving trip in an effort to convince her estranged brother to head back to the farm.  Daniel accompanies her and readers learn a great deal about their background stories and struggles as the narration shifts back and forth between them. In fact, several other chapters are told from the perspective of Molly, Sam’s wife and Nessa’s mother, further adding to an understanding about why they settled in Vermont. All of these different voices are told in the first person and that is a bit disconcerting at times although each is written beautifully. One example is when Sam and Molly are comforting each other and she thinks, “I love you in my bones. I don’t say a word. Instead, I stretch my body out next to him and place my arm over his chest, my leg over his own. As if I could be a frame to house him, the beams and studs and foundation protecting him from everything.”

Heartland by Sarah Smarsh

HEARTLAND by Sarah Smarsh is a text I have been looking forward to reading, particularly because several teachers are requesting that we look for a text which could update Ehrenreich’s Nickel and Dimed.  Smarsh subtitles her work “A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in The Richest Country on Earth” and explores “what it means to be a poor child in a rich country founded on the promise of equality.”  She addresses the concept of ‘white working class,’ saying “the experience it describes contains both racial privilege and economic disadvantage, which can exist simultaneously. … Wealthy white people, in particular, seemed to want to distance themselves from our place and our truth. … [Yet,] if a person could go to work every day and still not be able to pay the bills and the reason wasn’t racism, what less articulated problem was afoot?”

Smarsh’s work is emotional and heartfelt.  She writes eloquently of different Americas and different understandings, but it did not have the immediate impact of Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy, portions of which some classes have successfully incorporated into recent projects. Others have tried Desmond’s Evicted or Moore’s The South Side due to their respective Midwest and Chicago connections. I am still looking for something at a slightly lower reading level and welcome any suggestions. 

HEARTLAND, too, deserves an audience and could possibly work as a Junior Theme text. It is longlisted for the National Book Award for Nonfiction and received starred reviews from both Kirkus and Publisher’s Weekly.

Stay Sweet by Siobhan Vivian

STAY SWEET by Siobhan Vivian is the innocent, gentle read you would expect from the cover. This story is just as wholesome as the homemade ice cream sold at Meade Creamery where Amelia has been chosen to be the new Head Girl (manager) during the summer before she leaves for college. It’s not quite the Sand Lake summer she and her bubbly best friend Cate expected though, due to the surprising death of Molly Meade, the WWII era founder and supporter of the all-girl work force. Molly’s great nephew, Grady, inherits the business and sets out to change some of its long standing traditions.  As they confront differences and problems, he and Amelia both mature, learn to work together and find romance.  STAY SWEET received a starred review from Publishers Weekly: “While evoking the warmth of rural life and employee comradeship, Vivian writes an empowering novel for young women with big dreams.” Perfectly delicious for a restful and undemanding summer read for middle school and early high school readers.