Synopsis
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.
Children's Literature
The Guardian Angels Home for Boys does not live up to its name—at least not for ten-year-old orphan Billy Creekmore. Underfed and overworked, he wants out, but not to the death sentence that is the local glass factory. Fortunately, a long-lost uncle collects him in time to introduce young Billy to the equally dismal coal mines of West Virginia. These are but the beginnings of Billy's travels in quest for belonging. It is a classic plot, and Tracey Porter applies herself to bringing bona fides to the early years of the twentieth-century working world with its lack of safety legislation and labor unrest. As for Billy himself, he is presented as a storyteller with a possible facility for connecting with lost spirits. His efforts at these endeavors are only middling, but the boy is a natural survivor. Younger readers should enjoy Billy's adventures in the mines and among the grafters of the circus world.