COPY & CHAMOMILE Gonna eat me a lot of peaches
THE SILVER STAR A novel by Jeannette Walls
Teapot, cup and saucer provided by Auntie’s Attic
BOOK REVIEW by Jennifer Streifel
O
N NOVEMBER 13, 2013, the AMPL book club will be discussing The Silver Star, a story of retribution by award winning author and journalist Jeannette Walls. The story begins in April 1970 in Lost Lake, California, a small town in the Colorado Desert. Charlotte Holladay, an aspiring singer, goes to San Diego to “make some time and space” for herself, leaving behind her two adolescent daughters “Bean” (Jean) and Liz to fend for themselves. Initially the girls are not concerned about their mother’s absence; she often left them on their own for a few days when she went to Los Angeles to audition as a backup singer. However, this time is different. After nearly two weeks, a grocer comments to Bean that he hasn’t seen her mother in a while. Then as Bean walks home from school, she sees a squad car outside her home. Fearing being placed in a foster home, the sisters hatch a plan. Liz and Bean decide to take a bus to stay with their Uncle Tinsley in Byler, Virginia, Charlotte’s hometown. Once the sisters arrive at the home of Uncle Tinsley, Bean catches a boy stealing peaches from her uncle’s orchard. When
Photo: Troy McQuillen
she describes the boy to her uncle, he explains that the boy is Joe Wyatt, Bean’s cousin. While Bean and Liz knew that Charlotte had divorced Liz’s dad, Shelton Steward, all they knew about Bean’s father was that he was a “Byler boy” and had died. Bean gets to meet her father Charlie’s family. Her Aunt Al gives Bean the Silver Star medal that was awarded to her father for his gallantry in the Korean War. Bean becomes close to her father’s family and makes friends at her new school. Liz, however, has a more difficult time. A nonconformist like her mom and dissatisfied with her school life, Liz throws herself into doing office work for Jerry Maddox, a powerful and corrupt foreman of the town mill, and trouble arises. I enjoyed reading about how the bond between two sisters helped them survive tough circumstances. While staying with their uncle, one of the girls is victimized. Through her sister’s support and in the spirit of the Silver Star medal, she is able to stand up for herself and ensure justice is served. Jennifer Streifel has been an avid library user since 1981 as a college student, then as an elementary school teacher, and has been an AMPL book club member since 1999.
Stop into the library and become a member of Friends of the Library. All members receive this handy book bag from the AMPL Foundation.
RECOMMENDED TEA: PEACH TEA I suggest reading this coming-of-age tale while sipping peach tea, in reminiscence of how Bean came to meet her cousin Joe in the peach orchard and, in turn, the rest of her father’s family. Peach tea is a southern favorite, satisfying to your sweet tooth, yet naturally calorie free.
LOVED THE BOOK?
Meet the author! Jeannette Walls, author of The Silver Star and The Glass Castle, is presenting at NSU on Wednesday, November 20 at 7:30 p.m. at the Johnson Fine Arts Center Theater. The NSU Honors Program brings the event to you free of charge. To order your tickets today, call 605-626-2552 or go to www.northern.edu.
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013 |
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