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Come Next Spring
Set in 1949 in the Smoky Mountains, Come Next Spring describes twelve-year-old Salina's struggles to accept change a highway taking farmland, siblings starting their own lives, and nothing left in common with her best friend. Nominated for the Volunteer State Children's Book Award and for the Mark Twain Award by the MO. Assoc. of School Librarians.
- GenresMiddle Grade
184 pages, Paperback
First published April 23, 1990
3 people are currently reading
340 people want to read
About the author
Alana White
8 books90 followersAlana White is the author of the Guid'Antonio Vespucci mystery series, whose titles include The Sign of the Weeping Virgin (#1) and The Hearts of All on Fire (#2). Both are set at the height of the Italian Renaissance in Florence, Italy. Other books include Come Next Spring, a coming of age novel set in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee in the 1940s, and a biography of Sacagawea, Sacagawea: Westward With Lewis and Clark. She is a longtime member of the Historical Novel Society and the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. She lives in Nashville, TN.
Alana welcomes readers and is always available for reader group chats. Please visit her at www.AlanaWhite.com for more information. As well as HNS and SCBWI, she is a member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, the Author's Guild, and the Women's National Book Association.
Alana welcomes readers and is always available for reader group chats. Please visit her at www.AlanaWhite.com for more information. As well as HNS and SCBWI, she is a member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, the Author's Guild, and the Women's National Book Association.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
September 15, 2016
I originally wanted to read this because it shares a title with an old movie I love. It has nothing to do with that film, but as it turns out, ties in with another favorite book/movie of mine, Gone with the Wind. (And for the record, I agree with Scooter on the question of whether Rhett ever returns to Scarlett!)
October 19, 2016
Summary:
It’s 1949 in Tennessee Smoky Mountain country, and everything in pre-teen Salina’s life seems suddenly different. Her sister is engaged, her brother is absorbed in caring for his sickly foal, and Salina feels she has nothing in common anymore with her best friend. This novel for young people captures the insular spirit of the mountain people, the breathtaking country itself, and a girl’s struggle to accept the inevitability of change.
My Thoughts:
Salina Harris is at an age when life is rapidly changing. Her body is changing from a little girl into a youth. Her emotions are immature and at times impulsive. Her intellectual mind is growing and yet wisdom for life's situations have not developed. She is at a pivotal age, no longer a young child, and yet not a grown adult.
I felt Alana White gave me an excellent picture image of the character Salina.
The story is heavy on dialogue between the characters. The primary character is Salina. The story is from her thoughts and lens. She has siblings that are going through their own life changes. For example: Mary is age 19. Mary is in love with Hank. She is out of school and spends a great deal of time writing letters to Hank, and swooning with love and loneliness for him. Eldest brother Paul, is a senior in high school. His primary interest is caring for a horse named Sugar-Boy.
Salina's family each have their own stories. Salina is the primary character, but the other siblings were each given a spotlight. Their family represents farm families living in the Smoky Mountain area in the late 1940s. Their family also represents families who are living together as one unit; however, they have their own difficulties of pain, hardships, and life changes.
The Smoky Mountain area of Pine Valley is about to transition to mid century modern.
As with any change, people are fearful and against change. It takes a calm and peaceful negotiator to handle adversity, and the Harris family is at the forefront of this.
I received this book free of change from the author or publisher.
It’s 1949 in Tennessee Smoky Mountain country, and everything in pre-teen Salina’s life seems suddenly different. Her sister is engaged, her brother is absorbed in caring for his sickly foal, and Salina feels she has nothing in common anymore with her best friend. This novel for young people captures the insular spirit of the mountain people, the breathtaking country itself, and a girl’s struggle to accept the inevitability of change.
My Thoughts:
Salina Harris is at an age when life is rapidly changing. Her body is changing from a little girl into a youth. Her emotions are immature and at times impulsive. Her intellectual mind is growing and yet wisdom for life's situations have not developed. She is at a pivotal age, no longer a young child, and yet not a grown adult.
I felt Alana White gave me an excellent picture image of the character Salina.
The story is heavy on dialogue between the characters. The primary character is Salina. The story is from her thoughts and lens. She has siblings that are going through their own life changes. For example: Mary is age 19. Mary is in love with Hank. She is out of school and spends a great deal of time writing letters to Hank, and swooning with love and loneliness for him. Eldest brother Paul, is a senior in high school. His primary interest is caring for a horse named Sugar-Boy.
Salina's family each have their own stories. Salina is the primary character, but the other siblings were each given a spotlight. Their family represents farm families living in the Smoky Mountain area in the late 1940s. Their family also represents families who are living together as one unit; however, they have their own difficulties of pain, hardships, and life changes.
The Smoky Mountain area of Pine Valley is about to transition to mid century modern.
As with any change, people are fearful and against change. It takes a calm and peaceful negotiator to handle adversity, and the Harris family is at the forefront of this.
I received this book free of change from the author or publisher.
October 20, 2016
Salina’s story is one of the natural ups and downs that come with being a 12-year-old girl. Especially a 12-year-old girl who hates change. Add to the mix that she’s a 12-year-old girl in 1949 rural Tennessee, and you have a new set of issues to deal with too. Like the rumors of a new road that might cut right through their farmland… or being torn between two friends from very different social statuses… or taking a train out of the mountain into Nashville for the very first time… or waiting with bated breath to hear back from Margaret Mitchell about whether Rhett ever returned to Scarlett.
Come Next Spring is one of those books that you can read in an evening – and you’ll want to curl up with a warm quilt and a hot beverage while you do. The characters are engaging and memorable, and it’s easy to imagine them as real people who lived and breathed and laughed and loved. Scooter is my favorite character – a little quirky, a lot different from the status quo but not so different from Salina after all. (I know this was written 25 years ago, but Scooter reminds me of Luna Lovegood from the Harry Potter series!)
Sweet and inspiring, Come Next Spring is rich with a history largely undiscussed today. As the mountains become less of a home and more of a tourist destination, the effects of a world war still linger even as rumors of another loom. Though it is geared toward younger readers, adults will also enjoy it. My only complaint is that I want a sequel! I would love to know where these compelling characters end up ten, twenty years down the road.
Reviewer's Note: Readers may want to be aware that there are a couple of very minor curse words used occasionally in this book.
(I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book.)
See my full review at Reading Is My SuperPower
Come Next Spring is one of those books that you can read in an evening – and you’ll want to curl up with a warm quilt and a hot beverage while you do. The characters are engaging and memorable, and it’s easy to imagine them as real people who lived and breathed and laughed and loved. Scooter is my favorite character – a little quirky, a lot different from the status quo but not so different from Salina after all. (I know this was written 25 years ago, but Scooter reminds me of Luna Lovegood from the Harry Potter series!)
Sweet and inspiring, Come Next Spring is rich with a history largely undiscussed today. As the mountains become less of a home and more of a tourist destination, the effects of a world war still linger even as rumors of another loom. Though it is geared toward younger readers, adults will also enjoy it. My only complaint is that I want a sequel! I would love to know where these compelling characters end up ten, twenty years down the road.
Reviewer's Note: Readers may want to be aware that there are a couple of very minor curse words used occasionally in this book.
(I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book.)
See my full review at Reading Is My SuperPower
May 28, 2017
I thought Salina was kind of a brat and I didn't find myself caring about her or her family.
October 4, 2016
A Worthy Book
"Come Next Spring" is a worthy book of substance--now celebrating its 25th Anniversary Edition. No wonder it has survived all these years in the competitive publishing world. As the beautiful seasons change in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, so does life in Pine Valley, where Salina lives with her family. At age 12, she is confused and unhappy about change. Her new school friend Scooter has no problem with it.
The two share their love of reading but strongly disagree over the ending of the book "Gone With the Wind." How dare Scooter think Rhett did not come back to Scarlett! Salina defends "Gone With the Wind" as though it were her best friend. Even though I am way past young reader's age, I loved this well-written book. I highly recommend it.
"Come Next Spring" is a worthy book of substance--now celebrating its 25th Anniversary Edition. No wonder it has survived all these years in the competitive publishing world. As the beautiful seasons change in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, so does life in Pine Valley, where Salina lives with her family. At age 12, she is confused and unhappy about change. Her new school friend Scooter has no problem with it.
The two share their love of reading but strongly disagree over the ending of the book "Gone With the Wind." How dare Scooter think Rhett did not come back to Scarlett! Salina defends "Gone With the Wind" as though it were her best friend. Even though I am way past young reader's age, I loved this well-written book. I highly recommend it.
August 19, 2017
I won a copy of this book from Goodreads Giveaways. Lovely coming of age story set in 1949. A delight to read. Definitely recommend for 4 - 7 graders.
November 30, 2016
In her engaging YA novel, Come Next Spring, Alana White explores a community and a character on the cusp of change. For Salina Harris, White’s 12 year old protagonist, “time unwound in a smooth straight line, and each day was the same or a variation of that sameness.” Along with most people living in small towns in the Great Smoky Mountains in 1949, Salina embraced the predictability of farm work, school, church and family life, “and she expected life to go on that way forever.”
When the novel opens, Salina’s biggest challenge is finding a way to prove that Rhett Butler and Scarlett O’Hara were reunited after the end of Gone with the Wind. Within a short time, however, the ordinary concerns of the TN mountain community are overshadowed by two potential threats: a predicted winter storm and a proposed state highway which would cut through the farmers’ land, connect the larger towns, and worst, from the perspective of several characters, would bring an unwelcome influx of tourists to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Though some Pine Valley residents argue that the proposed road will “open up the town,” the majority are convinced that it would split their insular community, where only one local family has ever been to a movie theatre or visited a big city.
Their fears are not without foundation. Decades earlier, when the government designated a particular range of Tennessee mountain land for the national park, Salina’s grandfather had to sell his farm. In school, she voices her opposition to the new road and hopes the town will close ranks against the “outlanders.” She says, “There’s no sense in changing things that are just fine the way they are.”
As outlanders go, there are already two of them in town-- Salina’s new and unconventional classmate whose father was killed in World War II and whose mother earns money by selling quilts to tourists-- and a young veterinarian of German descent who is ostracized and distrusted by families who are still adjusting to the loss of sons and brothers who died fighting the Nazis.
Salina’s personal world is also shifting. Her older sister Mary is making plans to get married and leave home; her best friend is spending more time in a larger town where she can go to movies and get invited to parties; and her older brother Paul seems to look for reasons to disagree with their father. For the first time, Salina experiences the separateness that comes with growing up: “. . . sad and lonely inside. . . Even if somebody’s with me.”
As tensions escalate around the highway issue, a severe ice storm endangers the life of a neighbor and Paul faces the possibility of a heartbreaking loss, both of the local outlanders find themselves at the center of the crisis. Their actions will have a lasting impact on the lives of several characters in Salina’s world.
Without sentimentality or romanticism, Alana White’s novel evokes a simpler time and way of life and illustrates the power of hope during periods of uncertainty. Her lyrical prose recreates the beauty of the mountains as the seasons change and her mastery of dialogue and regional cadence adds another layer of authenticity to this memorable coming of age novel.
When the novel opens, Salina’s biggest challenge is finding a way to prove that Rhett Butler and Scarlett O’Hara were reunited after the end of Gone with the Wind. Within a short time, however, the ordinary concerns of the TN mountain community are overshadowed by two potential threats: a predicted winter storm and a proposed state highway which would cut through the farmers’ land, connect the larger towns, and worst, from the perspective of several characters, would bring an unwelcome influx of tourists to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Though some Pine Valley residents argue that the proposed road will “open up the town,” the majority are convinced that it would split their insular community, where only one local family has ever been to a movie theatre or visited a big city.
Their fears are not without foundation. Decades earlier, when the government designated a particular range of Tennessee mountain land for the national park, Salina’s grandfather had to sell his farm. In school, she voices her opposition to the new road and hopes the town will close ranks against the “outlanders.” She says, “There’s no sense in changing things that are just fine the way they are.”
As outlanders go, there are already two of them in town-- Salina’s new and unconventional classmate whose father was killed in World War II and whose mother earns money by selling quilts to tourists-- and a young veterinarian of German descent who is ostracized and distrusted by families who are still adjusting to the loss of sons and brothers who died fighting the Nazis.
Salina’s personal world is also shifting. Her older sister Mary is making plans to get married and leave home; her best friend is spending more time in a larger town where she can go to movies and get invited to parties; and her older brother Paul seems to look for reasons to disagree with their father. For the first time, Salina experiences the separateness that comes with growing up: “. . . sad and lonely inside. . . Even if somebody’s with me.”
As tensions escalate around the highway issue, a severe ice storm endangers the life of a neighbor and Paul faces the possibility of a heartbreaking loss, both of the local outlanders find themselves at the center of the crisis. Their actions will have a lasting impact on the lives of several characters in Salina’s world.
Without sentimentality or romanticism, Alana White’s novel evokes a simpler time and way of life and illustrates the power of hope during periods of uncertainty. Her lyrical prose recreates the beauty of the mountains as the seasons change and her mastery of dialogue and regional cadence adds another layer of authenticity to this memorable coming of age novel.
October 3, 2016
Inspirational and beautifully written.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews