The subtitle of this book is “The Summer of the Scopes Trial,” which says most of what you need to know. It takes place in the small town of Dayton, Tennessee, in the summer of 1925, when Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan famously fought the big battles of religion vs. science and big-city education vs. small-town values that we’re still fighting today.
The book is well-researched, and I always get the hang of history better when it’s fictionalized. For instance, did you know that the whole trial was (ill-)conceived as a publicity stunt for the town? True fact! The character of the town and the era come through loud and clear, and Frances’s conflict between loving her home and feeling hemmed in by its provinciality feels so believable. (And I heart teacher-crush books, because high-school-me overidentifies.)
The dedication reads, in part, “And to Frances Robinson Gabbert, who lived it.” According to the Author’s Note, though, it turns out she… didn’t, so much. She was only eight at the time, not fifteen, and as such had no romantic feelings for Johnny Scopes, no quirky friendship with H. L. Mencken, no spiritual crisis, and no coming-of-age conflict with her father. She just happened to have lived in Dayton during the trial (and to be the daughter of the big-shot drugstore owner; that part is real).
The book did have a Mary Sue feel, as Frances just happened to be close to all the major players. But the book is so well-written that I totally bought into it and was disappointed to find that it wasn’t real. That’ll teach me to get too invested in the truth of “based on a true story”!
7 responses so far ↓
1 » Hattie Big Sky, by Kirby Larson Parenthetical.net: Musings and snark about YA lit, libraries, and geekdom, from an overly opinionated middle school librarian. // May 22, 2008 at 8:25 pm
[...] Monkey Town, by Ronald Kidd [...]
2 madison // Mar 9, 2009 at 5:25 pm
i think that this book frikin rox my sox off!
3 Sam // Mar 9, 2009 at 6:55 pm
Hey Madison! Glad to hear it! I’m curious: what exactly did you like about it? And did you know anything about the Scopes trial before you read the book?
Thanks for stopping by!
4 Sara // Aug 18, 2010 at 3:07 pm
Hi! This book had was very entertaining, but both my friends and I had strongly agreed that for teens such as us, this book was very hard to read. Not like level wise, but ideal wise. We felt as Christians we had to be very deep in our faith to read this book. The author did put in the main truthful parts of the story, but then again, he also added parts that were very untrue and did not need to be added to the book. They were only there to prove the Christian faith wrong. We understand that this is what the this trial really did consist of, but we felt this book was very biased to the evolution side of things, which is o.k. but I do not reccomend this book to Christian teens who are still working on their Christian faith, for it can slur your mind into a direction where most Christian teens wouldn’t want to go. Thanks!
5 Sam // Aug 18, 2010 at 9:11 pm
Thanks so much for your comment, Sara! Which parts of the story did you think were untrue?
I would actually love to talk to you more about this, if you don’t mind. I don’t get to talk to Christian teens about their faith very often.
6 Claire // Jan 2, 2011 at 4:19 pm
This was definitely, very interesting. But like Sara said, i wouldn’t recommend it to someone who’s still developing their faith as a Christian.
I would consider myself a VERY faithful person, so this book didn’t bother me TOO much.
But some things i did consider were the parts about the translation of the bible not neccesarily meaning, ‘days’.
But what i think is, who are we to decide what the word ‘days’ means to God, or someone of such highpower?
I’m 13, and i don’t think that’s up to me to decide, so i guess i have pretty much just avoided the fact of evolution….
Who are you Sam?
7 Sam // Jan 2, 2011 at 5:32 pm
Thanks for your comment, Claire! I think it’s interesting that you and Sara both say you wouldn’t recommend this book to someone who’s developing her faith. I wonder if faith could be strengthened, rather than weakened, by hearing other perspectives? Not that I think the book should change your faith, but I believe that keeping an open mind while learning as much as possible can only make us better people.
It was awhile ago that I read it, but as I recall I thought the book did a good job of not judging faith. William Jennings Bryan was an educated, well-spoken man, not a villain. Besides, many people of strong Christian faith still believe in evolution.
I’d love to have more of a conversation about this, if you’d like. I don’t get many opportunities to talk with Christian teens about their faith.
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