01/10/2022
King’s moving debut, a historical coming-of-age story, follows young June Baker and her family in Maynardville, Tennessee, at the height of the Great Depression. There’s no jobs or government assistance, the mortgage bills keep coming, and June’s mother is sick and her father has hurt himself chopping wood. It’s up to June and her brother Josy to save their family from losing the farm––their livelihood and home. At first, they start trapping rabbits, sewing bonnets, and trading eggs for other goods, but the times get so hard that that’s not enough anymore. So Josy and June jump on the railroads to find work in other towns and states, risking their lives to help their family––until tragedy threatens to take their last hope away.
King ably illustrates desperation and hardship, showcasing the resilience of this family as they lose everything––even, possibly, each other. June starts off as a scared child and ends up a strong woman with a couple of love interests, and King highlights the individual relationships in this striking portrait of a family––and town ––that is at once a look into the Great Depression and a reflection on the devastation that comes with putting profit over people, especially in the case of the railroad police (also known as bulls). June comes to the realization that she doesn’t need money to be rich.
Overall, a page-turning, heart wrenching, occasionally thrilling read about one family's struggle to survive, Sitting on Top of the World invites pree-teen and young teen readers into a hardscrabble stretch of the American past. Along the way, King offers memorable details and images: a game of marbles, pawpaw trees, Mama’s herb garden, a little stray mama cat called Bug. Still, the story’s tight focus on the poor white family at its center can make the historical scope feel small. The brief appearance of Pate, Josy’s friend, the novel’s only significant Black character, plays like a missed opportunity to broaden the novel’s purview.
Takeaway: The enthralling story of young people trying to save their family farm in the depths of the Great Depression.
Great for fans of: Kristin Hannah’s The Four Winds, Lauren Wolk’s Echo Mountain, Jojo Moyes’s The Giver of Stars.
Production grades Cover: B Design and typography: A Illustrations: A Editing: A Marketing copy: A