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    Billy Creekmore: A Novel
    Unavailable
    Billy Creekmore: A Novel
    Unavailable
    Billy Creekmore: A Novel
    Ebook252 pages3 hours

    Billy Creekmore: A Novel

    By Tracey Porter

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    He is a motherless child,
    a coal miner,
    a circus star,
    a con artist,
    a seer,
    a hero,
    and a survivor.

    This is the tale of Billy Creekmore, a young boy with mystifying powers and the gift of storytelling. But his life in the Guardian Angels Orphanage is cruel and bleak, and when a stranger comes to claim Billy, he sets off on an extraordinary journey. From the coal mines of West Virginia to the world of a traveling circus, he searches for the secrets of his past, his future, and his own true self.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateJun 15, 2010
    ISBN9780062017628
    Unavailable
    Billy Creekmore: A Novel
    Author

    Tracey Porter

    Tracey Porter is the author of Treasures in the Dust and A Dance of Sisters. Her most recent novel, Billy Creekmore, was named to Oprah.com's Kids' Reading List, compiled by the American Library Association. For the past twenty years she has taught middle school at Crossroads School in Santa Monica, California. She lives with her family in Los Angeles.

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    Reviews for Billy Creekmore

    4/5

    39 ratings6 reviews

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    • 2/5
      Children's Books Too Cool For SchoolBilly Creekmore is a wonderful storyteller (or liar, depending on how you look at it), is very unlucky, and can sort of talk to dead people. He was born at midnight on Friday the thirteenth, and his entrance into this world was the cause of his mother's exit. Shortly after, Billy's father fled, depositing Billy in a dreary orphanage, where the boys are overworked and underfed. Like the other boys, Billy dreams of the day he will be old enough to work in the neighboring glass factory as an apprentice. However, when one of the lucky chosen ones bumps into Billy in the middle of the night telling him tales from the glass factory that make the orphanage sound like a paradise, Billy Creekmore is really stuck. Luckily for the usually unlucky Billy Creekmore, a long-lost uncle shows up to claim him. Billy loves his uncle's coal mining town, but soon a mine collapse and some union work stir up more trouble for Billy, who must run away -- and blunders into the circus of all things. Circus life, like mining life, is great as far as Billy is concerned, but life isn't done surprising Billy yet!I'm afraid that this novel is yet another one that receives my "not at total waste of time" seal of ambivalence. It is merely okay in terms of plot, pace, and character development. No one, besides Billy (and even with him, only occasionally) really seems to shine in terms of personality. Instead, Billy Creekmore is a novel full of stock characters. Billy the poor orphan, the nefarious orphanage owners, the greedy and gregarious factory owner, the poor but hardworking mining relations, and so on and so on. The plot is a stock plot as well. Poor orphan unlucky and unloved, claimed by loving relatives, must lose loving relatives to come into his own, etc. etc. Of course, then he joins the circus. The circus! Really! The book pretty much lost me at that point. Nothing could possibly shock, surprise, or amaze me past that, and since the general direction of the story was glaringly obvious, nothing did.That said, the period details of Billy Creekmore are clearly well-researched and many individual situations in the novel, if not all of them strung together, had the ring of authenticity. Yet, there are probably better books to go to first if any of these particular subjects catch the interest of you or your child. Of orphans and terrible working conditions, the children's novel industry abounds.Billy Creekmore is more or less a boy's book, although lacking some of the excitement and pizzaz that would entice your average reader, and would be most appropriate for ages 9-11. Watch out for some mildly upsetting scenes/mild violence.
    • 2/5
      Young Billy Creekmore has a life that could have beaten him down, still as each tragedy presented itself, he was able to overcome the travesty life gave him. While his father sends a yearly post card, Billy cannot understand why he doesn't come to claim him. When the book begins he lives in an orphanage wherein the owner sells the children to work at a dangerous glass factory. Knowing his fate, Billy runs away. He then is rescued by an Aunt and Uncle who claim to take him home with them. They treat him well, but alas times are hard and he decides to follow his Uncle into the West Virginia coal mine. When there is a mining accident which occurred because of unsafe conditions, the miners take a hard line and try to unionize. Tragically, his Uncle is killed by thugs who are called in to break up the union. He is now on the run trying to save his life.He joins a circus and is treated very well. Fate places him in the path of his father who works for a rival circus. A smooth talking, fast drinking man, it doesn't take long for Billy to learn that his father is not the person he wants to emulate.He returns to the reputable circus, and is welcomed back. The book ends on a hopeful note that Billy has a happy life.The author The author taught courses in the study of echild later and children's rights. Therefore, the common theme in each of these circumstances that present themselves to Billy is that at this point in history children were open to be exploited
    • 4/5
      A great story about an orphan who fends for himself by jumping from place to place to find a home. Billy remains a good hearted boy throughout the book despite his bad luck.
    • 4/5
      Billy is an orphan in WV who lives in a place where he is not treated well. Instead of being put to work in the dangerous glass factories, he plans to run away but is rescued by an uncle he didn’t know he had. Life is good for Billy for awhile with his aunt and uncle. He learns to drive a mule and begins working in the coal mines where his uncle and friends work. After a cave-in where a friend of Billy is killed, the men decide to join the UMW. This is not something mine owners wanted miners to do during this time in history, so a brief battle ensues where Billy’s uncle is killed and he is forced to flee for his life. He ends up joining a good circus (that really existed, by the way) and has things going well until he meets up with someone unexpected. This person works for a dishonest circus group works up a sideshow where Billy is the Boy Seer from the East and tells fortunes. Eventually, Billy gets angry and leaves. He does finally find the "family" that he has been seeking, and the book ends well. The book ends with him with his new “family” and happy once again. I think this is a great book for 4 – 8 graders, although it would probably appeal more to the younger ones. The themes of family (different as his family may be) and honesty are good ones. Billy is a positive young boy who doesn’t whine about his situation but makes the most of it. He is a teller of tall tales, but he learns through the book that lying isn’t the answer. I would highly recommend this book. Although the subject seems serious, and it is, it’s treated in a light-hearted manner.
    • 4/5
      Billy should be a sympathetic character - an orphan , good hearted kid who kinda communes with the dead, but only to the benefit of others. The novel is quick paced with a little suspense to help (will Billy get sent to the glass works? Who will die in the mines?). It's weakness are that Billy doesn't seem to have any agency - pretty much everything happens to him, and there are a few too many coincidences to make it palatable to this reader. The historical detail is convincing and engaging.
    • 4/5
      Billy Creekmore is an orphan with a talent for telling lies and hearing spirits. In 1905 West Virginia, his fate is to live at the Guardian Angel Home for Boys until he's old enough to go work at the glass factory. Billy thinks that's a fine future until a friend comes back from the glass factory with a maimed hand and no job. Luckily, Billy's aunt and uncle that he didn't know he had show up at the orphanage just in the nick of time and whisk him off to a life in a coal mining town. Billy has a great voice. The character really reminds me of Bud from Bud, Not Buddy. The setting is also very fleshed out, as well as the plight of child laborers and mine workers. However, too many coincidental incidents tie the plot together too neatly for my taste.