Down Sand Mountain

December 1, 2008
Gr 7-9-Things are anything but tranquil along the Peace River as Dewey starts seventh grade in Sand Mountain, FL, in 1966. From his nascent desire to wear blackface to play the part of the shoe-shine boy in next year's Rotary Club Minstrel show, to his dad's doomed run for city council that includes a plan to pave streets in Boogerbottom, the part of town where Negroes live, racial issues are underlying themes in the story. Layered above are Dewey's well-justified apprehensions about bullying at school, his "Americanism vs. Communism" class, and his lack of friends. Eighth-grade brother Wayne offers no help. Dancing lessons with Darla, a Shirley Temple wannabe about whom rumors circulate, and her "prissy" twin brother, Darwin, further confuse him. Vietnam vet Walter Wratchford, who rescues the miserable, soaked, dirty Dewey after he skips the first day of school to play at the creek, seems weird. The beauty is in the telling of this bildungsroman, as what is unspoken about the murky racism, sexual climate, and political realities of the time effectively build into a pervasive fog of unease. Readers will understand that Dewey's innocence dims his understanding of the politics of hate, but will easily identify with his deeply felt fears. And they'll share his wonder and confusion about his first kiss and first masturbatory sexual experience with Darla. Readers who enjoyed Gary D. Schmidt's "The Wednesday Wars" (Clarion, 2007) or Lance Marcum's "The Cottonmouth Club" (Farrar, 2005) will find sliding down Sand Mountain a faster ride, but infused with similar-and satisfying-gravitas."Joel Shoemaker, Southeast Junior High School, Iowa City, IA"

Copyright 2008 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from August 1, 2008
In 1966, a white kid discovers the cruelty in his small, segregated Florida mining town, where everybody knew everybody else, unless they were colored, and racism is the norm, in himself, too. All Dewey, 12, wants is to fit in and have people like him, but that gets even harder after he stains his face with black shoe polish to dance in the local minstrel show, and the white bullies choose him as a target. Then his father, a miner, runs for city council again, even though he always loses because he wants to improve the blacks neighborhood, where Dewey hates going. In his debut YA novel, award-winning adult author Watkins tells a classic loss-of-innocence story. The simple, beautiful prose remains totally true to the childs bewildered viewpoint, which is comic when Dewey does not get the big picture (you never knew what was really going on), anguished when he finally sees the truth. The plot includes Deweys secret romance with his classmate and the sweet revenge on the bullies, and the daily detail about small things. Multiple local characters sometimes bogs the story. Still, there is neither too much nostalgia nor message, and readers will be haunted by the disturbing drama of harsh secrets close to home.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)