The Bean Trees

Marietta Greer's mama called her Missy, because, according to family legend, when she was three, she stamped her foot "and told my own mother not to call me Marietta but MISS Marietta, as I had to call all the people including children in the houses where she worked Miss this or Mister that..." Her growing up years in Pittnam County, Kentucky, taught her two things: don't get pregnant, and get out as quick as you can. With Mama's expert training in old-car trouble-shooting, Marietta hits the road in her 1955 windowless, jump-start volkswagen, determined to rename herself after the first place she has to buy gas. Relieved at missing Homer, Illinois, and keeping her "fingers crossed through Sidney, Sadorus, Cerro Gordo, Decatur, and Blue Mound," she "coasted into Taylorville on the fumes." Now Taylor Greer, she discovers that car trouble can change more than just her name: when her rocker arm breaks in Oklahoma, she is "given" a baby; when she has two flat tires in Tucson, she limps into Jesus Is Lord Used Tires, where she begins to learn that her troubles are minor compared to people hiding from Guatemalan death squads. The Bean Trees is written in the spirited language of a Kentucky-raised working woman with a generous heart and an audacious imagination. -- For great reviews of books for girls, check out Let's Hear It for the Girls: 375 Great Books for Readers 2-14. -- From 500 Great Books by Women; review by Jesse Larsen