From Blue Ground
In 1876, the owner of two major railroads, Franklin Gowen, is looking to control the coal mines. By limiting the shipment of coal and driving up costs, he can put independent mines out of business and purchase them for almost nothing. But first he will need to break the miners’ strike. Peter Hughes, a union leader and member of the “Molly Maguires” (an Irish group helping defend the miners), is the company’s target.
After witnessing Peter’s murder, his children, Patrick and Sissy Hughes, escape into the Pennsylvania coal hills. Pursued by the murderers, their only hope is to unlock the mystery behind a translucent blue stone their father, with his dying breath, charged them to protect. But how can a stone save them from the strikebreakers, “scabs,” and security agents chasing them? A professor of mineralogy may hold the key to this mystery, if Patrick and Sissy can reach him.
This is a fast-paced, chase-scene-driven middle-grade book, but it’s very boy-centric. The one girl character, 14-year-old Sissy, offers little in terms of decision making. It’s 12-year-old Patrick who makes every lifesaving choice and is given character development; however, this is scant. The ending is anticlimactic, though historical people are used in the story, and thus the author is limited in the repercussions these people face. Things fizzle out quickly and quietly.
I question the author’s references comparing the scenery to a photo negative. In researching negatives, I learned the product was not introduced until 1885, when the first flexible photographic film roll was sold, and thus not an accurate metaphor for the narrator to use. The setting and plot are unique for juvenile fiction, for which I applaud the author, but the characters are one-dimensional. Historical accuracy and character diversity are also a “miss” in this book.
