You probably have guessed by now that I’m a sucker for novels set in the Appalachian Mountains. It should be no surprise that I jumped on Marilyn Sue Shank’s debut novel, Child of the Mountains, since it’s set in the 1953 West Virginia mountains. This heartwarming and heart-wrenching novel is intended for tweens and young teens but I think it’s going to appeal to some older teens and adults as well.

“These women of Appalachia, they didn’t survive. They prevailed.” Margaret Hatfield, West Virginia History Film Project

It’s 1953 and Lydia Hawkins lives with Gran, her widowed mom and her little brother, BJ, in a cabin up on the mountain. Her family is...Read the rest of my review at http://popcornreads.com/?p=3567.