A review by toad_maiden
Miracles on Maple Hill by Virginia Sorensen

4.0

This gets four stars for how much I enjoyed reading it and for how much I would have enjoyed it as a child. This is a quiet little "get-back-to-nature" story with a lot of flaws but also so much charm. Marly is a sensitive, complicated protagonist for a story of this era. The descriptions of rural Pennsylvania, with its flora and fauna, are captivating. Sorensen writes with a good deal of understanding into the minds and hearts of children, and the Krushes' illustrations are delightful. I know that this would have quickly become a favorite if I had read it as a child.

However, it has two main flaws. Although Sorensen makes a last-ditch effort at the end to undermine gender stereotypes, there is still a lot of 1950's "boys don't cry" nonsense here, and that kind of gender essentializing drives me (and most sensible modern readers) a bit nutso. Also, the plot conflict that I thought would be the meat of this story (that Daddy has returned home from a POW camp after the war with PTSD) is mostly tied up with a nice, fake bow within the first few chapters, which (1) leaves the author floundering for conflict later and (2) is completely unrealistic and unhelpful in its portrayal of a real emotional injury.

So, in some ways, I think this book fails at successfully making its point; however, I loved reading it so much that I don't really care.