This is the first time my five-star review has revisited any author. You see, I like to toot the horn for as many authors as possible, often talking about the first in a series. But this book is a stand-alone, and in an entirely different category. For a different age, as well. Middle-grade to young adult versus adult mystery.
Okay, enough with the blather. Land of Mountains by Jinx Schwartz is the viewpoint story of ten-year-old Lizbuthann, Texan, who moves to Haiti with her family during the 1950s. If Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a must for every boy (and girl) to read, equally, Land of Mountains is a must for every girl (and boy) to read! (Hey, I know exclamation marks should only be used once in every full-length novel, if ever. You’ll understand if you read this book.)
Here’s the Amazon blurb: “A ten-year-old’s new home on an exotic Caribbean island proves so fascinating she quickly forgets she didn’t want to leave Texas. After all, where better than a jungle world teeming with voodoo, mystery, and a really pesky zombie, to indulge her favorite pastime: snooping.
“In this humorous mystery, award-winning author Jinx Schwartz transports the reader to another time and place where rivers, and little girls, ran wild and free.”
One reviewer says: LAND OF MOUNTAINS by Jinx Schwartz is a Young Adult book for readers from 8 to 108. The book is a finalist for a 2012 Eppie award.
“LAND OF MOUNTAINS is a fun read, with serious overtones and underpinnings. WECLOM to Haiti, a country verging on revolution when Elizabeth Ann or Ann, as her father calls her, and her family of Texas Southern Baptists arrive in 1954. Haiti, they soon learn, is a child’s paradise and an adult’s nightmare.”
I first discovered this book in time to give it to my third granddaughter when she was twelve. She thanked me profusely. (Note — kids haven’t written any reviews.) That one had the first cover. Last December I gave the same book (new cover) to my fourth granddaughter, age eleven. Her fifteen-year-old brother took one look at that new cover and said, “I am so going to read that. (Have I made up for the lack of youth reviews?)
Land of Mountains is sold as an ebook and paperback (with either cover) at Amazon link.
Thanks for the great review. I think I enjoyed writing this book more than any other because it gave me a chance to be a kid again!
Great review.
I’ll pick up the book for my daughter. 🙂
Thanks. Please let me know how she likes it.
What a fab review! I’m going to order my copy of Land of Mountains today. I spent my early adolescence in Central America in the 1950’s…jungle villages, Voodoo on black sand beaches, wonderful new foods and friends. I can so relate to this book.
Thanks, Jackie. I knew we had a lot in common!
At 71 years young, Loved the book! Loved every book you’ve written and can’t get enough! Really love Hetta series as I’m native Texan and familiar with your every Texas nuance! Thanks!!
Thanks, Patti. All a writer ever wants is for readers to like their work…but loved is sooo much better:-)