Sons of Blackbird Mountain by Joanne Bischof, 2018

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When Aven Norgaard leaves Norway to serve as housekeeper to her late husband’s cousins in Appalachia, she expects lads in need of care, not three grown men—each in need of a wife and bound by a powerful brotherhood. As the men carve out a living by brewing artisan liquor, young Haakon’s pursuit tempts Aven’s lonely spirit . . . but it is his deaf brother, Thor, whose silent strength shows her the depths of real love.

Unable to speak to any woman, Thor Norgaard never anticipates Aven will befriend him, let alone treat him as her safe harbor. Though hard cider is their livelihood and his greatest talent, he fights his way to sobriety with Haakon’s help, defying the bottle for Aven’s hand—only to face a battle of the heart that tests even the strongest bonds of brotherhood.

(341 pages)

You might think that this is just another cheesy Christian old-timey romance. To a certain extent, you would be right.

But to shove Sons of Blackbird Mountain into the same category as so many of the throw-away novels in that category doesn't really seem fair to it. Because, while I may have been a bit cynical going in, I quickly realized that Bischof has a serious gift for storytelling. Her prose is beautiful and absorbing, and the characters are drawn so well they feel like people you could actually meet in real life.

Perhaps this is because the characters are flawed. And not just the typical "stubborn and quick to righteous anger" flawed, but actually screwed-up people with struggles and challenges. Both Thor and Haakon make big mistakes at different points in the story, and there is no softening or pooh-poohing away the badness of what they do.

Along the same vein, Aven's hard background is laid out for the reader to see: her illegitimate birth in a nobleman's house, her mother's death at a young age, her childhood in a workhouse and her marriage at 17 to a Norwegian stranger who shipped her from Ireland to Norway, her husband's addiction to alcohol, etc. Plus there's an entire storyline about the KKK and their attacks on a black family close to the Norsgaards.

That's not to say that Sons of Blackbird Mountain is a depressing book, though. In fact, if anything, I'd still say it errs on the side of optimism! Thor got away with a lot of bad things when he was an alcoholic, and everyone waved away a lot of things I would have had a very hard time swallowing. I loved that he is deaf, because there are so few books out there with hard-of-hearing characters (and Bischof did an amazing job describing his lifestyle!), but I was a little taken aback by how well he and Aven connected when she literally didn't even understand sign language! Like, seriously.

Overall, though, I really enjoyed reading Sons of Blackbird Mountain even when I had to fight back an eye-roll or two at the most ridiculous plot turns. I loved the characterizations and the way nothing was sugarcoated, and I highly recommend Sons of Blackbird Mountain for those of you who are interested.

I do just have to add a trigger warning for this book, though: there are two scenes where sexual assault is implied (once it is a misunderstanding, the other time it never goes past PG-13).

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book in order to participate in a TLC tour.

Minna's Patchwork Coat by Lauren A. Mills, 2015

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Minna and her family don't have much in their small Appalachian cabin, but "people only need people," Papa always reminds her. Unable to afford a winter coat to wear to school, she's forced to use an old feed sack to keep her warm. Then Papa's terrible cough from working in the coal mines takes him away forever, and Minna has a hard time believing that anything will be right again...until her neighbors work tirelessly to create a coat for her out of old fabric scraps. Now Minna must show her teasing classmates that her coat is more than just rags--it's a collection of their own cherished memories, each with a story to share.

(288 pages)

First, let me just say that I debated about putting that teaser at the top of the page. The story isn't plotted out at all the way it suggests, and it isn't actually until the end of the book that Minna actually takes her patchwork coat to school.

Marketing quibbles aside, though, let's talk story. I thought this was a really cool one, because it took something I knew very little about (life in the Appalachians), and turned it into a fascinating background for the story. Minna's Patchwork Coat is full of poignant messages about family, friendship, and racism, and all the way those three subjects can be woven together. A boy, Lester, who's part African America, part white, and part Native American is despised by everyone but the Native American grandmother he lives with - until he and Minna become friends. His grandmother, Aunt Nora, is so smart and so good at healing and yet is left so entirely out of the community because of the color of her skin. And Minna, of course, is just as cut out of the community, but for a different reason: she's so poor she can't afford a coat.

This is a really good example of how middle grade novels can still dig into deep topics and come up with some serious themes, without ever straying onto edgy territory. Minna's Patchwork Coat is a wonderful book for kids of any age, full of no more violence than the (unseen) death of Minna's convalescent father. It is somehow a gentle book, even as it depicts grief and racism and bullying and everything else Minna struggles with throughout the book - gentle, because it's honest without ever once beginning to relish its harsher themes. It comes across as a very honest book, portraying the true emotions and experiences of a little girl growing up in the Appalachians - one whose father dies, whose best friend is shunned by the rest of her society, and whose family is so poor she literally can't go to school because she doesn't have a warm coat for walking to school in the winter.

I think kids will appreciate the straight-forward depiction of Minna's reality, while still being enchanted by the stories behind the patchwork coat. I know I certainly would have loved Minna's Patchwork Coat at a younger age, because I would enjoy the mix of historical fiction (I always loved books that made me feel smart by teaching me something) and optimism. For at its core, despite the hard themes that run through it, Minna's Patchwork Coat is a story about an extremely optimistic girl who learns some sad truths but still does her part to draw her community together through the patchwork coat made from their most beloved memories.

Do I recommend it? Yes. I'm not going to say I think everyone should run out and buy it this instant, but I do think it's a good book. It's worth a read it it's handy, and it's definitely worth looking into if you know a kid who's into historical fiction.

Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from KidLitCon.