ON VINEY'S MOUNTAIN by Joan Donaldson Blog Entry by Amannda Murie, PHS Sophomore

ON VINEY'S MOUNTAIN, by Joan Donaldson
AR: Not Yet--book is slated to be published on October 1st
Interest Level: Middle Grades and Up

I was twitchy all day Saturday because I was busy most of the day around the house when all I wanted to do was go out to our barn and sit atop the hay and have this book with me.

ON VINEY'S MOUNTAIN, by Joan Donaldson is a tale about Viney, a sixteen year old girl who has the odd view for the era that she can take care of herself and her mountain without the help of a man. This changes whensettlers start coming to builda town, which has an effect on Viney's mountain. At first she looks at this negatively becasue they are ruining her home. Then, she meets Charlie--and falls in love.

This is one of the few books that are entwined with history that I've truely enjoyed and it left me thinking about the lesson of Viney's experience. Viney...many people (including me) can relate to her easily because at some point in life, everyone goes through the confusion and turmoil of trying to figure out exactly what they want.

Donaldson's setting and plot are in essence simple. A beginning settlement and the trouble that follows, and Viney's love story in the mix make it easy to follow; but how she describes this through a first person perspective gives it the complexity that makes this book unique. Her writing is fluent and clean, never being being so simple that it becomes boring, or so complex that it requires the reader to have to fully concentrate on deciphering the vocabulary. This book was slow only in the first chapter, but then it had me until I finished it. I hope to see this book , published and on the shelves at PHS so others can enjoy this wonderful story that Joan Donaldson has created.