The quietly toned illustrations capture the desolation of the young boy, but also his resolve that he will return to this special place. In this collection of forty poems, Levy dwells on the surprising beauties of the natural world, showing a reader not how to take control of a place, but how to enjoy and learn from and be delighted by a place. Her language is accessible, the rhythms gentle, the images vivid, such as this shell that holds a sunset. The simplicity of the text and illustrations is moving and suggestive of the destructiveness of war as well as the continuity of life. This celebration of growing up in Appalachia focuses on the small details that a young child would recall the johnny cake, the outhouse, the smell of sweet butter, the snake in the yard, crying at a baptism.
Hardship is here, but so is joy in the closeness of the grandparents and children.
The book reflects a sense of family commitment, as well as simple wonder at the beauty of the world all around, bound by the mountains.