posted on 29 Jun 2022

That Book Woman by Heather Henson, illustrated by David Small

Franklin D. Roosevelt’s response to the desperate Great Depression of the late 1920s and early 1930’s in the USA was a tranche of economic, social and reconstruction programmes collectively known as The New Deal. Here in the UK most of us have very little knowledge of many of the projects that were put in place and just how creative and inventive – and socially progressive – many were.

One such initiative was the remarkable Pack Horse Library scheme designed to improve reading and literacy skills in Kentucky. The Smithsonian Magazine described the book distribution project in this way:

"The Pack Horse Library initiative, which sent librarians deep into Appalachia, was one of the New Deal’s most unique plans. The project, as implemented by the Works Progress Administration (WPA), distributed reading material to the people who lived in the craggy, 10,000-square-mile portion of eastern Kentucky. The state already trailed its neighbors in electricity and highways. And during the Depression, food, education and economic opportunity were even scarcer for Appalachians.

They also lacked books: In 1930, up to 31 percent of people in eastern Kentucky couldn’t read. Residents wanted to learn, notes historian Donald C. Boyd. Coal and railroads, poised to industrialize eastern Kentucky, loomed large in the minds of many Appalachians who were ready to take part in the hoped prosperity that would bring. "Workers viewed the sudden economic changes as a threat to their survival and literacy as a means of escape from a vicious economic trap," writes Boyd. "

Heather Hanson’s That Book Woman tells the story of Cal, the oldest boy of an isolated Appalachian farming family whose days are spent helping his father with the endless chores. Cal is puzzled by his younger sister, Lark who spends so much time reading what to him are pointless books and trying, despite his indifference, to educate him. In a place like this a  real school is almost impossible to get to on a regular basis.

Cal is even more bewildered when a woman on a horse turns up and tells Lark, to her great joy, that she can borrow books from her on a regular basis. And, true to her word, every couple of  weeks regardless of the weather - fog, rain, snow, and wind - the “Book Woman” arrives

In the end Cal is so mystified by this woman’s tenacity and Lark’s evident pleasure at what she delivers, he decides that maybe he needs to know what this reading business is all about – and a new reader is born!

Heather Henson’s lyrical prose is beautifully supplemented by illustrations from David Small. A review of this book on Small’s own website describes the nature of the illustrations in this way:

“overall, the mixed-media illustrations (ink, watercolor, pastel) support the text’s genial flow. Mountains and sky achieve a lofty spaciousness that makes the Book Woman’s ride even more impressive.”

British readers will be glad to know that there is also a useful author’s note which gives background on the WPA’s Pack Horse Librarian programme at the end of the book and which fills in some of the history we’re largely unfamiliar with.

Copies are available online for under £10 but you may have to wait for them to be delivered from the States.

 

Terry Potter

June 2022