The Snows is fiction, but it is based loosely on my husband Barry’s family during the Great Depression, and on my experience at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, where the shootings occured on campus in 1970. It was a time of political unrest. The town and the events were much as I describe them.
The Snows
Starred review from Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books: “There’s little that’s exceptional about the Snow family; out of five generations, only one member has attained anything close to national fame. But that doesn’t mean they haven’t had their share of domestic drama, and by studying “snapshots” of four relatives at sixteen, Moranville demonstrates that the crises of one generation mellow into the family lore of their descendants. . . . Moranville makes her point with tender discretion: obstacles that loom so ominously at sixteen are little more than speed bumps in a long, loved and loving life. As teen readers trace the Snow family fortunes, they might pause to muse about their own legacies.”
Starred review from KLIATT
Awards: Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC) annual best-of-the-year list
From the publisher: It’s 1931 in Jefferson, Iowa, and what’s important to Jim Snow are the flavors served in the local ice cream parlor, the location of the apostrophe key on his typewriter, and Julia, the girl he loves. But the ties of family bind him in a way that’s beyond his control, shaping not only his life but also the lives of his children and grandchildren.
Jim, Cathy, Jill, and Mona Snow all come of age in different eras (1931, 1942, 1969, and 2006). For each of them, sixteen is a departure point—a time when they cross the threshold into adulthood, a time when they become aware of the complications that will alter the course of their lives.
Recommended for readers 12-18.
Henry Holt ISBN 9780805074697