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

by Kirstin Cronn-Mills

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 non-entity. Her boyfriend Derek is boring and her coworker Rob has a very cute butt that she can't stop staring at. Then there's the kiss she shared with her classmate Tessa... But when Morgan discovers that the one person in the world she trusted most has kept a devastating secret from her, Morgan must redefine her life and herself.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780738722658
Publisher:	North Star Editions
Publication date:	09/08/2010
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
File size:	506 KB
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

Kirstin Cronn-Mills is the author of Minnesota Book Award finalist The Sky Always Hears Me And the Hills Don’t Mind and Beautiful Music for Ugly Children. Cronn-Mills received her doctorate degree from Iowa State University and currently teaches in North Mankato, Minnesota, where she lives with her husband and son.

Kirstin Cronn-Mills is the author of Minnesota Book Award finalist The Sky Always Hears Me And the Hills Don’t Mind and Beautiful Music for Ugly Children. Cronn-Mills received her doctorate degree from Iowa State University and currently teaches in North Mankato, Minnesota, where she lives with her husband and son.

Editorial Reviews

Sixteen-year-old Morgan hates almost everything about her life in Central Nowhere: constant fights between her verbally abusive, alcoholic father and weak stepmother; dreary dead-end job at the local grocery store; boring relationship with boring, dumb, jock boyfriend; and vicious rumors that she is in a lesbian relationship with her spiky-haired next-door neighbor. So it is no wonder that Morgan frequently drives far out of town and shout her rage to the sky: "I'M A LOSER—I HATE EVERYBODY—SCHOOL SUCKS—MY PARENTS SUCK—I AM A SECRET SEX FIEND." The only bright spots in Morgan's life are her growing attraction to a sexy coworker and her close friendship with her paternal grandmother, a retired classical pianist. But Morgan's new closeness with Rob forces her to make painful choices about her other relationships, and she is about to discover that her beloved grandmother is not all that she seems. Cronn-Mills ably catalogs the frustrations faced by an ambitious, passionate teenager in an isolated Midwestern town. Some of the social dynamics of Central Nowhere are implausible: Would Morgan really be a social zero if she is the girlfriend of a hunky football star? Would Tessa really be a leader of the popular girls if she is such a bold free spirit? Likewise, the dark history of Morgan's father and grandmother feels contrived and unconvincing. But from start to finish Morgan's own voice —her rages, her dreams, her quirky sense of humor, rings true. Reviewer: Claudia Mills, Ph.D.

Children's Literature - Claudia Mills

Sixteen-year-old Morgan lives in central Nebraska, a fact that, along with PMS and life in general, drives her to the hills to scream her lungs out, usually something along the lines of "DIE ASSHOLE DIE." She has a "dumb jock" boyfriend, whose penis she compares unfavorably to those in Playgirl and who bores her . . . sexually and otherwise. Morgan also has a crush on the assistant manager at the grocery store where she works and was recently kissed by Tessa, the popular girl who lives next door-and she kissed her back. Throw in an alcoholic father, a long-suffering stepmom and a big family secret for a dog's breakfast of angst. Morgan, an aspiring author, takes comfort in writing fortune-cookie messages, escape fantasies and her hip, flawed grandmother who listens almost as well as the hills do. Morgan is a well-drawn character and her funny, frank, profane-but-literate first-person voice rings true and strong. Her emotional landscape is all shades of gray, and teens might well find it liberating to meet a character who can, in the end, take on life's messiness and forgive it. (Fiction. 14 & up)

Kirkus Reviews

04/27/2015
Written with candor and splashes of humor, Cronn-Mills's first novel explores the muddled emotions of Morgan, a high-school junior stuck in "Central Nowhere," her name for her small Nebraskan hometown. Whenever she gets too fed up with life, Morgan drives to the country and screams confessions to the sky. Besides being plagued with feelings of entrapment ("I imagine what it will be like to leave here, and my heart sings a little"), she tires of her "dumb jock" boyfriend, develops a crush on an older boy who works with her at the local market and doesn't know what to make her kiss with a female classmate. Then there's the matter of her father's drinking problem and a family secret so large and ugly it threatens to ruin her relationship with her grandmother, the only person who understands her. Presenting more dilemmas than pat solutions, this provocative story captures the essence of adolescent ennui and uncertainty through an uncensored first-person narrative. Stubborn, quick-witted and determined to make her dreams come true, Morgan will draw sympathy from readers. Ages 12—up. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

"Written with candor and splashes of humor...this provocative story captures the essence of adolescent ennui and uncertainty through an uncensored first-person narrative. Stubborn, quick-witted and determined to make her dreams come true, Morgan will draw sympathy from readers."—Publishers Weekly

"Morgan is a well-drawn character and her funny, frank, profane-but-literate first-person voice rings true and strong-teens might find it liberating to meet a character who can take on life's messiness and forgive it."—Kirkus Reviews

"Cronn-Mills does a great job of getting into the head of a teenager. The dialog fits and the drama is clearly evident.”—Midwest Mix

From the Publisher