Linda Johns (Children's Literature)
April Sloane--teasingly called "Ghost Girl" because of her light hair--is 11 years old when President Hoover and Mrs. Hoover build a new one-room schoolhouse in the Blue Ridge Mountains. April has never been to school and she has never seen anyone as fine and sophisticated as their teacher, Miss Vest. But April's mother adamantly refuses to let her to go to school, until her grandmother convinces the family that April needs this chance. Within the first year, however, April's mother yanks her out of the school. But when the mother learns the truth about how April's younger brother Riley died, she blames her daughter and disowns her. Miss Vest steps in and lets April live with her in the apartment behind the classroom. April voraciously reads National Geographic magazines, the Sears, Roebuck catalog, and everything else the school has to offer, opening herself up to a bigger world. This uplifting story has strong, multi-layered characters, a firm historical basis, and a plot to keep readers going. The author based the story on the real Christine Vest Witcofski's letters and diaries about her years living in the Blue Ridge Mountains and running the President's Mountain School. An excellent historical novel with wide appeal, this title would be interesting to pair with The Secret School by Avi. 2003, Clarion Books, $15.00. Ages 9 to 12.

Jenifer DeHart (Children's Literature)
Ghost Girl is the nickname of an 11-year-old girl, April Sloane, who lives in a sparsely populated area of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Other children her age give April this nickname because of her light hair and extremely pale skin. Not until President Hoover builds a mountain home nearby does someone realize that the children in the area have no school to attend. Hoover builds the children a school and appoints Caroline Vest as the teacher. April's family has been going through a tough year trying to deal with the death of April's youngest and only brother. Because April has been holding back a secret about his death, she feels responsible. When the secret comes to light, her mother cannot stand to look at April any longer, and she sends her to live with Miss Vest. While this book is a work of historical fiction, President Hoover really did build this mountain school for the local children, and Caroline Vest was the actual teacher chosen to run it. This makes the story even better, since the author already does such a wonderful job of making readers feel like they are really there. It is obvious that Ray did her research to make the setting believable for readers. She tells a very interesting story about the hardships faced by a young girl and the teacher who is trying so hard to help her. Readers will find this Blue Ridge Mountain story difficult to put down. 2003, Clarion Books, $15.00. Ages 9 to 12.

Sheree Van Vreede (Children's Literature)
For many of us, it is hard to imagine a time in this country when a portion of our population was uneducated. But in the 1930s, there were still some areas that lacked schools for children. One such area was the Blue Ridge Mountains. All of that changed, however, with the construction of the President's Mountain School. President Herbert Hoover and his wife Lou Henry, who had a vacation home in the Shenandoah Valley, discovered that the children there did not have a school to attend and so determined that one should be built. Christine Vest was appointed its first teacher. This engaging piece of historical fiction creates a picture of what might have gone on at President's Mountain School. Based on letters between Ms. Vest and the White House, Delia Ray weaves a story that captures an era in our nation's history and presents it to us in a way that is enlightening and moving. It doesn't take long to fall in love with the landscape and to feel transported into mountain life. 2003, Clarion Books, $15.00. Ages 10 up.

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, September 1, 2003 (Vol. 71, No. 17))
Eleven-year-old April Sloane lives an isolated life on Doubletop Mountain in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, so she doesn't believe it when her friend Dewey Jessup claims to have met President Hoover at his new summer place down the mountain. But when the president starts a mountain school and hires Miss Vest as the new teacher, April's world begins to expand. Miss Vest introduces her to such wonders as indoor plumbing, hot chocolate, marshmallows, reading, and the Sears, Roebuck catalogue. April gets to know Mrs. Hoover and even visits her at the White House. Though the outside world has its wonders, so does April's mountain life, and with the help of Miss Vest, Aunt Birdy, and Mama, April finds her place in that world. Ray's loving attention to setting, character, and detail makes this debut special, a quiet and subtle evocation of a time and a place based on real events and a real teacher. (author's note) 2003, Clarion, $15.00. Category: Fiction. Ages 10 to 14. Starred Review. © 2003 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Karen Coats (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, November 2003 (Vol. 57, No. 3))
Using letters, newspaper accounts, and personal narratives as her source material, Ray sensitively captures the atmospheric flavor of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the early 1930s. Here, the Hoovers, moved by the intense poverty of the people living around their summer home, build a school and hire Christine Vest to teach the mountain children, whose hearts she wins. Particularly drawn to Miss Vest is April Sloane, whose family is still shattered from the death by fire of April’s brother, Riley. When April finally ventures to confess to Miss Vest her role in Riley’s death (left in charge of him, she failed to note the flames in time), April’s mother overhears her and ejects her from the family home. The author may wax a bit adulatory about the intentions and actions of the Hoovers, but this too is realistic in that they are seen primarily through the eyes of Miss Vest, their friend and employee, and the starry-eyed April, who attributes to them her opportunity to learn to read. Ray’s sympathy for the Hoovers is also in keeping with her practice of treating her characters as real, complex people who err in judgment rather than predictable stereotypes. A warm but not sentimental coming-of-age story, this work of historical fiction could be used with Hesse’s Out of the Dust (BCCB 12/97) and Bud, Not Buddy (11/99) to emphasize the variety of experiences of young people during the ’30s. (Reviewed from galleys) Review Code: R -- Recommended. (c) Copyright 2003, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 2003, Clarion, 224p, $15.00. Grades 5-8.

Horn Book (The Horn Book Guide, Spring 2004)
Eleven-year-old April's isolated life in Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains changes when President and Mrs. Hoover start a school in her community. April hopes to learn to read and, above all, get to know the vibrant, sophisticated young teacher, Miss Vest. Ray's debut novel (based on the letters of the real Christine Vest) is poignant, realistic, and somber, and reflective of the strength April finds within. Category: Intermediate Fiction. 2003, Clarion, 216pp, $15.00. Ages 9 to 12. Rating: 1: Outstanding, noteworthy in style, content, and/or illustration.

Twyla Wallace (The Lorgnette - Heart of Texas Reviews (Vol. 16, No. 3))
This novel is based on a collection of letters from a teacher and the Herbert Hoover White House during the depression. President and Mrs. Hoover started a school for poor children in the Virginia Blue Ridge Mountains near his vacation retreat. April Sloane is eleven years old and had never been to school. Her mother still grieves for her dead son and doesn't want April to go to school, but April's grandmother intervenes. April is amazed at the modern, wonderful world Miss Vest, her teacher, introduces to the children. Slowly April learns to read from Miss Vest's Sears and Roebuck catalog! Later, April meets the President and determines to continue her education. This is a warm, inspiring story! Fiction, Highly Recommended. Grades 6-9. 2003, Clarion Books, 216p., $15.00. Ages 11 to 15.