Over the River is fiction, but it is inspired by my dad’s difficulty in finding employment after he returned from military service at the end of World War II. The character Harold Clark is much like my dad, though my dad couldn’t sing a note. The Shannon grandparents are much like my maternal grandparents, and Willa Mae’s trauma of being taken away from people she adored is my story, though I was only a toddler at the time.
Over the River
Starred review from Booklist: “This is the best kind of historical fiction, where details of time and place are not a picturesque backdrop but an integral part of the story.”
From Publisher’s Weekly: “The narrator’s strong, appealing voice and detailed setting mark this author as one to watch.”
Awards: Booklist Top 10 Youth First Novels; Booklist Top 10 Historical Fiction for Youth; 2005-2006 Iowa Children’s Choice List; Friends of American Writers Award
From the publisher: It seems like everything eleven-year-old Willa Mae wants to know just isn’t proper material for her curiosity. But some mysteries have a way of unraveling on their own. When her long-absent father returns after the war and sets about laying claim, Willa Mae finds her quiet country life suddenly stirred into a mix of buried secrets. Why does Grandpa despise her daddy, and what does it have to do with Mama’s death? In this beautifully written novel set in the late 1940s, Sharelle Byars Moranville explores a critical time in a young girl’s life as Willa Mae comes to accept her parents, her sense of home, and especially what it means to be loved.
Recommended for readers 8-12.
Henry Holt ISBN 9780805070491