Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Buttermilk Hill Audio
For ages 10 to 12
Unabridged audiobook (CD)
Performed/read by: Nancy Wu
Recorded Books, 2004 ISBN: 978-1419372827
Piper Berry can hardly believe what is happening to her family. Divorce? Her parents are going to get a divorce? Now she living alone in the trailer with Mama and Daddy is staying at the Tarheel truck stop which is owned and operated by his family. Worse still Piper feels not only abandoned by her Daddy but she also feels as if her Mama has no time for her either. Mama is determined that is going to finish her college degree so that she can become a school music teacher. To be able to afford this Mama is working hard at an English pub in Charlotte almost every day of the week. Then Daddy lobs another bombshell at his already reeling daughter – he finds a new woman to share his life with, a woman who has twin sons.
So now Piper spends most of her spare time at the Tarheel with Lindy and her friend Bucky. Their friendship helps to ground her. She also discovers something new to help her through her lonliness and anger; Piper begins to write poetry. Somehow getting her feelings down on paper in poetry forms seems to help.
One day Piper writes a very special poem in which she describes a young girl’s dreams to have a horse of her own. The poem earns her the admiration of both friends and family and it ultimately helps her reconnect with the people whom she loves most.
With sympathy and an acute appreciation for a young girl’s fears, hopes and dreams, Ruth White takes her listeners on an unforgettable journey in 1970’s North Carolina. As she begins to find her feet Piper comes to understand that pursuing ones dreams can be frightening but if one doesn’t try one might end up regretting the lost opportunity for the rest of ones life. With her poems to help her Piper finds the courage to be herself and to face the unknown.
