Light Comes to Shadow Mountain by Toni Buzzeo

Set in 1937 rural, southeastern Kentucky, Light Comes to Shadow Mountain tells the story of 11-year-old Cora Mae Tipton and her dreams of joining the electrified world. Having lived on Shadow Mountain all her life, Cora’s only knowledge of electricity comes from reading about it in the newspaper or by hearing about it from people who have experienced city life. After the passage of the Rural Electrification Act under Franklin D. Roosevelt, Cora is overjoyed to learn that her mountain community may soon be connected to electricity, but not everyone on the mountain is equally enthusiastic.

Cora’s mother, “Mommy,” vehemently opposes “city folk” interrupting mountain life. Having lost both her parents and her oldest child, Ida, to the flu a year before, Mommy’s grief threatens to consume her. Mommy is expecting her fifth child when she agrees to take in her teenage niece, who needs to escape a violent alcoholic father.

Cora and Mommy butted heads before Ida’s death, but Mommy’s grief and the onslaught of changes within the family drive Cora and Mommy farther apart. As the oldest surviving child, Cora struggles to pursue her own dreams while also assuming the family responsibilities delegated to her. As the Tipton Family grapples with changes to their way of life, Cora and Mommy each come to recognize the other’s unique wisdom.

Reading Level: Ages 10-12
Read Aloud: Ages 8-14

Set in a time where 90 % of urban households in the United States had electricity but only 10 % of rural households did, Light Comes to Shadow Mountain beautifully illustrates life in rural America prior to the widespread availability of electricity. Buzzeo masterfully teaches readers about the Rural Electrification Administration, the Civil Conservation Corps, the Frontier Nursing Service, and the Pack Horse Library Project through the eyes of Cora Tipton in this engaging middle-grade novel.

While not a Christian title, the story depicts a Christian family who prays together, attends church weekly, keeps the Sabbath, and sings faith-based songs. I appreciate the way faith is portrayed as an integral part of life. However, while the Tipton family confesses Christianity, their philosophy and behavior deviate from Biblical teaching in several significant ways.

While the entire family grieves the loss of Cora’s sister, Mommy is especially stricken by grief, to the point that she becomes cold, impatient, and harsh with her surviving children. In the words of Cora’s father, “Your mommy is in a mighty struggle with a demon as fierce as that giant catfish folks say pulls people underwater…Your mommy is struggling to hold fast. We need to help her do that. With the baby coming, she feels like she doesn’t control anything at all.” Despite the family’s Christian faith, there is no mention of hope in the resurrection and no mention of relying on Christ to persevere through hardship. I wouldn’t expect such clear Christian teaching from a secular title, but since the book focuses so heavily on Mommy’s grief, I think it’s important to emphasize to young readers that Christians grieve differently than those who don’t have faith in Jesus (1 Thess. 4:13-18).

Furthermore, I was disappointed by the superficial reconciliation between Cora and Mommy at the end of the book. Cora and Mommy each come to recognize the other’s unique strengths, and their relationship improves, but neither character asks for forgiveness nor acknowledges their own wrongdoing.

Throughout the story, Cora expresses a desire to “tame her selfish bones.” Cora’s friends console her that she’s no more selfish than they are, and virtuous behavior is portrayed as coming either from natural goodness or from personal effort. The story seems to suggest that people are products of their environment who simply do the best they can.

For a secular title, this book touches many Christian concepts. Consequently, it makes a fantastic read-aloud with plentiful opportunities to pause and discuss the ways in which Biblical teaching differs from worldly ideas. I would not, however, give this book to a middle schooler to read alone.

Language:
The story contains intermittent sass, back-talk, and heavy sighs from children as they address their guardians. Mommy and Great Aunt Exie are less than kind and patient in their responses. As an example, when refusing to weed the garden, Cora yells at Mommy, “Someday, I’ll live in a place where there is no garden, where all the food comes from the store!” Mommy responds by calling after Cora in a sour voice, “Well, until you do, you are a part of this family and you will do your best to be a generous, contributing member like your sister.”
While Cora raises funds to electrify the schoolhouse, she makes her younger brothers “swear an oath not to tell Mommy.”
When Cora’s cousin sobs with remorse over a mistake she made, Cora yells at her, “Those tears are a small price to pay for this suffering you’ve caused.”
Cora describes herself as “selfish and horrible.”

Questionable Behaviors:
Cora and her best friend seek to raise money to electrify the schoolhouse without their guardians finding out, which requires sneakiness and lying by omission from both girls. Cora harbors a resentful and rebellious attitude towards Mommy throughout most of the story. Cora’s rebellion is most often expressed through her inner thoughts. After Mommy discovers Cora’s ongoing fundraising efforts and forbids the endeavor, Cora thinks to herself, “I will tend my brothers while I hold fast to plans to someday leave here for high school…I’ll love those little boys with all the love you don’t show us, and I’ll keep them safe for now – while I’m still here.”
Glenna is sent to live with the Tiptons so that she can escape her violent alcoholic father. The violence is implied rather than explicitly detailed. Glenna arrives at the Tipton home with a badly bruised face, and her father is described as an angry man who drinks too much.
While the Tipton children generally love each other and treat each other kindly, at one point Cora’s four-year-old brother swings at her with his fists when he is angry and scared.

Sexual Content:
Mommy is pregnant at the start of the story and gives birth in chapter 34 (no graphic details are included).
Cora and her best friend recognize that the many of the young men working to build electrical infrastructure have come from faraway places. The girls seek to raise money by selling embroidered handkerchiefs that the men can send to their sweethearts as “tokens of their continued affections.”

Other Things to Know:
The story details how, without electricity, people frequently worked over fires and how dangerous those fires could be. At one point, Cora’s four year-old brother runs too close to a flame and his pant leg catches fire. The boy’s leg is badly burned, and although he fully recovers, the accident may be upsetting to sensitive readers.

This review is written by Good Book Mom contributor, Katherine. To learn more about Katherine, click HERE.

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