INTRODUCTION
Many years ago I read and enjoyed my fellow North Carolinian’s book, The Ballad of Jesse Pearl. I was delighted to hear that the author, Shannon Hitchcock, had written a book that included Jesse as a character. Here is what Kate Lundeen had to say about Shannon’s latest middle grade novel.
REVIEW
Head to North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains in the novel Wild Mountain Ivy by Shannon Hitchcock. The Blue Ridge Mountains have beautiful vistas to display but they can also offer restoration and healing to tired human beings.
Ivy is a lively 12-year-old girl who gets long COVID. She faces a tough recovery that could last months. Ivy and her mom head to Asheville and an uncle’s bed and breakfast. They hope that the clean mountain air and the wonderful companionship might speed up Ivy’s recovery. Ivy falls in love with the quaint inn run by her relatives and enjoys the company of some eccentric friends: the cook Celeste, Uncle Cam who is always up for an adventure, and even Jessie Pearl a ghost from the inn’s past, when it was a recovery center for tuberculosis patients. COVID often makes Ivy tired and she frequently dreams about Jessie. In those dreams, Jessie tells Ivy her story. It is neat how each dream reveals a piece of Jesse’s journey. Jessie’s story is so inspiring that sometimes Ivy can’t wait to fall asleep! Does Jessie Pearl’s story about her battle with tuberculosis aid in Ivy’s COVID recovery?
It was quite refreshing to discover that both girls found small pockets of joy in the midst of lingering illnesses. When Ivy arrives at the inn, the bedroom where she will spend most of the time recuperating delights her. She notes that it “was such a cozy room that it reminded me of being wrapped in a warm blanket… ” The room has a small bed, reading lights, a blue armchair and a bookcase tucked away in a corner. She concludes that “it’s perfect… blue like the mountains” (p. 22). The need for bed rest is great with COVID and Ivy chooses to enjoy the place where she will retreat instead having a grumpy attitude about all the bed rest. Ivy also puts effort toward making friends with the staff and her relatives while she is recuperating. She learns the art of the perfect biscuit from Celeste and pals around with her Uncle Cam on brief road trips to get some fresh air or to purchase mountain mementos. Ivy even learns how to play a mountain dulcimer and spends hours learning how to play ballads! It’s kind of cool that she chooses to cheerily blossom throughout the novel instead of letting COVID dictate her mood.
The reader finds out that Jessie Pearls’s dreams of becoming a teacher are derailed when she was put into a lonely sanitarium to recover from tuberculosis. Yet she manages to find some bright spots during her illness. Here are some of Jessie’s choose joy moments: She shares her letters from home with a lonely girl who “was starved… for a kind word, a true friend and someone to hold her hand” (p. 68). Jessie also delights in the fact that some days she is well enough to sit up for meals or have 15 minutes of reading time from a novel that the girls pass around to share. She plays folk songs on an old dulcimer to cheer her friends. Jessie’s mental perspective about her illness is also good. At one spot in the story she comments, “I had to give up my dreams for a while, but a while is not forever… Setbacks don’t have to be the end of the world. “(p. 102). Jessie resolves that she is going to be healthy enough one day to marry her childhood sweetheart and “choose the path forward” (p. 190). Talk about determination!
Jessie’s and Ivy’s outlooks in Wild Mountain Ivy are truly an inspiration to not let life trials get you down. Complete the novel to find out if Jessie and Ivy beat their dangerous microbes!
AUTHOR’S NOTE
Shannon wrote an email to me explaining the relationship of the two books: “Wild Mountain Ivy is a standalone sequel. I wrote it in such a way that you don’t have to have read The Ballad of Jessie Pearl to make sense of Wild Mountain Ivy, but I hope reading Ivy will intrigue readers enough to download Jessie to their e-readers. Lerner reissued Jessie as an e-book with new cover art and there’s a QR code in the back of Ivy to take you to Jessie.”
GIVEAWAY
Leave me a comment by July 2 if you’re interested in winning Wild Mountain Ivy. I’ll give bonus chances if you’re from NC or have visited the Blue Ridge Mountains! US addresses only.
GUEST BLOGGER
Kate Lundeen is no stranger to this blog. In fact, I think I’m getting depending on her reliable reviews. She last reviewed A Year Without Home. She writes, “The Lord’s hand of watchful care and protection blessed my life from my start as a tiny premature infant. Doctors diagnosed me with cerebral palsy from birth complications which mainly affected my legs and motor skills. I also have a learning disability that does not allow me to write down or process thoughts as fast as other people. I am a former homeschooler and obtained an Associate in Arts degree from a North Carolina community college after five years of hard work! I discovered and developed a love for writing in college. Now I pen articles for my local church newsletter and write book reviews. I enjoy my current job as a part-time library assistant in a Christian library in Matthews, NC. I have a servant’s heart and a willing attitude to grow in old skills and develop new ones along whatever path the Lord chooses to take me.”
Recently, a fellow Monarch author, told me that she had reposted one of Kate’s reviews on her blog. A reader commented,
Oh Katie!!! What a special post to have found and to see you thriving!! I was your primary care nurse in the NICU and we stayed in touch with your family for many years.
Love seeing you review this book!!! Brenda
For more excellent middle grade books, follow Greg Pattridge’s blog, Always in the Middle.
Carol, I can relate to this post on so many levels. We lived in the Raleigh, NC area two different times. My husband received his PhD from North Carolina State, then much later, at the end of his career, we lived in Clayton, NC when he worked with the company which makes SlimJims.
We never lived in the mountains, but we have a lovely, delightful daughter-in-law who grew up in Spruce Pine, NC.
Also, my husband’s grandmother was named Pearl and we have a granddaughter named Jessica Pearl.
Thanks for posting the review of these books. I love reading your blog.
Best to you, always,
Lois Bartholomew
Hi Lois- It’s good to hear from you! That is so fun that you can relate not only to NC, but also to the name of the character! You’re in twice! Best, Carol
What an intriguing story–or pair of stories. I have to look into them.
Thanks you, Rebecca. I think you would enjoy Shannon’s books!
That part of the country is so beautiful. This sounds like a great story, but I’ll let someone win who can read it now.
Thanks for leaving a comment, Natalie. I agree!
The main characters sure sound memorable. Of course the setting was the first thing that won me over. As usual, I’ll have to pass on the giveaway. Have a Happy MMGM!
I understand, Greg. Thanks for stopping by!
I never gone to NC. My aunt and uncle used to live in NC. Not anymore though. It sounds like an interesting story to read.
Thanks for the comment, Havelah. Your name goes on the list–and I’ll take your NC connection so you’re in twice!