Tuberculosis still scourged the nation in 1940, and sanatoriums such as the fictional Loon Lake facility in Hayles' first novel were established to quarantine patients and treat the illness. Shortly after Evelyn arrives there, she tries to put on a brave face, holding back tears. "My head hurt with questions. Really, all of me hurt, worse than ever before. I had to close my eyes. Trying to stay alive at Loon Lake felt like it was killing me already." Eventually, she grows more comfortable with the new routines and forges friendships. Hayles provides a fascinating glimpse into the medical technology of the day, such as the pneumothorax to blow air into the chest or surgical rib removal to ease pressure on the lungs. The unique setting provides a backdrop to a well-crafted, believable story complete with happy moments and camaraderie interspersed with a daily reality of anxiety and loss. Despite a well-founded fear of how the disease could cut short her future, Evie evokes a completely normal-sounding teen trying to make sense of the world. Photos and other illustrations enhance the narrative.

Confined to a tuberculosis sanatorium in rural Minnesota, 13 year-old Evelyn Hoffmeister develops inner strength as she copes with loneliness, loss and the insidious disease that threatens her life. In May 1940, Evvy's father leaves her at Loon Lake Sanatorium, where she's assigned to a ward with other teenage tuberculosis patients. Isolated from her family, Evvy quickly learns to follow Loon Lake's strict regimen of bed rest, diet and treatment, with no talking or visitors. Frightened and overwhelmed, Evvy gradually adapts to the sterile routine and discovers her fellow patients: talkative, fashionable Pearl; kindhearted Beverly; gruff Dena; and shy Sarah, a Jewish girl who becomes her best friend. As time slowly passes, Evvy realizes some patients improve and leave, while others die, sometimes unexpectedly. Speaking first as an observer and later as an engaged participant and survivor, Evvy tells the story of her year at Loon Lake. By describing her feelings, fears and tentative hope, she offers an inside peek at the lives of tuberculosis patients in the pre–World War II era, when there was no real cure for the disease. Period photographs of equipment, posters, medical treatments and hospital facilities relating to tuberculosis add verisimilitude. A quiet, sober story of a genuine heroine who survives a devastating disease with grace. (photographs; author's note; notes on photographs) (Historical fiction. 10-14)

Gr 5-8 Evvy Hoffmeister, 13, arrives at Loon Lake Sanatorium in Minnesota in the early 1940s in hopes of being cured of tuberculosis. She is confined to bed rest in a ward with three other adolescent girls, Beverly, Pearl, and Dena. Evvy misses her family, especially her twin brother, but adjusts to life at Loon Lake, a complex of buildings almost as vividly depicted as the staff and patients it houses. Stony Nurse Marshall, dubbed Old Eagle Eye by Dena, assigns privileges when the girls cough up less bloody sputum and show signs of improving health. Yet death is always close at hand, and Pearl, who had the privilege of leaving the sanatorium for a day, returns happily with gifts of decorated paper fans for her friends, only to die in the hallway from "throwing a ruby," a hemorrhage. Many archaic medical treatments are used on the patients, including thoracoplasty, the removal of a rib to allow a lung to collapse and heal. Sarah, a new patient, becomes Evvy's friend and shares the secret that she is Jewish. With awareness of World War II being fought in Europe, a staff member insults Evvy because of her German surname. She is a resilient and perceptive character who will not be defined by her illness. This powerful novel, illustrated with contemporary objects and documents, portrays an illness that is unfortunately making a comeback. A moving and well-wrought story. Susan W. Hunter, Riverside Middle School, Springfield, VT

In 1940, thirteen-year-old Evvy Hoffmeister is sent to Loon Lake Sanatorium to recover from tuberculosis. Evvy's natural inquisitiveness gradually overcomes her fear and isolation, creating an evenly paced story in which she learns about people and herself against the backdrop of sanatorium life. Hayles succeeds admirably in showing, rather than telling, Evvy's character and growth.