As a librarian I loved this book. Moyes weaves into this book the one central idea that all librarians and lovers of knowledge recognize, that knowledge opens avenues to a person. Knowledge allows a person to escape their life and explore a world that may be closed off to them due to the place where they were born or poverty.
The Giver of the Stars is set in Kentucky during the Great Depression and is centered around 5 ladies who make up what is referred to as the Pack Horse Librarians. This initiative is a part of Eleanor Roosevelt’s traveling library program under the Works Progress Administration. Although each of these five women come from different backgrounds, it is heartening how throughout the book they come together as one team and support each other through the struggles that come up. Margery who is the leader of the library, Beth who is the only girl in a house full of brothers, Izzy who comes from privilege but has to deal with physical limitations brought about because of the aftereffects of polio, Sophie, a person of color who is the only one who has real experience with libraries having worked for the Colored Library of Lexington, Alice who finds herself in Kentucky after marrying into the family of the local coal baron, and Kathleen who is a former patron and widower, throughout this book open the world of Appalachia and Eastern Kentucky to the readers with each trek up the mountain. We can see how books can impact the ordinary lives of the families who become patrons and are introduced to reading. Despite the positive impact literacy has on the community, the ladies face constant opposition headed by Jeffery Van Cleeve, the town’s coal baron and father in law of one of Alice. However, these constant challenges and opposition bring the ladies closer together instead of pulling them apart. They become committed to making the traveling library work regardless of the odds against them, until one of their own comes under attack. Margery arrested under suspicion of murder is abandoned by much of the town but not by her fellow sister librarians. Review submitted by Kisha Jones.