Summerhill Secrets Series

Summerhill Secrets Series, by Beverly Lewis

This is a series of children's books which I had read years ago, probably in the 7th grade.  I re-read them sometime during October but have taken my pretty time procrastinated in writing about them.  The main character is Merry Hanson, who lives in Pennsylvania Amish country.  She is not Amish, but distantly related to them, and has many friends who are Amish.

The books all read like children's mystery novels, but not all the plots of each book are mystery.  The first book, Whispers Down the Lane, involves Merry's friend Lissa, who has run away from home and has asked Merry to hide her.  Merry finds herself torn between her desire to help her friend, and the possible consequences of harboring a runaway.  Book two is Secret in the Willows and this book is indeed a mystery novel.  Someone had been vandalizing an Amish home, and Merry believed the wrong person was being blamed for it.  Catch a Falling Star (book three) deals with the details of a middle school love triangle, or hexagon, or whatever convoluted shape teenage crushes can create.  Although that is not really a stage of my life I am interested in reliving, I did find the author's depiction of the complexities of middle school relationships to be quite accurate.  Book 4 is Night of the Fireflies and deals with Merry's backstory of losing her twin to cancer, and the events in the present which dredge up those past memories.  It is a significant book for helping readers in its target age group to identify feelings they might be having and discuss them openly with their parents, although it is still fiction and belongs in the children's fiction section of a bookstore, as opposed to the bereavement/grief or parenting sections.  Book five is A Cry in the Dark and continues with that theme when Merry discovers an abandoned baby in her gazebo.

In every book, there is a clear explanation, in terms middle-schoolers can understand, of Amish beliefs and practices and how they differ from "English" people (all non-Amish).  The books are engaging even for an adult to read, although many complex ideas an adult would think of are ignored (the lack of involvement of child protective services when a baby is discovered, simply because Merry's father is a doctor is one that comes to mind).  However, it is refreshing to go back to that child-like mindset and just forget all the complicated things for a while.

These books are very entertaining, and I would recommend them to teenage girls, teenage boys who aren't afraid to be caught reading a book with a female character, and anyone interested in Lancaster Amish lifestyles written from a child's simplistic viewpoint.

Night of the Wind

Night of the Wind, by Dan Cherry

This book is about a life-altering tornado that occurred in southern Michigan on Palm Sunday, 1965. It is a sort of narrative reconstruction based on interviews with the eyewitnesses to the damage, the victims, and their families.

"A tornado?" you might ask. "The United States gets hundreds of them a year. It couldn't have been that bad." Try saying that to someone who was there.

At first glance, this book simply tells a story, in time increments, about a tragedy. But looking back on my reading, I discovered that the author skillfully worked in little memorable details that taught the reader something of the history and culture of the area while telling the story.

For example, instead of stating "In 1965, tornado and storm were monitored by radar storm watchers in Detroit, who then relayed information to the news stations (a long process)," the author worked the details into the story. So at 7:00 PM, which is the first chapter, the author describes the evening activities for many of the characters involved. At 7:03 PM a tornado was reported locally in southern Michigan, but as it moved north, no other counties were alerted. Giving the readers the knowledge of the tornado, while the characters involved had no knowledge of the coming disaster heightens suspense, while also subtly emphasizing in the story that the communication about the weather which is so important today, was almost non-existent back then.

Having read the book, I feel a greater sense of connection with the people in the communities of Manitou Beach, Adrian, Addison, Devil's Lake, Onsted, and others in the Lenawee County area. I feel that if I were to visit the area today, I would feel a sense of familiarity despite the fact that the damage I saw in the pictures no longer is visible today.

The sense of danger the book instilled was also profound. It was not profound in the sense of instilling an unhealthy fear of storms, but it was just enough to make a person take time out of their day to remember the deaths of those involved when the sky takes on a funny color. In fact, I found myself on Palm Sunday of this year, without even realizing it, searching the sky and thinking about the tornado of 43 years ago, despite living in the foothills of the Appalachians, where in my lifetime (24 years), we have had two tornadoes that were barely large enough to take shingles off the roofs. For this reason, I felt that the book was a wonderful tribute to the memory of those who lost their lives on that night.

I would highly recommend this book to history buffs, storm watchers, and those who live in the affected area. However, it has recently gone out of print. HAHA sucks to be you... no seriously, if you want to read it, contact me because I know the author and if I present him with enough names I might be able to petition for it to go back into print. (He's gonna read this and now he's probably rolling his eyes at me...) OK thats all, final verdict: its a great book, a suspenseful read, and how history books OUGHT to be written!