Little Audrey by Ruth White

Eleven-year-old Audrey lives in a coal mining town in Virginia in 1948 and her family’s troubles are numerous. They are very poor and struggling to survive, which is compounded by her father’s drinking binges where he spends their meager food budget on alcohol. Her mother is mourning the loss of one of her daughters and after a battle with scarlet fever; Audrey is rail-thin and needs to wear glasses.

In this mostly autobiographical account of her early life in a mining town, White shares the hardships through the voice of her eleven-year-old sister. The characters are well developed, from her often emotionally distant mother to her hard-drinking father. Each is struggling to survive in a desperate situation. Audrey does more than just survive; she chooses to have hope even against difficult odds. A photograph of her mother with the children in 1944 can be found at the beginning of the book. The black-and-white photograph on the cover will probably not appeal to many readers in the intended age group, but the rewards will be worth the effort for those who chose this book.