• Fall 2006 Book Sense Pick • New York Public Library Book for Reading and Sharing • Friends of American Writers Literary Award Winner • 2007 Bank Street College of Education Best Children’s Books of the Year • 2007 Amelia Bloomer Book
"Lucy Moon is one of the most original characters I've come across in a long, long time." Nikki Grimes, award-winning author of Dark Sonsand Bronx Masquerade
"A wonderful coming-of-age story for young girls that deals with issues such as fitting in when going from elementary school to junior high."Book Sense
"Lucy's a winning character, whose native fierceness and sudden uncertainty will resonate with readers."Kirkus Reviews
"This book will have readers cheering as Lucy Moon grows in her commitment to activism."The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
... who champions animal rights -- during hunting season. She wears a woven hemp hat in support of third-world workers. She is the kind of girl who spots injustice and isn't afraid to fight it.
But things are different in junior high. The qualities that used to make Lucy distinctive now just mark her as uncool. It seems as though everyone has been brainwashed -- except for Lucy, who has activism in her DNA.
When her latest cause lands with a harsh detention sentence, a "bad influence" reputation, and a vandalized locker, Lucy begins to lose her verve. Can she stand up for her beliefs and survive junior high?
...Miss Ilene Viola Wiggins lived at the top of Wiggins Hill -- the only good sledding hill in Turtle Rock -- and she ran that hill just like she ran the town. Miss Wiggins didn't let kids use toboggans (snap your back) or slide past dark (decapitate someone). Sledders dreamed about that extra slide, when the air turned so blue that the whole world looked like it was underwater, and the only light came from the reflection of the dusk moon on the blue-white snow. Those blue-lit runs were crazy, out of control, rushing, rushing, with roots of trees, clumps of snake-grass, and gopher holes taking on different shapes.
When a bold someone finally tried one of their schemes, they found out that Miss Wiggins was a force unto her own. Their friends would quickly tell them that if they didn't stop sledding, Miss Wiggins might not pay for the new school auditorium, or the machine for the hospital that mapped out a person's insides. Or if they didn't get off the hill, that movie theater with "all-around sound" was doomed. For those undeterred -- and there were always a few every year -- they would find out that Miss Wiggins could see through snowsuits and ski masks, that she knew the names (and more important, the stories) of that person's parents, grandparents, and extended relations. Even five-year-olds who couldn't tie their own shoes got the hint: there was no messing around with Miss Wiggins.
(Photo note: Finally, a photo of that blue world! This is a view of a frozen lake in northern Wisconsin.)
Wiggins Hill, from That Girl Lucy Moon, is based on Coon's Hill in Hudson, Wisconsin. What a hill it was.
Here's some quotes from a Feb 2009 The Hudson Star-Observer article written by Doug Stohlberg. (Also, the historic photos in the slideshow are scanned from the same article):
...Many Hudsonites describe their first venture down the hill with words ranging from "fun" to "sheer terror."
...The huge sledding hill once covered about 10 acres of land and offered a wide expanse for sleds and skis. ... It wasn't just a sliding hill in the old days. There was a version of a ski jump, or a ski slide, for many years and in 1949 a new jump and rope tow were installed.
...One of the early accounts of Coon's Hill came in the Dec. 15, 1932, edition of the Star-Observer when it was reported: "The first ski tournament of the season will be held on the new runway on Coon's Hill next Saturday afternoon. The hill and slide has been greatly remodeled."
Taken from the same article, here's Willis Miller (Hudson's truly loved, local historian) reminiscing about the hill in 1946:
After I was of school age, Christmas always meant the annual two week's vacation, which was well taken up with little parties, sliding, skaing, and tobogganing out on Coon's Hill.
What did I write in That Girl Lucy Moon about Wiggins Hill?
Sledders dreamed about that extra slide, when the air turned so blue that the whole world looked like it was underwater, and the only light came from the reflection of the dusk moon on the blue-white snow. Those blue-lit runs were crazy, out of control, rushing, rushing, with roots of trees, clumps of snake-grass, and gopher holes taking on different shapes.
... who champions animal rights -- during hunting season. She wears a woven hemp hat in support of third-world workers. She is the kind of girl who spots injustice and isn't afraid to fight it. 
Amy Timberlake
