Moonshiner's Son

by Carolyn Reeder

Book Overview

Twelve-year-old Tom Higgins is learning the craft of making whiskey. Even though Prohibition forbids the production and sale of alcoholic beverages, Tom is determined to be a good apprentice. He is, after all, a moonshiner's son. His father has raised moonshining to an art, and Tom wants nothing more than to please this rough, distant man.
Then a preacher comes to the wilds of Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains to rid Bad Camp Hollow of the "evils...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0689855508
• ISBN13: 9780689855504
• Release Date: February 2003
• Publisher: Aladdin Paperbacks
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.38 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.2" x 8.5"
• Age Range: 8 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 3 to 7

Customer Reviews

An Excellent Book

Moonshiner's Son is a great book with an excellent story line. Tom Higgings is a moonshiner's boy. His dad's name is June Higgins,which is short for Junior Higgins. Tom's mother left his father because she didn't endorse the idea of moonshining when prohibition had forbidded it. Tom wants to be a moonshiner when he grows up but when Preacher Taylor moves to the remote hills of Virginia to setup a mission, he wanted to rid the hills of the "evils of liquor." The preacher also brought his daugher, Amy. Amy has an influence on Tom, no just any influence, but one like the Sun rising in the morning, if it didn't rise most people wouldn't go to work. When Tom meets Amy spoiling the mash in his father's still he feels a slight sensation that was different than others. Tom knows that the girl had to be rich,even though she wasn't, he didn't know that. Without Amy, this book wouldn't be as exciting. Amy persuades Tom that he shouldn't be a moonshiner when he grows up, especially after seeing what happened to Widow Brown, a beloved friend to Tom and his father, after some folks in a corn shuckling burnt down the barn after they got drunk drinking his fathers apple brandy. But Tom had to stick up to his father who expected him to be next moonshiner in the Higgins family. This would be the hardest thing that Tom would ever do in his life. This is the climax, without this event there would be no point in reading this book. But Tom didn't know what he would do if he wasn't going to be a moonshiner. But he knew that his dad was excellent at making chairs. Tom wanted to start making chairs. At the still his dad told him to keep it going but Tom had a knife and a block of wood. He sticks up to his father who slapped him and abused him for a few minutes. But Tom's dad soon realizes that moonshining wouldn't be the family tradition anymoreif Tom would teach his kid. He teaches Tom how to make chairs. This is an excellent part of the book. The characters in this book make it very exciting. There are events in this book that make it even more intriguing. But when the book reaches its climax, it is very thrilling. For people who love historical fiction, this is one of the best historical fiction books that I have read. Clearly, there are plenty of reasons to read Moonshiner's Son. One, it is very exciting. It is exciting that it is history. Two, it has plenty of action. If one important event in thee book is happening, another equally important is also. Three, it has a great risk taking stand that is exciting when at the climax. I have given a brief reccommendation for this book which isn't even as great as the book itself. Moonshiner's Son is a great book for people who enjoy fiction with a touch of history. It has a great introduction and an unpredictable ending. I would like Carolyn Reeder to write a sequel to Moonshiner's Son because I would like to know how Tom and his dad make out making chairs and if

Really fansastic book!

Tom Higgin's is a moonshiners son. When he grows up he will be a moonshiner too, but then he meets Amy, the preacher's girl. He falls for her, and then startes thinking a lot about the family business after a tragic accident tears the community apart. He comes to a decision that he knows is right, and then has to tell his father. but standing up to Pa is the hardest hing that he his ever had to do.

Carylon Reeder is a good expressionist.

She protrays the life of a twelve year old boy that falls for the Preacher's daughter, Amy. All is fine except the preacher came to the Virgina Hills of 1920(after probition) to stop the moonshiners of the area. But Tom will become a moonshiner when he grows, for that is what is in his family line.

This book was DA BOMB

He's weird don't you think? But still, I love this book dearly. And it goes right along with all those books by Bill Gutman, the trail ones. I like the way that Hube dide gets thrown in jail too. And I want the author to write a sequel, I want to know what happens to him and Amy. And how they get along making chairs!