Patrick Jones (VOYA, December 2004 (Vol. 27, No. 5))
This novel demonstrates the intelligence and integrity of VOYA's review system. To list Peck's ample achievement and awards would exhaust the word limit; suffice to say, Peck is the epitome of literary excellence and his latest book is no exception. Peck fills his coming-of-age story with vivid characters like Aunt Maud and dazzling use of vernacular in the book's voice and dialogue. Set in rural Indiana at the turn of the twentieth century, the "reckons," "Maws," and "jists" are stacked like rows of corn as Peck pulls readers inside life in a one-room school. After their teacher dies, fifteen-year-old Russell, his brother Lloyd, and their schoolmates hope that the school will be closed, but sadly a new teacher is hired, who just happens to be Russell's older sister Tansy. And that is when things get interesting-or do they? How will the Hee Haw humor play in a hip-hop culture? It is hard to imagine any teen reading this book unless already a fan of Peck's writing, not just because of the genre (historical fiction historically ranks low on teen reading surveys), but rather because of Peck's attraction with historical re-creation, not fast action or funny dialogue. Judgments about quality emerge from expertise, while popularity pronouncements stem from experience, but the book's subtitle, "a comedy in three parts," obscures objectivity. Despite pratfalls and privy fires, there is plenty of corn here but little comedy. The cover of the book, like the comedy within it, was not seen. VOYA CODES: 5Q 2P M J (Hard to imagine it being any better written; For the YA with a special interest in the subject; Middle School, defined as grades 6 to 8; Ju

Elizabeth Bush (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, November 2004 (Vol. 58, No. 3))
News that the superannuated mistress of their rural Indiana school house has, at last, passed away sends fifteen-year-old Russell Culver into a fit of premature rejoicing. Now he can shuffle off the remainder of his academic career and get on with farming--preferably in the Dakotas with his best buddy Charlie. However, he didn't count on the locals actually hiring a new teacher for the tiny band of reluctant scholars at Hominy Ridge School, let alone his own older sister, Tansy, who's just the bargain the tight-pursed citizens are looking for. Tansy's no genius, but she certainly knows every trick in the farm kids' book and, mustering a wagonload of common sense, she fashions a somewhat eccentric curriculum and actually manages to haul Russell and Charlie through their eighth-grade exams, win the approval of the school superintendent, and meet her future husband among her classroom charges. Although there is a clearer trajectory to the Culvers' tale than in Peck's more anecdotal offerings A Year Down Yonder and A Long Way from Chicago (BCCB 1/01, 10/98), the author's deft hand at setting and milking comedic scenes is again strongly in evidence, from the practical jokes surrounding the ghost of the unlamented Miss Myrt Arbuckle, to the strenuous retrieval of an overweight neighbor from a schoolyard ditch. Kids with reservations concerning their own teachers better not look to Russell for sympathy. Review Code: R -- Recommended. (c) Copyright 2004, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 2004, Dial, 190p, $16.99. Grades 5-8.