Kentucky Girls Books

We set our first three books in the Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill, Kentucky in the mid-1830s because it was such a unique and successful institution for its time and place. It was, in fact, one of the most long-lived utopian communities in the United States and one of the best possible places for women and girls to live.

The Shakers were progressive in their thinking and very innovative in finding ways to work more efficiently, traits which helped them be financially successful. Socially and politically, they treated everyone equally, -- even freeing any slaves who were brought to the village by their masters -- and they educated girls which wasn’t common at that time. They were also able to avoid many of the most serious diseases of that time, including cholera, by being very careful about hygiene.

Our books, however, won't tell you everything about the Shakers. They're not textbooks, tour guides, or history books; they're adventure stories about young girls and for young girls. They're meant to be fun to read, but also to give you insights into the lives of girls who lived in different times, places and situations than you might encounter today.

Road to Pleasant Hill which opens the series was published in 2009. It focuses on ten-year-old Betsy Johnson and her younger brother Tad and the challenges they face when they move into the Shaker Village after the disappearance of their father and death of their mother. It offers glimpses of Shaker life in the 1830s as it follows Betsy through her adjustment to this new way of life, a new set of friends, and her eventual self-discovery of her gift for healing using plants and herbs.

‘Tis a Gift, the second book in the series published in November 2010, shifts the focus from Betsy to Tad. It's set two years after the Johnson children moved to the Shaker Village. Unfortunately, Tad still hasn’t fit in. He's tried to do what is expected of Shaker boys his age, but everything - from milking cows to baling hay - ends in disaster. He gradually realizes he would rather be listening to the music of the wind blowing through tall grasses or watching the dance of bumblebees, but that bully Fred just won’t let him.

Tree of Life, published in March 2012, is set in 1839, a few years after ‘Tis a Gift. It centers on Betsy's friend Grace who is 15 and feeling the pinch of the simple Shaker life. Grace longs for the feathered hats, pretty petticoats, and dressy life of "the World" outside the isolated village at Pleasant Hill. So, she enlists the help of a forbidden boyfriend and sets out to escape the stifling rules of the Shakers by secretly weaving a colorful silk scarf to enter in the upcoming county fair contest. Her plan is to win the contest and use the prize money to buy a ticket to freedom on the next stagecoach to the bustling big city. It seems foolproof. Nothing can stand in her way — except the one thing Grace couldn’t possibly have imagined.