Reviews: (by author)

(2 Reviews)

Nolan, Han. Send Me Down a Miracle. San Diego: Harcourt, 1996. $6.95.
ISBN 0-15-204680-1.

A provocative and witty novel by an award winning Han Nolan, Send Me Down a Miracle is an account of a fourteen-year-old obedient daughter of a preacher who must challenge her intimidating father and make herself heard when a community of Casper, Alabama is torn into those who believe and skeptics once a stranger comes to their town and claims to have seen visions of glowing Jesus sitting in her chair. To Charity Pittman, the hot summer is full of tribulations as she learns about human nature, wonders "if a child ever gets to just please herself," and teaches a desolate preacher about her "Lord of Mercy" when he cannot forgive.

Reviewed by A. B., October 2003

 

Nolan, Han. Send Me Down a Miracle. Orlando: Hartcourt, 1996, $6.95. ISBN 0-15-204680-1. For ages 12 and up, fiction

The small town of Casper, Alabama, will never be the same after Adrienne, an artist from New York, visits her hometown. She befriends the preacher's daughter, Charity Pittman, who loves God, but adores Adrienne. Charity desires to be an artist like Adrienne and to travel to New York and Paris. She visits Adrienne often until Adrienne decides that she needs a time of deprivation so that she can find inspiration for her artwork. Charity's father, a hell, fire and brimstone preacher, believes that Adrienne is doing the devil's work, as she claims to have visions of Jesus sitting in a wooden chair in her living room during her time of meditation and food deprivation. The town is divided in two between those who believe in Adrienne's visions and the "power" of the "Jesus chair" and those who do not believe. People from all over the town see the chair as a sort of medium to God and visit the chair at Adrienne's house, making it the focal point of their prayers. They even see Adrienne as a modern day "Saint Mary" and petition her for miracles on their behalf. However, fourteen-year-old Charity is caught in the middle, left questioning her faith in God, her father, and practically everything that she's ever believed. On top of everything else, she is trying to understand why her mother has supposedly left on a trip but has not returned home.

More than anything I enjoyed the way that Nolan uses bizarre characters and situations, and the language of the Deep South to make her point about children in search of self identity without the help of a stable family life. The book is chock full of strange characters such as Miss Tuney Mae, Old Higgs Holkum, and Mad Joe, the town drunk. Whether you have or haven't been raised in the South, the dialogue is catchy and fun with the "Lordy, Lord's" and "Glory be's." If you're not too shy, I would suggest reading some of the dialogue aloud with a southern twang! But even if you choose not to read aloud, I believe the young reader will still be able to either relate or empathize with the protagonist, Charity, and her search for self and hope in a sometimes crazy, mixed-up world. Send Me Down a Miracle is pure and unpretentious, as well as insightful and thought-provoking. The young reader will have a hard time putting this novel down.

Highly recommended
Rhonda Brown, February 2004

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