Katie Pickard Fawcett

From February 2010 SLJ:
As disparate pieces of cloth can be turned into a captivating quilt, Fawcett has arranged carefully-selected fragments of Chili Sue Mahoney’s thirteenth year to form a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. Chili lives with her parents and her older brother Jack in the hills of Kentucky. Within a matter of months, her married and pregnant sister Myra moves back home, orphaned cousin Lenny comes to stay, and old Uncle Lucius takes up residence in the attic. The little house is full to overflowing, and Chili dreams of exotic travel and far-flung adventures. But in 1975, folks don’t leave Mercy Hill—while they may disparage their more poverty-ridden neighbors, at least the “welfares” can be trusted more than those citified northerners. Even old Miss Matlock, who left Mercy Hill when she was young and eventually came back, is viewed with suspicion as an “outsider.” Chili, however, is thrilled when Miss Matlock is assigned to their seventh grade classroom: finally, she can learn from someone who has seen the world. Miss Matlock’s accounts of her travels open up new possibilities for Chili, but as she discovers more about Miss Matlock’s early life, she has to question whether her teacher’s actions were truly courageous or remarkably self-centered. Chili is a likeable protagonist, and her descriptions of family and friends make them fully-realized characters in their own right. The brief glimpses into seemingly mundane events over the course of a year allow readers to realize how much she has grown in her relationships. Give this appealing novel to readers who enjoy the poignancy and lyricism of Barbara O’Connor or Deborah Wiles.… (more)