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Title details for Anybody Shining by Frances O'Roark Dowell - Available

Anybody Shining

by Frances O'Roark Dowell
Suzy Jackson
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
Can one mistake destroy the chance of a lifetime? A girl discovers there are many ways of being true in this magnificent ode to handwritten letters and the shining power of friendship from the author of "Dovey Coe," set in the Appalachian mountains of 1920s North Carolina. One true friend. Someone shining. That's all twelve-year-old Arie Mae wants. But shining true friends are hard to come by deep in the mountains of western North Carolina, so she sets her sights on a cousin unseen, someone who lives all the way away in the big city of Baltimore, Maryland. Three unanswered letters later, Arie Mae learns that a group of kids from Baltimore are coming to spend a summer on the mountain. Arie Mae loves her smudge of a town—she knows there's nothing finer than Pa's fiddling and Mama's apple cake, but she also knows Big City folk might feel differently. How else to explain the song catcher ladies who have descended upon the village in search of "traditional tunes" and their intention to help "save" the townspeople? But when the group from Baltimore arrives, it seems there just might be a gem among them, one shining boy who doesn't seem to notice Arie Mae wears the same dress every day and prefers to go barefoot. So what if he has a bit of a limp and a rumored heart problem—he also is keen about "everything "Arie Mae is keen about, and has all the makings of a true friend. And so what if the boy's mother warns him not to exert himself? He and Arie Mae have adventures to go on! In between writing letters to her cousin, Arie Mae leads her one shining friend on ghost hunts and bear chases. But it turns out those warnings were for a reason...

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    August 26, 2014

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781490640761
      • File size: 123925 KB
      • Duration: 04:18:10

  • Languages

    • English

  • Levels

    • Lexile® Measure: 990
    • Text Difficulty: 5-7

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from June 2, 2014
      Twelve-year-old Arie Mae Sparks is imaginative and full of energy—qualities that often translate to “awful strange” in her small mountain town in 1920s North Carolina. With the aim of cheering up her mother and making a much-needed friend, Arie Mae begins writing letters to a cousin she’s never met, the daughter of an estranged aunt. Her letters go unanswered, but in the meantime, Arie Mae meets a visiting boy named Tom. “Cousin Caroline, have you ever seen anyone who shined?” writes Arie Mae. “Well, this boy did. Even though he walked with a limp and was a little bit sideways, he was shining.” The two traipse through the woods, which are supposedly haunted by “haints,” but Tom’s heart condition could mean the loss of Arie Mae’s only friend. Arie Mae’s openheartedness and yearning for connection make for a deeply poignant story, one with a richly realized setting and cast. As Arie Mae begins to see her life in a new light, Dowell (The Second Life of Abigail Walker) examines the clash between city and country life and what true wealth really means. Ages 10–12.

    • School Library Journal

      February 1, 2015

      Gr 5-7-All 12-year-old Arie Mae Sparks wants is one true friend. Life in the hill country of North Carolina in the 1920s is hard. Money is tight; education, food, and clothing are all limited; and folks are pretty isolated. She begins to reach out by writing letters to a cousin she's never met who lives far away in Baltimore. After her third letter goes unanswered, she's feeling pretty low, but soon after, she meets Tom, a boy who has come from the city with a group of people interested in studying mountain folk ways. While many of these summer visitors look down on Arie Mae and her kin, Tom becomes her friend. She'll do anything to keep his friendship, including finding him a bear and a ghost. Told through the letters she continues to write, this work is superbly narrated by Suzy Jackson, whose pacing, accent, and inflection are spot-on. VERDICT This is a spellbinding audio, one suitable for class listening when studying history or social studies as well as a genuinely enjoyable story.-John R. Clark, Hartland Public Library, ME

      Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

Levels

  • Lexile® Measure:990
  • Text Difficulty:5-7

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