Imperfections by Lynda Durrant - ADVISABLE

Lynda Imperfections by Lynda Durrant, 172 pages. Clarion Books, 2008

Language G; Sexual Content PG; Violence PG

EL, MS - ADVISABLE

Rosemary Elizabeth’s mother left her children in the Shaker community of Pleasant Hill Kentucky to save them from their drunken and violent father as well as the Civil War. They are safe and well fed but must live a very circumscribed life. Rosemary must sleep on her back, hands folded across her chest; she must always walk with her right foot first and take everything with her right hand. Perfection is the goal. She is thankful for the clean and peaceful home but fights against strict rules that are supposed to govern everything she says and does and even what she dreams. She worries that if she eliminates all the imperfections the Shakers find in her, there will be nothing of her left. Rosemary Elizabeth eventually comes to appreciate her own imperfections realizing that they are what make her unique.

This carefully researched story takes the reader inside a Shaker community during the civil war and tells the story of spirited young Rosemary Elizabeth and her younger brother and sister. Little is generally known about Shakers which adds to the interest of this historical fiction. There are frank discussions about the fact that Shaker men and women live separately and believe in celibacy. There is mild violence where one of the older Shaker women dies.

Janell Pearce-Mattheus, Youth Services Librarian, Whitmore Library