From Organization / 国外机构评价: |
Gr 8 Up–In late 19th-century Pennsylvania, 16-year-old Celestia spends summer vacations with her family at an exclusive club at Lake Conemaugh in this novel (Knopf/Borzoi, 2010) by Jame Richards. She is all too aware of the seemingly inflexible barriers between classes, but can't help falling in love with Peter, an employee at the club. Their story is at the center of this poignant novel in verse, which unfolds during the summers of 1888 and 1889, climaxing with the tragic Johnstown Flood. Augmenting the romance are the stories of Maura, a young wife and mother of four; Kate, a nurse still grieving the loss of her first love; and Whitcombe, Celestia's father. An ensemble cast performs, led by Eileen Stevens and Joshua Swanson as Celestia and Peter. The well-cast narrator shine in the descriptions of their characters' individual experiences as they are swept up, some literally, in the disaster. Matching their pace to the rhythm of the verse, they skillfully bring listeners along until they, too, are caught up in this moving story. An author's note explores Richards's motivations for writing the story, and there's a chronology of the South Fork Dam and the devastation of the Johnstown Flood. |
Foreign Customer Review / 国外客户评价: |
There are times when all you want is to be able to do justice to a truly extraordinary book with your review. This is one of those times.
This debut novel focuses on the Johnstown Flood of 1889 - when three rivers met and shattered a dam - releasing a deluge of water on unsuspecting townspeople. Told in verse, we are, for the most part, taken through the story with Celestia as our guide. Celestia is a young, aristocratic girl who comes from a "good" family. Her father is heavy into the banking business (think, Carnegie; J.P. Morgan, etc.), and he has taken his family up to Lake Conemaugh (The South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club) for the summer, which is the "in" place for all members of high society. Celestia is a reader. She wants nothing more than to excuse herself from the rules and regulations, flee from the captains of industry who simply want to sit around and pat themselves on the back for how brilliant they are, and find a small corner of the forest where she can sit quietly and read.
One day, as she's sitting beside the lake reading peacefully, a young boy who works as a hired hand for the Club walks by her with his fishing pole in hand. Soon, Celestia finds herself talking to Peter and spending all her time with the hardworking boy who has an ailing father in his home "down the mountain." His father is a coal miner, and the black lung is slowly taking his life. Peter is a hopeless romantic; knowing that there's no way possible that he and Celestia can remain together because of their different classes, he still has beautiful words and notions inside his head and heart - hoping that somehow the world will let them find a way.
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About the Author / 作者介绍: |
Jame's interest in history began with reluctance in childhood, when every school vacation involved a family trip in the paneled station wagon to museums, presidential tombs and historical monuments. She bided her time until reaching the gift shop, wondering why she couldn't go to an amusement park or the beach like everyone else. During those long car trips, she learned to write and revise in her head. Twenty years of creative writing (sometimes even on paper) and her knowledge of history come together in Three Rivers Rising, her first novel.
Three Rivers Rising is on the YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults (BFYA) 2011 list and the School Library Journal Best Books of 2010 list. It is also the 2011 IRA Children's and Young Adult Book Award, Honorable Mention in the Young Adult category.
Starred reviews: Kirkus and School Library Journal.
Prior to publication, Three Rivers Rising won the PEN New England Children's Book Caucus 2008 Susan P. Bloom Discovery Award.
Please visit www.jamerichards.com for more information, including a Reader Guide. |
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