White, Ruth. The Treasure of Way Down Deep.

White, Ruth.  The Treasure of Way Down Deep.    Macmillan/Farrar Strauss  2013  165p      $16.99  ISBN 978-0-374-38067-0  elem/ms       Historical fiction  VG-BN  

Ruby is turning thirteen, and her wish when blowing out the candles on her cake is to find the treasure said to be buried in the town of Way Down Deep.  This town is just an ordinary place with ordinary people.  What makes this book very good is the characterization of the town and its people.  The story is sweet and well thought out.  But it is the portrayal of the people in this small, West Virginia town in the early 1950s that is quite good.  Where and when else would a woman just up and keep a lonely toddler under her wing?  Or, where else in space and time would an entire town elect to have the children of the nearby Black community come to their school when theirs was damaged by fire.  The hostelry called the Roost and its owner seem to be the center of much of this kindness, but it rolls across the community like a blanket.  The treasure?  Well, it’s part of this story too, but the real treasure of this tale is the community and its people.

Summary: Ruby is turning thirteen, and her wish when blowing out the candles on her cake is to find the treasure said to be buried in the town of Way Down Deep.  This town is just an ordinary place with ordinary people.  However, the “magic” of this ordinariness is what makes this tale of life in the early fifties in an impoverished part of West Virginia good historical fiction, with a touch of the fantastical.             

Treasure-Fiction, West Virginia-Fiction                           --Lynn Fisher