M.P. Barker Book Title: A Difficult Boy Publication Date: April 15, 2008 Publisher: Holiday House ISBN: 978-0823420865 Author's Website: www.mpbarker.net

Description of Book:

Riveting historical fiction from a debut novelist about the friendship that grows between two young indentured servants--one of them Irish--as they struggle to overcome their tyrannical master and win their freedom in nineteenth-century New England.

It is 1839. Nine-year-old Ethan doesn't want to work for Mr. Lyman, the wealthy shopkeeper in their small Massachusetts town.  But Ethan has no choice—it's the only way to pay off his family’s debt to the man. Ethan tries to befriend the Lymans’ other indentured servant, but Daniel, as everyone says, is a difficult boy.  Sixteen years old, Irish, and moody, Daniel brushes off Ethan as if he were a pesky gnat. Ethan resolves to ignore the brusque older boy, but is then shocked to see how cruelly Mr. Lyman treats Daniel. Soon, Ethan, too, is suffering Mr. Lyman’s blows, and the two boys have only each other, as no one—not Ethan’s well-meaning but timid father; not Silas, Mr. Lyman’s aloof oldest son, whose own back bears the scars of his father’s beatings—comes to their aid.

As Ethan and Daniel forge a tentative friendship, Daniel teaches Ethan how to ride a horse and even how to speak Gaelic. But when Daniel stands up to the Lymans to protect Ethan from further harm, the boys set off a chain of events that may land Daniel in prison.  Will Ethan be able to save his friend? And will others finally have the courage to do what is right for this not-so-difficult boy?

A Difficult Boy is a PEN New England Children's Book Caucus Discovery Award winner.

Cover art copyright 2008 by Marc Tauss.

About the Author:

M. P. Barker is a time traveler—well, actually an archivist and historian, which amounts to the same thing. She got a firsthand taste (sometimes literally!) of nineteenth-century New England rural life when she was a costumed historical interpreter at Old Sturbridge Village. There she milked cows, mucked out barns, and found inspiration for her historical novel, A Difficult Boy. Now working as an archivist, Barker enjoys a unique opportunity to read other people's diaries and letters and look through their photo albums.

Excerpt:

 

    “I don’t want to go.” Ethan curled his arms around his knees, drawing them to his chest.

     The early afternoon sun slanted through the cracks between the barn’s boards, casting bars of light and shadow across Ethan and his father. Ethan wished he could stay here forever in the sweet musty haymow; stay here watching the barn swallows swoop and dive and return to their young nestled snug against the roof’s peak; stay here listening to the comfortable rustle of Tess in the stall below, tending to her new calf; stay here sitting with his father, not moving, not saying anything, because all there was to say now was good-bye.

     Pa put an arm around Ethan’s shoulders and drew him in. “The truth of it is, son, I need you to go.” The striped light cast harsh shadows across Pa’s lean features. Pa blinked hard, as if his eyes hurt. “I thought we settled this,” he said. “It’s a good opportunity for you. If you mind your work well, maybe in a couple of years Mr. Lyman will teach you to clerk in his store.” He tousled Ethan’s thick brown hair. “You don’t want to grow up a dunderhead about business like your father, do you? Remember how much time it took Mr. Lyman to help me straighten out my bookwork?” He laughed, but Ethan didn’t join him.

    It was all about business, wasn’t it? At night, when Pa and Ma thought Ethan was asleep, he’d heard them talking of how much they owed Mr. Lyman for the mortgage on the farm and their account at the store, how little by little they slipped further behind. When Mr. Lyman had come over with the indenture papers, all the talk had been of Ethan learning a skill, but that hadn’t been the half of it. Money, that had been the other half. Who would have thought one boy’s work could make the difference between keeping and losing a farm?

    Ethan’s stomach knotted. He wasn’t sure whether he was more afraid of what would happen if he left or of what would happen if he stayed.

    Pa handed Ethan his hat. “It’s only a few years. You’ll like it there if you set your mind to it. Now come on down. Paddy’s waiting.”

    Ethan wiped his sleeve across his face and followed his father down the ladder. Ma waited outside with a basket of food and a cloth-wrapped bundle containing his clothes.

    Someone cleared his throat and spat into the dirt. A strange boy stared at Ethan, his gray-green eyes cool and hard. The boy was perhaps fifteen or sixteen years old and not much taller than Ma.

    So this was Mr. Lyman’s Irish boy Paddy. Red hair, a faded shade halfway between rust and straw, stuck out any old how from under his battered brown cap. Freckles peppered his pale face, and his ears stood out like teacup handles. His body was all sharp angles and knobby joints, as though someone had glued his skin right to his bones and had forgotten to put the muscles in between. He reminded Ethan of an old stocking stretched long and thin, worn and frayed at heel and toe and cuff.

    Ethan’s mother sniffled as she hugged Ethan.

    “Now, Hannah, he’s only going to the other side of town, not the other side of the world,” Pa said.

    “It might as well be, for all that we’ll see of him,” Ma replied sharply.

    “Don’t be silly. We’ll likely see him in a few weeks or so,” Pa said.

    Ethan winced at the reminder of how long it might be before he’d see his family again. The three hours’ walk to the Lymans’ might have been three days, or three weeks even.

    “Who’ll look out for him at Mr. Lyman’s?” Ma asked as Ethan hefted his bundle of clothes and Pa handed Paddy the basket of treats.

    His eyes downcast, Paddy shrugged. “S’pose it’ll have to be me, won’t it?” He didn’t sound interested in anything that needed looking after.

 

Reviews:

Press reviews:

"Barker’s gift for historical detail illuminates this absorbing first novel, accurately portraying the pleasures and the harsh realities of 19th-century Massachusetts farm life. From describing exactly how to milk a treacherous cow to the precise way a servant ties and knots her shawl over a dress that is 'the color of an overdone Indian pudding,' the author adds authenticity to her well-constructed story...Readers will like this book for its attention to heady issues like early prejudice against the Irish (Daniel is Irish) and the treatment of indentured servants as young as themselves, and for its satisfying and hopeful conclusion." --Publisher's Weekly (28 Apr 2008)

"What was the life of an indentured servant but that of a slave? M.P. Barker brings it ringingly, cringingly to life...A Difficult Boy hinges on the efforts of two boys—one social, one circumstantially remote, soon to be friends—to escape their brutalized existence... Then there is Ivy, a horse that bonds the boys and provides their ticket out." --Kirkus Reviews, First Fiction Special Issue (15 Apr 2008, p. 17)

"How Ethan and Daniel bolster each other and escape Mr. Lyman's tyranny makes for a memorable tale of friendship and a fascinating glimpse into mid-19th-century Massachusetts. Like L. M. Elliott's Give Me Liberty (HarperCollins, 2006), this is an eye-opening look at indentured servitude in American history." --Kim Dare, Fairfax County Public Schools, VA, School Library Journal (1 May 2008)