Moonshine [Hardcover]

Grade 6-9-A coming-of-age novel set in the Ozarks during the Depression. Fatherless Thad McCune, 13, proudly without ambition, is happy to roam the woods around his small town. He hunts (with nothing but rocks and a good aim) and fishes, and supplements his mother's tiny waitressing salary by serving as an "agent" for a reclusive moonshiner. As long as he has his dog and his good friend Willa to share his adventures, life seems sweet, and it offers the possibility of even greater sweetness when Harlan James, an apparently wealthy tourist, takes an interest in Thad and his mother. Unfortunately, the local deputy is also interested in Ms. McCune and in Thad's daytime activities: he suspects that the boy is "whiskey running," a job that Thad has never mentioned to his mother. With these plot elements in place, Blackwood moves forward confidently and with great skill, creating a period tone that falters only occasionally, and a narrative that pulls readers forward. True, the climax and subsequent resolution are conceptually cliched, and a few events strain credibility. But the emotional components of the final pages-Thad's reaction to learning who his father is and his sense of betrayal when Mr. James turns out to be a federal agent-are honest and Blackwood's telling is sure. Likewise, Thad's ability to find a way to rescue James when he is injured as well as to help the moonshiner escape reveals his true "goodness." Like Huckleberry Finn, he eschews the letter of the law for his own innate sense of justice, thus taking his first steps toward "grown-up" responsibility within society rather than withdrawing and going it alone.
Coop Renner, Moreno Elementary School, El Paso, TX
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Thirteen-year-old Thad McCune excels at both kinds of "moonshine" --fabricating convincing stories and delivering illegal corn liquor to "touristers" in rural Missouri during the Depression. Abandoned by his father at birth, Thad and his waitress mother work hard to scrape by, so the liquor money helps. But Thad is soon warned by a deputy sheriff that he's under close surveillance. Harlan, an understanding tourister, becomes a father figure to Thad, and with his encouragement Thad undergoes a subtle transformation. When Thad offers to supply Harlan with whiskey, he sets events in motion that build to a gripping showdown at the secluded still. The story jumps off to a quick start, and despite exploration of several side issues, the pace never slackens. As Thad uncovers clues about his father, he and the reader arrive at the same surprising realization together. The deputy sheriff is broadly drawn, but all characters, even the bootlegger, are sympathetically presented. Containing similar story elements, this will be an interesting companion to Chap Reaver's Bill (1994). Linda Perkins

Blackwood goes from Elizabethan England (Shakespeare Stealer, not reviewed, 1998) to a Depression-Era Ozarks setting for this poker-faced tale of a self-reliant but naive teenager. Although he and his mother are dirt poor and he doesn't remember his father, Thad is an optimist; he has a girl, a loyal bluetick hound, and a good if risky source of income, selling corn liquor for Dayman, a sour, one-armed recluse with a hidden still. He begins to get a glimmer of other lives and possibilities when Harlan James comes to town, claiming to be a land scout for tobacco growers. Harlan is well-dressed, a free spender, and free with his time, too; he allows Thad to use his fancy tackle to land a huge catfish, teaches him how to use a rifle, and even loans him clothes for a date. Blackwood knits characters together with threads of ``moonshine''not liquor, but a steady diet of stories, jokes, yarns, and outright liesso that the story becomes a study in layers and varieties of honesty. Thad's feeling of betrayal is sharp but brief when he finds out that Harlan is a revenue agent, stalking Dayman's still, which literally explodes in his face. Blackwood drops plenty of hints that both Harlan and Dayman are more than they seem, so alert readers are always ahead of Thad, which adds drama; the twin revelations that Dayman is Thad's father and that Harlan's friendliness wasn't all moonshine close this backwoods bildungsroman on a high note. (Fiction. 11-13) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

"An extremely well-crafted coming-of-age story. The plot moves quickly and few words are wasted." -- Book Report, January/February 2000

"This sympathetic depiction of life in a Depression-era Ozarks village is another masterful offering from the author of The Shakespeare Stealer." -- Smithsonian, November 1999

"Well-crafted historical novel....Engaging protagonist....Has a great respect for place....Readers will appreciate the novel's quiet humor and consistent clarity, and its thoughtful depiction of the ways we grow up." -- The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, November 1999

Moonshine is a Marshall Cavendish publication.

Selected as a Smithsonian Notable Book for Children, 1999

Gary L. Blackwood is a Marshall Cavendish author.