Nora Shalaway Carpenter

This is a Middle grades anthology which is wrongly labeled as being YA. There are few stories that could be YA but are also appropriate for middle grade readers and nearly all of this is pitched to the 14 and under crowd. The anthology seeks to dispel misconceptions about rural life in America. This is a subject that means something to me. After living my life in cities I moved to North Dakota for two years. I was in my 50's and I learned that much of what I thought I knew about being an American was wrong. It never occurred to me that people had options and chose rural life. It never occurred to me that people left and then came back. No one ever taught me, a city kid, any of that.

A few other incorrect things I thought before moving to Fargo:

Communities in rural America are composed of all whites of European descent or all Africans-Americans (definitely not true -- Fargo has a very large Somali community and a sizeable Native American population and when I lived in Atlanta I learned that in North Georgia many rural communities are quite integrated and in many the majority of inhabitants are Latinx, of course this diversity exists across rural America);

LGBT+ people all move to cites as soon as they can or they remain in the closet, (Fargo has a surprisingly strong LGBT+ community and I was particularly surprised to meet many out and proud trans and gender non-binary people when I lived there);

Rural people do not embrace education. (When living in North Dakota I met more people with Master's degrees than without, including many full-time farmers.)

I could list many more things here, but my point is that in my experience most urban dwellers in America don't know a darn thing about most rural dwellers in America so I was thrilled to discover this collection of pieces from rural people of different races, ethnicities, economic strata, sexual orientations, gender identities and ages. Extra points because in the 2022 Book Riot Read Harder Challenge has a prompt to read an anthology with diverse contributors, and this absolutely counts!

The (Unhealthy) Breakfast Club – 5
This felt like a strong and direct depiction of life for rural kids whose lives bleed into nearby urban life (the good and the bad)

The Hole of Dark Kill Hollow – 4
Touching, atmospheric, very middle grades

A Border Kid Comes of Age – 5
Story partly in verse. Really quite good. I like to see good intersectionality.

Fish and Fences -5
Laotians in Idaho, these are people I never knew, and I love the intimacy of this tale, and the kindness that it shows

Close Enough -5
I love how this addresses the small-mindedness of determining people's belonging by how long “their people” have been in a place along with the way in which urban people devalue rural conventions (like camp pants and 4H). This is not anti-WV, but it is also honest and there is some real clarity, real reckoning. And the behavior is age-appropriate

Whiskey and Champagne -3
It’s a good story, but it doesn’t much figure in to the theme of the compilation and the ending is too pat

What Home Is -3
Eh. Maybe I just don’t fully appreciate poetry? Its just really really obvious. I hate not fully embracing a story of many good things but also molestation and repression

Island Rodeo Queen – 5
A Puerto Rican rodeo queen in Utah! Well written and a story I didn’t know

Grandpa – 2
Aimed WAY too young for this collection. Early grades appropriate, and sweet for that demo

Best in Show- 5
Adorable young love between lesbians in rural Michigan. I found this incredibly touching and complicated and realistic

Praise the Lord and Pass the Little Debbies-5
I lived in Atlanta for 16 years, and this feels like an excellent illustration of why I stay the hell out of rural Georgia for the most part. Isolated people who have abandoned all hope and overly and falsely friendly people who find it acceptable to strongarm people into being “saved.” That is real

The Cabin--2
A voice I haven’t heard, but also really boring and challenged none of my assumptions

Black Nail Polish-4
This is interesting, but I am not sure what makes this a rural story. It happens in rural Indiana but genetic disorders are not a neighborhood specific thing

Secret Menu - 2
Aimed at preschoolers. Had it been a picture book for small children with simpler more colorful illustration rather than part of this collection aimed at older kids I think it would have been really good

Pull Up a Seat Around the Stove -3
I appreciated it intellectually – I got why these stories are important and subvert many expectations about Native American ancestral history. It is in that sense a valuable part of this collection, but it honestly bored me and I found it almost mechanically direct and spare until it shifted about 1/3 of the way in when it suddenly became rather flowery

Home Waits -2
Interesting. I think the point is that being from New Mexico is like being schizophrenic and that there are not a lot of native Spanish speakers in New England boarding schools. I am only being a little facetious. I know the point is that being educated at New England boarding schools and Ivy colleges is not inherently better than learning about crystals and aromatherapy in New Mexico, Perhaps I am not open-minded enough for this one?… (más)