THE UNSIGNED VALENTINE

Hurwitz continues her early 20th-century series begun in Faraway Summer (1998), focusing on Emma’s coming-of-age year when she turns 16. It is one year later as Emma records life on her Vermont farm and small community from early fall through a harsh winter into early spring. Weaving in and around certain true historical events of the area, Emma’s story is one of hard work, responsibility and a budding romance—all amid family needs and parental expectations through a long drought season followed by a dangerously wet destructive spring flood. As in the previous installment, Hurwitz renders a fine look into the era and setting in her easy, smooth writing style, peppered with the dilemmas of a young woman’s role within society and family, her intrigue about courtship and jealousy and the perils of Vermont blizzards. An author’s note provides a nice explanation and rationale for her approach to the story’s events. Azarian’s black-and-white illustrations complement the overall mood. (Historical fiction. 10-14)