Eight Mules from Monterey

by Patricia Beatty

During the summer of 1916 thirteen-year-old Fayette and her brother accompany their widowed mother on a mule trip into the California mountains, where she is to establish library outposts in isolated communities.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Childrens, Juvenile, Historical

192 pages, Library Binding

First published January 1, 1982

About the author

Patricia Beatty (1922 - 1991) was an American author of award-winning children's and young adult historical fiction novels.

She was born in Portland, Oregon, and was a longtime resident of southern California. After graduating from college, she taught high school English and history, and later held various positions as a science and technical librarian, and also as a children's librarian. She taught Writing Fiction for Children at several branches of the University of California.

She wrote over 50 novels, and co-write 10 of them with her husband, John L. Beatty.

Beatty died in Riverside, California in 1991.

Reviews

[Beth Cato · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a childhood favorite of mine, one I first read as a library book and was later able to find in paperback. I think it's been at least 20 years since I last read it, but I picked it up again for research reasons. The book continues to be a delight.

The book addresses a little known bit of history--women librarians, roaming the American wilderness to get books to the people. Eight Mules is set in 1916 in the vicinity of Monterey, California. Fayette's widowed mother, a new graduate from the librarian school, gets a job (due to some meddling on Fayette's part) to take books by mule to "desperate ladies" in an isolated coastal mountain town. Fayette and her little brother go along for a wild ride plagued by an endless string of disasters that she attributes to a particular collection of Poe.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had no idea what this book was about as I weeded the 1982 copy from my library shelves. But when I read the front flap and saw that it was about libraries and librarians in the early 1900's, I had to read it. The story is about a widowed woman who is finishing library school and is hired to establish library outposts along a rough trail and the mountain folk from Monterey, CA to Big Tree Junction. Her two children in tow, they are led at first by a crusty old man, who has an accident along the way and then they hire a different mule skinner that is very mysterious and scary. The trail is treacherous, they encounter moonshiners, homesteaders who can't read, and lots of other adventures.

This book has special meaning to me because my great aunt was a pioneering librarian around the same time this book takes place. So reading these adventures makes me wonder if my great aunt Altha Merrifield had similar experiences (maybe some, but not the roughing it on the trails part!) Altha opened a small lending library in the back of her father's store:

In 1906, Mr. Charles Sumner Merrifield had a vision for a library in Lake Elsinore. A prominent member of the community, Mr. Merrifield bought a set of Charles Dickens books, which his daughter, Altha, soon began lending out from their hardware store on Main St.

A library was opened on September 25, 1908, and has been in service ever since. Altha Merrifield was the first librarian in Lake Elsinore, and continued to work in that capacity until her retirement in 1968.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining historical fiction published in 1982 and set in 1916. Thirteen-year-old Fayette's widowed mother has just graduated from a small library school in Monterey California, and, desperate for work, manages to persuade the library director to let her take on the job of setting forth into the mountains with packs of books loaded on mules so as to establish branch libraries among the tiny communities there. She takes along Fayette and younger brother Eubie, and many adventures and encounters with colorful characters ensue. In an afterword, Patricia Beatty explains that this fictional story was inspired by a real-life mule-riding pioneering librarian from Monterey, Anne Hadden.

The cover illustration is by the wonderful Victor Ambrus, so no wonder my eye was drawn to Eight Mules from Monterey at a used book sale, leading me to give a work by an unknown author a try. A pity I didn't come across this book when it was first published, I would've liked it a lot, but at that time I was mostly rereading Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazon books on a loop.

[Amanda Tero · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was another book recommended to me for research. There’s something about these authors that I find endearing. Maybe it’s nostalgia because this was the type of book I read as a child.

Nonetheless, I enjoyed this book and found several hilarious parts. It is not a Christian book, though there are a couple mentions of “Providence” and Bible names and Scripture quoting. That’s about the extent.

There is a suspicion of a book being “hoodoo” or a bad omen woven throughout the entire book. Also a few mentions of questionable behavior; nothing explicit, and it would probably go over children’s heads, but it was there.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Historical fiction for kids although I’m not sure there are many who would appreciate this. I would have liked to hear the adult stories that were only referred to obliquely, like how the conversation between the Possum and his wife went after he got out of prison 8 years later. And how the 2 old ladies ended up alone at Big Trees Junction way up in the mountains. And what the moonshiners were really like. So it’s too tame for adults and too esoteric for younger readers. No wonder it’s out of print.

[Books Kids Like · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fayette Ashmore starts the summer's madcap escapades by lying to the Hillman twins about her summer vacation. She tells them that she's going to spend the summer in the Canadian Rockies. In truth, Fayette ends up traveling to the mountains south of Monterey, California. Her mother, newly graduated from library school, gets a job carrying books to Big Tree Junction. Originally, Mr. Embleton was to carry the books, but he falls trying to retrieve a copy of Edgar Allen Poe's stories off a top shelf. That same book goes with the Ashmores and becomes a hoodoo in Fayette's eyes. She tries several times to give the book away but doesn't succeed until they are leaving Big Tree Junction. Fayette is convinced that Poe's book jinxes their trip because so many disasters befall them on the way. They have to change mule drivers, bury a boy that died of typhoid fever, deal with moonshiners, and rescue a mule after is falls down a mountainside.
©2024 Kathy Maxwell at https://bookskidslike.com

[Torrance Public Library · Rating 5 out of 5]

A chapter book about a little known period of California. In 1916, 13-year-old Fayette travels with her mother to establish libraries in California saloons, grocery stores, and other unusual places. Bringing reading to the Golden State involves adventures in the lovely and rugged mountains of the Monterey area, and this is a story that describes the work of the pioneering "librarians on muleback" bringing literacy to all.