Cathi I. White (Children's Literature)
Ann Fay’s world is turned upside down when her father goes to war in 1944. She is left to help her mother and young siblings. More heartbreak hits home when her brother contracts polio. Her mother has to leave her to take care of her two young sisters while she goes to the hospital to care for her brother. Thirteen-year-old Ann Fay learns to grow up quickly by taking responsibility of her sisters and their home while both parents are away. When another tragedy strikes, Ann Fay helps hold the family together. As a result, yet an additional crisis hits the family and Ann Fay is its victim. Learn how Ann Fay wins the heart of an unlikely friend who helps her during this disaster. This book is based on some facts about the polio epidemic of that time. The reader will be informed about the fears and concerns about the polio victims and their families. This fascinating book will keep the reader captivated until the very last page. 2005, Calkins Creek Books/Boyds Mills Press, $16.95. Ages 10 to 12.

Joan Kindig, Ph.D. (Children's Literature)
Set in 1944, Ann Fay’s world has turned upside down. Daddy has gone off to fight in WWII and she is left behind as the eldest of four children to help Momma keep the home place together. That is a lot of responsibility for a thirteen-year-old girl but Ann Fay rises to the occasion. When the youngest, Bobby, falls ill and is taken to the hospital with polio, Ann Fay is left to cope with her little sisters and ridding the house of any possible polio germs. This story set in Hickory, N.C. draws a clear picture of the fear of polio and the consequences of contracting it. Ann Fay eventually falls prey to the illness and the determination we saw when Daddy left kicks in as she fights to regain the use of her legs. An engaging and informative piece of historical fiction. 2006, Calkins Creek Books, $16.95. Ages 10 to 14.

Kathryn Erskine (Children's Literature)
Thirteen-year-old Ann Fay Honeycutt has the strength and toughness of the hickory trees for which her town is named. With her father off at war and a polio epidemic raging, she needs it. This gripping story, based on true events, enables today’s readers to relive 1944 and 1945 and the frightening war at home against polio. When the disease attacks Ann Fay’s brother, their mother takes him to the emergency polio hospital set up at a summer camp in Hickory. Because no one knows how the disease spreads, Ann Fay is forced to burn her brother’s toys and endure being shunned by neighbors fearful of contracting polio. Since it often claimed the lives of its victims or left them permanently damaged--some of them confined to an iron lung--it was a terrifying threat. Her everyday life is altered with public events cancelled and swimming banned. Still, there is hope in the form of true friends and even President Roosevelt who had survived polio himself. Ann Fay derives comfort from this as she is struck down by polio. Her compelling first person account, garnered from the author’s interviews with people hospitalized at the Hickory camp, reveals what it is like to suddenly become immobile and undergo painful physiotherapy. Ann Fay even learns the effects of racial segregation when she makes friends with a black girl at the Hickory facility. The author’s notes are both educational and fascinating. A must have for anyone studying this period or anyone wanting a compelling read. 2006, Calkins Creek Books/Boyds Mills Press, $16.95. Ages 10 up.

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, March 1, 2006 (Vol. 74, No. 5))
Blue, 13, writes of Hickory, N.C., January 1944-June 1945. Roosevelt is president; the war and a polio epidemic are underway; Hickory's camp becomes an emergency polio hospital and Blue's father goes off to war, giving her overalls to wear as "man of the house." Blue, her twin sisters, young brother and mother try to carry on with the help of a teenaged neighbor and his mother, but it's much harder than Blue could have anticipated. First, her brother contracts polio and her mother stays at the hospital with him, leaving Blue to cope with minding the twins and managing everything. Then, it's Blue who is stricken. In the hospital, she meets and makes friends with Imogene, a black girl, the first she's ever actually been close to. Imogene describes "a muddy wide river between your people and mines," and indeed it is. Chock full of life, history and character development, this intriguing historical narrative tries almost too hard to fit everything in-the war, polio and its treatment, death, race relations, a family's near disintegration and a mother's breakdown. The density and the first-person voice will turn some away, but the subject of polio is a rare one in children's fiction, and these characters and their story are worth getting to know. (endnotes, bibliography) 2006, Calkins Creek/Boyds Mills, 200p, $16.95. Category: Historical fiction. Ages 10 to 12. © 2006 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Horn Book (The Horn Book Guide, Fall 2006)
Thirteen-year-old Ann Fay contracts polio after her brother dies from it. Set in North Carolina during the polio epidemic of 1944, Hostetter's novel examines the complexities of the disease and its effect on the nation. The characters' authentic reactions result in a compelling story about rebuilding a family during a time of illness and war. An author's note provides historical background. Category: Intermediate Fiction. 2006, Boyds/Calkins, 197pp, 16.95. Ages 9 to 12. Rating: 3: Recommended, satisfactory in style, content, and/or illustration.

Laura Van Cott (The Kutztown University Book Review, Spring 2007)
Thirteen-year-old Ann Fay Honeycutt’s father leaves her as the “man of the house” when he goes off to fight in WWII. Ann Fay capably takes care of the garden and other work, until a polio epidemic strikes, and a polio hospital is built in her town of Hickory, North Carolina. Her little brother is affected first, leaving Ann Fay to not only care for household tasks, but also her sisters and depressed mother. Soon, Ann Fay herself is struck with the disease and sent to the polio hospital, where she makes friends with an African-American girl, and learns her own inner strength and perseverance. This book is excellent—it has well-developed, relatable characters, an interesting plot, and real historical fact about the polio epidemic of 1944. Ann Fay is a very stubborn, hardworking character who loves her family, and takes many of her beloved father’s problems onto her own shoulders in order to help them through hard times, at her own expense—contracting polio. Readers will get an excellent idea of what it was like to get polio, as the various treatments and experiences Ann Fay has are clearly recorded. Her friendship with Imogene, an African-American girl also stricken with polio, allows the author to explore the widespread segregation of the time, and how cross-racial relationships were unfairly rare. The story is excellently researched, allowing readers to discover real facts about important historical events and people of the time, such as polio, World War II, segregation, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt; it would also be excellent for use in a classroom, as the author provides an author’s note explaining what was real in the story and what wasn’t, and also an extensive resources list, including books and videos. Category: Historical Fiction.. 2006, Calkins Creek Books, $16.95. Ages 9 to 14.

Sherrie Williams (VOYA, December 2006 (Vol. 29, No. 5))
As 1944 begins, thirteen-year-old Ann Fay Honeycutt finds herself on a windy railway platform in Hickory, North Carolina, as her father leaves for war. He tells her that she must be "the man of the house." She takes this charge seriously, caring for her siblings and growing a victory garden. That summer, an intense polio epidemic hits Hickory. Within days, a hospital is created, an event known as "the miracle of Hickory." Ann Fay's brother dies at the polio hospital, plunging her mother into disabling grief. Soon Ann Fay must also endure painful treatments and therapy to overcome the disease herself. During her hospitalization, she meets a young African American girl who is also stricken, and they become the best of friends despite the societal pressures determined to keep them apart. This compelling and well-researched historical novel explores many aspects of World War II-era American life, both those familiar to young readers and those less well known. The story is historically and medically accurate and is enhanced by author's notes and a bibliography. The book is beautifully written, with vivid use of symbolism focused on the color blue, from Ann Fay's overalls to the dreaded wisteria vines that threaten to choke the life out of her victory garden just as the war, poverty, and polio affect her family's life. This memorable tale of the healing power of family and friendship is highly recommended for school and public libraries serving middle school and high school students. VOYA CODES: 4Q 3P M J (Better than most, marred only by occasional lapses; Will appeal with pushing; Middle School, defined as grades 6 to 8; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9). 2006, Calkins Creek Books/Boyds Mills, 197p.; Biblio., $16.95. Ages 11 to 15.