Treasures in the Dust - Hardcover

Porter, Tracey

3.62

109 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060275634 ISBN 13: 9780060275631

Publisher: HarperCollins, 1997

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Annie May Weightman and Violet Cobble are best friends and neighbors. They live in Cimarron County, Oklahoma, during the Great Depression. This is their story, told in two voices. Annie is happiest on the ground, sifting through the dust for traces of the past. But Violet is a dreamer always playing make believe to escape, to fly away from the dusty land. In this beautifully crafted first novel, poet Tracey Porter joins together two unique voices to tell a larger story of America, its hopes and dreams, during a time when thousands fled their prairie homes in search of work, food, and shelter.

Annie and Violet's story is one of friendship and courage--treasures shining through in the face of hardship.

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About the Author:

Tracey Porter is the author of Treasures in the Dust and A Dance of Sisters. Her most recent novel, Billy Creekmore, was named to Oprah.com's Kids' Reading List, compiled by the American Library Association. For the past twenty years she has taught middle school at Crossroads School in Santa Monica, California. She lives with her family in Los Angeles.

From School Library Journal:

Grade 4-8. There are at least two Treasures in the Dust?Annie and Violet, both 11?whose voices alternate the telling of their families' stories in rural Oklahoma during the drought and Great Depression. A historical piece to be sure, this is also a story of friendship between unlike personalities. Annie is more grounded and accepting of the dust that has drifted through her life since infancy, and her family is luckier than Violet's. They still have cows and chickens. Violet is imaginative, story-crazy, "always looking to fly away." With a baby, 4-year-old twins, and a blind, 90-year-old aunt who needs care, her folks are desperate. When the elderly woman dies, Violet's family is free to pursue a new life in California. Her voice becomes more distant in letters to Annie. Porter seems to have borrowed from her background as a poet to create a story rich in descriptive language and lyrical images: "Anything catching a slant of sunlight looks like it could burst into flames," "too tight with sadness to say anything." Readers learn about life during this period: gathering weeds and cactus for the cows, making corncob dolls with wire arms for posing, helping to birth a calf even though it's usually a boy's job, walking holding onto the wire tied from the windmill to the chicken coop to avoid getting lost in a dust storm. From Violet, Annie also learns about make-believe. A fine piece of writing that will give young readers a sense of the past and what it means for two friends to help each other come of age.?Harriett Fargnoli, Great Neck Library, NY
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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