Cissy Funk - Hardcover

Taylor, Kim

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060290412 ISBN 13: 9780060290412

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2001

Synopsis

WINNER of the WILLA Literary Award for Best Young Adult Fiction 

"admirably evokes the dusty, gritty aura of Depression-era Colorado" - Publisher's Weekly 

"With subtlety and insight, Taylor introduces readers to complexities and truths about love and family" - American Library Association 

"Taylor nails small-town agrarian Dust Bowl life in the '30s." - School Library Journal 

On the Depression era Colorado plains, there's nothing but dust and empty farms. It's an unforgiving background to the violence in Cissy Funk's life. She's alone on a scrap of a farm with her mother and brother, and her mother hasn't recovered from the death of Cissy's baby sister. She's turned cold, and mean, and she's turned against Cissy, singling her out, leaving bruises and a breaking heart. 

When Cissy's Aunt Vera turns up, with her warm hugs and pretty clothes, it looks like there just might be hope on the horizon after all. Vera is determined to make sure Cissy is safe and loved, despite her sister in law, despite the hard times, despite her own fears. 

But these hard times are more than failed crops and no work. There's a trouble in Cissy's family that no one is willing to tell her about, and it's threatening to bring her fragile happiness crashing down. When there's nothing but dirt, dust, and the faintest glimpse of delight, Cissy has to find the strength to grab onto what she can. Her family might not be what she thought it was, but maybe it can be exactly what she needs.

About this title

About the Author

Kim Taylor Blakemore writes historical fiction and romance that explores women's lives and brings their struggles and triumphs out of the shadows of history and onto the canvas of our American past. 

Her novel, UNDER THE PALE MOON, is due for release in Fall 2015. Set in post-World War II Monterey, California, it explores the relationship of a married woman breaking the bonds of conformity, and a combat nurse haunted by the ghosts of war. 

She is also the author of the novels BOWERY GIRL, and CISSY FUNK, winner of the WILLA Literary Award for Best Young Adult Fiction. Her interactive historical romances THE VERY THOUGHT OF YOU and IT DON'T MEAN A THING, are available at SilkWords.com. 

She is a member of the Historical Novel Society, Women Writing the West and Women's Fiction Association.

In addition to writing novels, she is a creative writing facilitator for PDX Writers in Portland, Oregon.

Reviews

Grade 7-9-Cissy doesn't understand why she can't do anything right. She only knows that her mother's mind has worked strangely since baby Violet's death, but wonders why she is always being punished and her older brother is not. Seeking refuge in the town movie hall when the threat of physical violence becomes too real, the 13-year-old loses herself in dreams of life the way the stars portray it. When Aunt Vera visits and sees her niece's horrible bruises, she decides that the two of them will live with her brother (Cissy's supposed father) in Denver. His blatant refusal to help is unfathomable to Cissy, and she is further devastated when Vera strangely wavers and allows her brother to return Cissy to her bleak and dangerous former life. Once again, she must battle to reestablish trust in other humans in order to survive. In the end, it is revealed that Vera had become pregnant with Cissy when she was a teenager and that her domineering brother insisted that she give the baby to him and his wife to raise. Finally, Vera stands up to him and takes Cissy away from her abusive situation to live with her and her lover, Maxine. Taylor nails small-town agrarian Dust Bowl life in the '30s. Everything from grape NEHIs to the music to the town socials complete with busybodies neatly fits. While the denouement seems rushed when compared to the richly detailed beginning, this is a minor flaw in an otherwise well-plotted novel.
Cindy Darling Codell, Clark Middle School, Winchester, KY
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

First-time author Taylor admirably evokes the dusty, gritty aura of Depression-era Colorado, but strains with her soap opera-ish story of a dysfunctional family's struggles. The novel opens as 13-year-old Cissy hides from her abusive mother, fearing a beating for something she didn't even do. Cissy's baby sister, it eventually emerges, died in infancy, and grief has rendered their mother dangerously unstable. Cissy's father has moved away, and Cissy's older brother, Jonas, keeps vowing to leave, too. Then sophisticated, beloved Aunt Vera arrives on the scene. After Vera witnesses her sister-in-law brutally attack Cissy, she whisks Cissy off to Denver, where her father lives. But her father doesn't want her, and Vera, now penniless, is hesitant to raise a child on her own. Few of the characterizations go beyond the superficial, and when potentially shocking family secrets (about Vera's sexuality and Cissy's parentage) finally emerge, they have been so heavily foreshadowed and are so easily accepted by Cissy that they make little impact on readers. Ages 10-up.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Gr. 6-9. The setting is the Depression, and the main character, Cissy Funk, leads a life of privation, loneliness, and horror. Cissy's little sister has died, her father has fled to Denver in search of work, her brother has run off, and her best friend has moved away. Her emotionally disturbed mother beats her at the slightest provocation. Cissy's relief finally comes with the arrival of lovely Aunt Vera from Denver. When it becomes obvious Cissy can't be left alone, Vera and Cissy escape at night and run back to Vera's Denver home. On the surface, this seems little more than just another Depression tale of hardship and child abuse. But gradually, readers come to understand that there's more here than meets the eye. Taylor gradually makes it clear that Vera left Denver to hide a secret love for her friend Maxine, as well as to rectify her relationship with her niece and Cissy's mother. With subtlety and insight, Taylor introduces readers to complexities and truths about love and family. Her ultimate conclusion: as long as you've got love, you're ahead of the game. Frances Bradburn
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0060290412
• ISBN 13: 9780060290412
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 211