On Snowden Mountain review

Twelve-year-old Ellen learns the quiet strength of family when her mother's deep depression prompts her to ask an estranged aunt for help.(goodreads summary)






This heartfelt story set in early September of 1942 during WW II,  contains numerous themes such as; depression, poverty, alcoholism and domestic/child abuse.  Ellen is trying her best to take care of herself and her mother who is suffering from severe depression ever since her father volunteered for the War.  Food is running out, funds are low and because her mother is not getting better she decides to contact her Aunt Pearl for help.  Aunt Pearl is a stoic, gruff woman from the mountains of Virginia, who insists they move from Baltimore and go back to live in Snowden.  Moving to the country was unexpected for Ellen and she is having a hard time adjusting to the simple rustic life.  There is no electricity or running water and only an outhouse for facilities.  When she attends the local school, she finds it is not like her school in Baltimore.  There are no desks but only benches with limited supplies and books.  She also has a classmate who smells like skunks and even though he is 15 years old, sits up in the front row with the 6 year old's.   As Ellen gets to know Russell better, she learns that he cannot read or write and has an alcoholic abusive father that makes him trap skunks for pelts instead of attending school regularly.  She also witnesses Russell's abusive father towards him and his mother first hand after he asks Ellen for help when his mother is beaten.  This is the first step towards an unlikely friendship for the two.  Ellen secretly teaches Russell school work and in return he teaches her the beauty of the mountains and nature around them. As the fall season closes and winter begins, Ellen starts to see things with a different view, where she eventually comes to accept the community she must now consider as her home. 

There are many other characters in the story that help in Ellen's character development.  Besides Aunt Pearl. there is Moselle Toms who is a busy-body and town gossip and latches onto Ellen for her own gain.  Ellen soon discovers that how things look on the outside is not always the same on the inside.  I liked that even though Aunt Pearl knew of this, she let Ellen find this out by herself so she could make her own conclusions about a true self.  Ellen also has fears of someday having the same depressive disorder that consumes her mother.  Aunt Pearl finally opened up about her family history and she learns many things about her Aunt and mother that she never knew before.  When I saw the cover of this book I thought it was a nice, gentle historical fiction for the younger middle grade readers.  After I read it, I learned just as Ellen did,  that you cannot judge a book by its' cover.  I feel it would be better suited for the middle school aged because of the heavy themes.  The end wrapped up very quickly and left me wishing for a few more chapters because it  left me thinking with further questions about Ellen or Russell and his mother.   I could visualize Snowden, Virginia in 1942, the rustic mountain town, Ellen's one room schoolhouse and each character easily with the beautiful descriptive writing style.  I could also feel what Ellen was feeling and thinking as she tried to adapt to the uncertainty of her future.  For being such a short story, it will leave the reader thinking about the realities of the past.  I think this is a "just right book" for ages 11-13.~ 


Title:  On Snowden Mountain
Author:  Jeri Watts
Pub. date:  September 2019, Candlewick Press
Genre:  historical fiction
Hardcover, 193 pgs.