"You asked for volunteers. You're looking at one. I can teach anywhere you want to use me." Little did 19-year-old Christy Huddleston realize that danger, excitement, friendship, and romance were ahead when she answered a traveling missionary's plea for help. Her story, originally told by Catherine Marshall in the novel Christy, has been adapted for readers, ages 10-14, by C. Archer in the Christy Juvenile Fiction Series.
Four new books make up the series which uses the original characters and events of Marshall's book, and two more titles are to be released this April. The storyline has been embellished with new plot twists and an occasional new character. The heavy dialect of the first book has been softened, and while some of the adapted language is a bit contemporary for the time period of the events, the overall effect is to make the book easier for younger readers to handle.
In the first book, The Bridge to Cutter Gap, the reader meets Christy Huddleston, a young woman following her dream to teach poor mountain children. With heavy skirts and heeled boots Christy begins the strenuous mountain journey to the mission in Cutter Gap. Along the way she must assist with an emergency surgery and struggle to survive a fall from an icy bridge. The tensions and dangers of the first day alone give a taste of the coming adventures for this brave young woman.
Silent Superstitions, the second book in the series, demonstrates the importance of folklore and superstition to the mountain people Christy meets. Several unusual accidents cause Granny O'Teale, a woman respected among her people for her knowledge of herbal medicine, to claim Christy is cursed. Soon children are being kept home from school, adults avoid the mission, and everyone is wearing herbal necklaces to ward off evil spirits. As fear and hysteria mount, Christy struggles with self-doubt. Should she give up and leave the mission? Did God send her to Cutter Gap or had it been her own foolish idea? A surprising string of events lead Christy to the answers she seeks.
In book three, The Angry Intruder, Christy is the target of mean pranks, apparently pulled by some of the older schoolboys. They seem angry at the changes Christy is bringing to their lives and want her to leave. Woven into this plot is the story of two teenagers falling in love, a knife-wielding intruder Christy must face alone, and an unusual tool of reconciliation-a concert grand piano.
The last book in the series, Midnight Rescue, focuses on Ruby Mae, a troubled thirteen-year-old girl who moves into the mission. Even with Christy's love and guidance, Ruby Mae feels her only understanding and comfort come from the mission's horse, Prince. Meanwhile, Christy is fighting the problem of moonshiners. The excitement builds as Christy must face drunken attackers in her attempt to rescue Ruby Mae and Prince during a midnight storm.
Each of the Christy Fiction Series is available separately for young readers as well as in a boxed gift set.
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