TREMBLING EARTH

In the Okefenokee, swampers and outlanders don’t mix much, and 12-year-old Hamp Cravey has never met a Yankee, his father’s never owned slaves, and he’s never had to examine the complexities of “what hain’t true and what is.” But when he and his little sister Neeta discover runaway slaves in a neighbor’s smokehouse and Neeta takes the initiative in helping them escape, Hamp must decide where he stands in relation to God, the Confederacy, and the mistreatment of fellow human beings. The tale becomes a journey across the Okefenokee and into the tangles of his own conscience. Siegelson’s rich descriptions of the swamp, Hamp’s nightmares about swamp monsters, threats of giant rattlesnakes and killer boars, and a slaveowner out to avenge his brother’s death make for an exciting, multi-layered tale. The ending is a bit tidy and didactic, but not so much as to mar a sumptuously written narrative. A great match with Richard Peck’s The River Between Us (2003) or Margaret McMullan’s How I Found the Strong (p. 333). (Fiction. 10+)