Book Review - The Moonlight School

 For Lucy Wilson, a six month stint assisting her father's cousin, Cora Wilson Stewart, in her role as superintendent of schools in Rowan County, Kentucky, is something to be endured in the spring of 1911. She sees the need for education among the illiterate and poverty-stricken mountain folk, but surely she has no role in their lives aside from working as Cora's scribe. By autumn, she will be back in Louisville. However, she is not prepared for the way the people in the hills and hollers work their way into her heart. With their vivid storytelling, vibrant musical tradition, and the way their clogging binds together the young and the old, these people begin to teach Lucy that there is much more to life that the proper society to which she compared them. She is also not prepared to face some very challenging new information about her family.

Cora's inspiration for a moonlit school to teach the illiterate and semi-literate adults of the county to read will empower these people and give them a voice. The mountain they will have to climb to accomplish this plan is a tough climb, but fierce determination and the leading of the Almighty give them strength to push past the barriers.

The Moonlight School by Suzanne Woods Fisher is based on true events and the life of the very real Cora Wilson Stewart, who began the Moonlight Schools on September 5, 1911. As a lover of literacy, I was intrigued by the very real Cora Wilson Stewart and Fisher's Lucy, as well as the way they worked diligently to bring education to the mountain folk of Rowan County. The way Fisher brought her characters to life did justice to the bountiful and beautiful cultural tradition she represented.

The Moonlight School is now available from your favorite local bookseller, or online from the following:

Christian Book        Barnes & Noble        Amazon

Thank you to the author and the publisher for allowing me a copy to read and review. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and are completely genuine.