Tenmile

Growing up in the 1880s, 13-year-old Sissy lives with her doctor father and their housekeeper in Tenmile, Colorado, a mining town where most families get by on subsistence wages and pride. Sissy often assists her father in his work and, after helping out during several emergencies, becomes more confident in her abilities. The story opens with Sissy helping her father deliver a baby, and after an accident in the mine, he puts her in charge of triage. A good student, she hopes to become a doctor and leave Tenmile someday. Meanwhile, her friends are dropping out of school; the boys work in the dreaded mine to help support their families, while the girls are needed to help out at home. The many secondary characters and their individual stories, including a subplot in which Sissy tutors the mine owner's son, are well integrated into the novel. A well-paced, engaging chapter book with an interesting cast of characters and a protagonist who becomes more determined, more aware of her potential, and more firmly rooted in her community throughout the narrative.

In an emotionally restrained accounting, Dallas (The Quilt Walk) details late 19th-century mining town hardships as a 13-year-old girl pursues her seemingly impossible dream of graduating from college. In 1880, "life is hard on the Tenmile," a Colorado mountain range where Sissy Carlson helps her father doctor the residents of their "smoky, noisy mining town." Sissy and friend Jack Burke plan to attend college, but when Jack drops out of school to help his struggling family, and suffers a potentially fatal mining accident, Sissy fears her own ambitions will similarly crumble, especially in a place where "girls don't go to college. They just get married." Clinging to hope for her future and Jack's recovery, Sissy takes a job tutoring the wealthy mine owner's son, and tries to reconcile staggering wealth inequality and classism with universally human burdens. Painting a broad portrait of the town and its residents, Dallas's matter-of-fact third-person narration tells rather than shows, dampening the book's emotional thrust, though internal dialogue advances Sissy's character arc and pointed conversations endorse empathy and social justice as the novel's core message. Characters are presumed white. Ages 9--up. (Nov.)

A doctor's daughter finds her vocation in a Colorado mining town. Sissy Carlson, 13, lives with her widowed father and their housekeeper, the only mother figure she can remember. It's 1880, and Sissy dreams of a career in medicine, but while her dad, Tenmile's only doctor, has made her his assistant, he insists girls can't be doctors despite accumulating evidence of her talents in this area. Sprawling high in the Tenmile Range, the Yellowcat Mine draws many European and Mexican immigrants and their families, though miners are paid little. The mine is noisy, polluting, and dangerous. Accidents are frequent, as is tuberculosis. Sissy and her friends vow to escape, but their plans are derailed when parents get sick, succumb to addiction, or value a child's immediate earning potential over education's deferred benefits. Aware of her financial privileges, Sissy learns to hear what goes unsaid and preserve the dignity of those who can't pay for treatment. When her diligence comes to the attention of the mine's owner, Mr. Gilpin, he hires her to tutor his son. Observant and curious, Sissy makes an empathetic tour guide to the era's class and gender stratification. Meticulously compiled quotidian details ranging from heartbreaking to heartwarming effectively map the chasm separating the wealthy Gilpins from their impoverished employees. The central characters are presumed White. A fast-moving tale that leaves readers plenty to ponder. (author's note) (Historical fiction. 8-12) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.