As Long as There Are Mountains

Today we are halfway through the 2000 Rebecca Caudill Nominees. Sometimes I wonder if twenty nominees is too many. I am curious if the committee could narrow it down further to the ten best books in recent years. The fourth through eighth graders who are allowed to vote on the winner are only required to read five of them anyway. I might choose to just pick the ones with the best cover in which case I certainly would have missed As Long as There Are Mountains by Natalie Kinsey-Warnock.

I can quickly place this book in a category along with Calpurnia Tate and Our Only May Amelia. Here we have another female character, Iris, who works as hard as a boy and plays as hard as a boy and wants the same things that the men of the family generally get. But instead, is expected to be more lady-like; act more lady-like; and dress more lady-like. What does Iris really want? The family farm in the Vermont mountains.

Iris is not the one who will inherit the farm. She has a much older brother, Lucien, who is expected to take over the family farm and work the land as their father and grandfather did. Lucien wants something else entirely, much to his father's disappointment. Lucien wants to go to college and become a writer. He loves the land where he grew up and worked alongside his father, but his dreams involve writing.

There may be no farm to inherit. First, there is a fire in the barn and livestock, along with the building, are lost. Then a tree falls on Iris' father and he loses his leg and his ability to work. Even with Lucien home to help with the farm work, it is not enough to save the farm and it must be put up for auction. It is through these struggles that Iris, Lucien and their father are forced to compromise.

At one time, Lucien was considering running away rather than standing up to his father and explaining his dreams at the risk of hurting his father's own dreams. It was Iris who stopped him. Up until that point, Lucien was not a very kind brother. He never called her by name. He only called her Kid when he gave her orders. He even hit her and pelted her with rocks. But Iris stood up to him and said "Lucien, you can hit me as much as you want if you just won't run away." Things were different from that day forward and Lucien bided his time.

With the loss of the family farm, Iris is now the one planning to make a run for it. She cannot sit around and watch the family's life be sold to neighbors piece by piece. But there is hope. There is a guilty cousin. And there is an Uncle who has finally "found his mind," even if his wife thinks he has lost it. I had to reread the ending. I had forgotten how much I had enjoyed this particular happy ending.