The Sky Always Hears Me: And the Hills Don't Mind

by Kirstin Cronn-Mills and Jennifer Hartmann

Book Overview

Sixteen-year-old Morgan lives in a hick town in the middle of Nebraska. College is two years away. Her mom was killed in a car accident when she was three, her dad drinks, and her stepmom is a... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0738715042
• ISBN13: 9780738715049
• Release Date: September 2009
• Publisher: Flux
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.2" x 8.0"
• Age Range: 12 to 18 years
• Grade Range: Grade 7 to Postsecondary

Customer Reviews

Irreverent Yet Winning Protagonist Untangles Her Life

THE SKY ALWAYS HEARS ME is utterly incredible. It's saucy and hilarious, twisted and touching. I can't get enough of Morgan's story and Kirstin's writing. Never before have I come across a protagonist like Morgan. Her snark and wit reminds me of Jessica Darling from Megan McCafferty's hit series (which I love), but her conciseness of speech and thought reflects more of Courtney Summers' characters (another author whose writing I love). Her voice had me constantly cracking up on the inside, a healthy relief from her borderline melodramatic life, which kept my countenance, if not my inner mental state, somber. Kirstin Cronn-Mills skillfully develops her characters so that all of them are three-dimensional. All too often the choice that the protagonist should make is too easy for readers to spot early on, but that doesn't happen in this book. Yes, Morgan is bombarded with dozens of issues, but readers can clearly see why a resolution is not at all simple. There are many different ways--all equally legitimate--that Morgan could have played out her life, and also satisfying is the realistic ending: one that speaks of hope, but also does not play off of unrealistic dreams of eternal love or easy paths to happiness. This book is not without a bit of melodrama, of course. Any one of those issues mentioned about in my summary is enough to provide several hundred pages of fodder for a good YA novel. To have them all in the span of 250 or so pages is perhaps overkill. However, things start straightening themselves out in the second half, and by the end of the book I was satisfied with how everything was resolved. Throwing a bunch of issues into the main character's life is a rather amateurish move, but Kirstin navigates Morgan's way out of the overwhelming problems with the ease of a much more established writer. Overall, it's an admirable narration and plotting job. THE SKY ALWAYS HEARS ME is one of those books that a lot of people will like, but a few will really get. I think I am one of those people who get it and absolutely love it. Morgan's irreverence and Kirstin's writing style made a long-lasting impression on me. Even if the book doesn't end up speaking to you the way it did to me, you'll still be satisfied with this intelligent, snarky, and deeply satisfying book. Well done, Kirstin. Well done.

The Sky Always Hears Me and The Hills Don't Mind

Even though I would have been kicked out of Menudo 24 years ago, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The Sky Always Hears Me and The Hills Don't Mind provides an authentic teenage voice and experience that many of us - no matter our age - can identify. The lead character Morgan contends with a lot of the teenage angst and wunderlust many of us do at that age without getting mired in it. Morgan knows she's better than Central Nowhere and struggles with her "captivity" but she has a wonderful spirit that finds its coping mechanism in her writing and scream therapy. Morgan's observations about the world around her and her place in it ranged from thought-provoking to flat out hilarious. The changing nicknames for where she worked consistently made me chuckle. Cronn-Mills does a terrific job of character and plot development. You feel as though you know the characters without having to get bogged down in a lot of backstory minutae. This was a fun read I had trouble putting down. I was delighted by the way she transitioned between chapters without using numerals. I believe it made for a smoother break between segments yet helped the overall flow of the narrative. Even though this work is a piece of fiction it's very real and I highly recommend it. This was a wonderful debut effort from Cronn-Mills and I look forward to hearing from Morgan again.

Wit, angst, and longings

Where to begin with my review? For me, reading THE SKY ALWAYS HEARS ME was like eating a delicious new flavor of cake: you know you love it, but you're not quite sure which ingredients were used. After some savoring of the writing, I believe these are key to the recipe: -Morgan's voice, which hooked me as soon as I read the first chapter on the author's website. Smart, sarcastic, and saturated with a restless yearning for something more than a tiny little town in Nebraska she calls Central Nowhere. John Green hasn't written from the point of view of a girl yet, so far as I know, but if he did, I have a feeling it might sound like Morgan... full of wit, angst, and longings that so powerfully evoke what it means to be a teen. -The people in Morgan's life: her alcoholic dad, the grandma she loves, the girl who kisses her, the coworker guy she has a crush on. All of these characters grow and reveal their many facets, complicating Morgan's life and making for an intertwined story firmly rooted in deep, scream-at-the-hills emotions. -The setting of Central Nowhere. This book is best read outside, in the grass, on a windy day, where you can imagine Morgan venting her frustrations and desires. That's how I did it, anyway, and it made the experience all the more vivid. I also love the descriptions of the grocery store where Morgan works. I don't know why, but I've always had this strange fascination with expertly described details of everyday life that usually escape the eye of the author. Disclaimer: I am a fellow Flux author, though my book won't be out until 2010. I am also, however, a choosy reader. There's no way I would actually go out and buy a book unless I thought I'd devour it, and I try my best to be an honest reviewer. So, honestly, I am recommending that you read THE SKY ALWAYS HEARS ME: AND THE HILLS DON'T MIND, in the hopes that you find it just as good.

A perfect teen buy

This is a funny book that doesn't preach to its teen audience. It's the perfect gift for a teen reader.

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A wonderful book for its teen audience. It conveys the messages it is trying to get across without hammering you in the head with them. It shows perfectly that there are almost always big things that you don't know about even the closest person to you, but that you can still learn to love and forgive them afterwards. A great read for everyone!