She was about to be deported from Never-Never Land, and her life would never again feel as absolute.

Seven-year-old Cricket is standing on a precipice, though she doesn't know it yet. It's the summer of 1942, and just as the country is waking up to the losses and horrors of World War II, Cricket her first solo train journey from the San Joaquin Valley, California, to rural Everett, Washington, to stay with her grandparents for the summer. Braving the trip alone is only the first of many time Cricket will have to swallow her fears and put on a grown-up face as she navigates the confusing world of adults.

Cricket reunites with the gang of neighborhood kids with whom she spends every summer. Though she is the youngest of the group, all the children are still innocent, content to build forts in the woods and pick wild strawberries. Even Marvin, the oldest at fourteen, is sweet and very protective of Cricket, defending her valiantly form some nasty town bullies. But when twelve-year-old Mary Frances comes to town to stay with her cousins, she shakes up their insular world. From the first time she pulls out a cigarette, she divides the group, as the younger ones refuse, but the older boys all try out smoking. Cricket decides Mary Frances is a fee spirit and is alternately baffled and intrigued by her new behavior.

But the idyllic summer is punctured by disturbing violence, domestic abuse, and rape—all of which the children of Everett witness. Cricket, in particular, gets drawn into the adult world of the police.

Smith's novel is reminiscent in many ways of To Kill A Mockingbird, the great American coming-of-age story that also deals with a young girl's loss of innocence, violent tragedy, and a controversial trial. And like Harper Lee's masterpiece, the narrator of this novel is simultaneously a seven-year-old and a grown-up version herself remembering the events of that fateful summer. A large cast of characters is explored, with chapters devoted to Makie, Mary Frances, and others, providing context and developing the rich characterizations. There are multiple depictions of violence and sexual abuse that are all the more startling for their stark juxtaposition with the folksy, idealized portrait of small-town life in the last century. The author's book will likely appeal to nostalgic older readers and fans of stories of small-town life, such as Our Town or Fried-Green Tomatoes.

In this debut novel, trauma rocks a small town in Washington State during the summer of 1942, baring the secrets that lie just below the place’s bucolic surface and ending the childhood innocence of a group of young friends.

Anne Elizabeth Jordan, known as Cricket, was born in 1935, the adored daughter of Makyla “Makie” Lara Bane Jordan and Maxwell Calder Jordan. Readers meet Cricket just after her aging mother has died. Cricket is cleaning out Makie’s cottage. Her younger brother arrives to help, and he asks Cricket to tell him what happened during that fateful summer in Everett, Washington, just before his birth. It is a story that the family has never been willing to discuss. So begins Smith’s novel, a troubling tale of good and evil in a bygone time. Cricket’s father is an airman stationed in Hawaii. Convinced that America will be pulled into World War II, he arranges for his wife and young daughter to move back to the mainland to live with his father on the family’s cattle ranch in California’s San Joaquin Valley. Max visits them once, and then he is killed in the Pearl Harbor attack, a calamity only slightly softened by Makie’s announcement that she is pregnant. Soon, 7-year-old Cricket is sent to tranquil Everett alone for her annual summer visit with her maternal grandparents. The author devotes separate chapters to each of the central characters—Cricket and her coterie of summer friends, her grandparents, and an older woman she meets on a train. Most of these chapters conclude with a dire prediction of the unknown evil to come. It is a technique that successfully builds tension. But the ultimate event, while tragic, falls short of the implied cataclysm. The author’s cringeworthy, graphically violent scenes of domestic abuse and rape come as a surprise, juxtaposed as they are against her sugary descriptions of the joys of childhood. Still, the scenes position the novel to skillfully confront the issue of society’s willful disregard for what happens behind closed doors.

Despite its Hallmark Channel–style portrait of America, an engaging tale with a final twist.

Much of P.C. Smith’s novel The Shingle Weaver’s Picnic is told through the young eyes of Annie Elizabeth Jordon, a girl known best as Cricket. Most of the story is set in Everett, Washington, where Cricket is spending the summer with her wise and moral grandparents. The setting is nearly perfect, filled with small town joviality and scenic boat rides. Cricket, it would seem, shouldn’t have a care in the world. However, as her story unfolds, we learn how she has many heavy cares for such a young child. Sadly, trouble so strong comes into her world, no bars of steel could ever keep out.

Cricket’s first personal crises happens when her young father is killed in World War II. This makes her mother a single mother, with another child on the way. While mom is pregnant, Cricket is sent to spend a summer with her grandparents. We get the immediate impression this summer vacation is an annual one, as she has established friendships when she arrives there. It is there she is forced to try and heal from losing a father she so dearly loved.

The story is one where one would least expect to find acts of evil taking place. In fact, Cricket’s second crises occurs during one of the happiest times of the year. It all develops during this small town’s annual fair. The scene is taken right out of a Norman Rockwell painting. There are rides for the kids, logrolling contests, piemaking competitions and all the Americana trimmings. These are supposed to be events to build lifelong memories upon. While the happenings of this one summer did, in fact, create distinctive memories, these were also the kind of recollections she’d gladly forget – if she ever could.

It’s a place where the greatest threat normally might have been the town drunk, instead the rape and murder of a young girl shattered the locale’s picturesque view. Although it’s likely Smith’s main intention for her book was to tell a story about lost innocence, she writes it in such a way it is also presented as a murder mystery story. The reader is led to believe that a young boy murdered this young girl, at first. That is until the town’s drunkard wife-abuser seemingly is exposed as the perpetrator. Yes, he was also involved in this crime, but he was the rapist, not the killer. Only toward the book’s end do we find out who the real killer actually is. Smith does a good job of stringing the reader along before eventually revealing the final damning facts of the case.

The victim is not only Cricket’s friend, but her grandfather is also a defense lawyer and becomes involved in the murder trial. She’s connected to it all in many respects. Cricket is thrown into a situation where the kids in her peer group must act as witnesses, and a few even end up being among the accused. This is not the way any kid wants to live. These are usually adult crimes. Before all this criminal behavior rocks her community, though, Cricket has a conversation with her grandfather where he tries to help her understand war’s evil that led to her father’s death. Her grandfather was previously also involved in a case that involved Japanese internment camps during WWII. These war-related incidents, though, are mostly due to adults not being able to resolve problems in a civil way. The murder of her friend, however, involves a young boy killing a young girl, which can be even more difficult to comprehend – especially for a child.

Yes, The Shingle Weaver’s Picnic is, well, no picnic, P.C. Smith is a gifted storyteller, though, and will keep you turning pages wondering what might happen next. It’s a story as compelling as it is troubling, and most certainly a memorable one.

— Dan MacIntosh
Pacific Book Review

Annie Elizabeth Jordan, affectionately nicknamed Cricket, loses her father to World War II when she is just a little girl. In the midst of all the sadness that her family feels for the loss of her dad, the only things that Cricket is looking forward to are the arrival of her baby brother, Max, and her summer trip to Everett, Washington, where her grandparents live. Cricket does not know that her summer of childhood games and fun will be abruptly interrupted by a terrible event: the murder of her thirteen-year-old friend, Mary Frances. If that was not enough for little Cricket to go through, her beloved grandfather, a retired judge who is determined to serve justice to Mary Frances and her family, has become the target of hateful actions. Cricket knows something that her grandfather is not aware of, but will she have the courage to speak up? Who murdered Mary Frances?

The first thing that drew me to The Shingle Weavers Picnic is the cover, which portrays an idyllic childhood scene. The sense of childhood adventures, excitement, and curiosity exuded by the cover is excellently reflected in the narration and the characters. The reader is invited to join Cricket and her group of friends as they play in the streets, tell each other secrets, and explore their surroundings. P.C. Smith’s exquisite narration brings out many of the peculiar nuances that characterize childhood: the desire for adventure, the lightheartedness of summer, and the willingness to fit in. However, in the midst of this childhood innocence, the dark shadows of death, abuse, violence, and World War II haunt Cricket and her friends, as they are exposed to events that they do not have the tools to comprehend. The author does not spare gruesome details, but she narrates the events with graceful precision, like you would to a child that you do not want to upset but you cannot lie to, as truthfully and as delicately as possible.

The narration flows exquisitely as the events unfold, and P.C. Smith is able to recount them from the perspectives of different characters. The brutal event of Mary Frances’s murder is reconstructed through Cricket’s observations, her grandfather’s methodical research and commitment to justice, and the gossip that the people of Everett weave into the story. While I usually do not enjoy reading stories with multiple perspectives, the author did a wonderful job of being faithful to the storyline while exploring different characters and perspectives. We are introduced to a strict but caring sheriff, a gossipy old lady, a child who has been accused unjustly, a judge who faces violent backlash for his involvement in a thorny case, a tenacious old lady who survived domestic abuse, and a bubbly teenager who will be punished for her willingness to explore herself and the world. P.C. Smith does not limit herself to illustrating each character’s perspective about the murder: she situates each character into their own personal story while showing that, in spite of their differences, a single event can intertwine their lives in the most unexpected ways.

I have nothing even remotely negative to note about The Shingle Weavers Picnic. I only found one minor error related to a missing period, which makes me deduce that the book has been excellently edited. There are a few profanities, but they have not been overused. The writing flows flawlessly, and I had a hard time putting the book down. Even the descriptions of food, scenery, and everyday life are so enthralling that they kept me glued to the pages.

— Maria Esposito
OnlineBookClub.org

In this gripping tale of good and evil, a group of young children lost their innocence when their idyllic,
small town is rocked by a horrific murder

In the summer of 1942, Anne Elizabeth Jordan, also known as Cricket, travels alone to Everett, Washington from San Joaquin Valley, California to stay with her maternal grandparents. Cricket’s mother Makie is unable to go because she is heavily pregnant. Traveling alone is the first of the many unexpected things Cricket experiences in this fateful summer.

Arriving at Everett, an idyllic and picturesque small town, Cricket is reunited with her group of friends she spends every summer with. The kids are innocent and just enjoying their childhood. But their small and playful world is rocked by the arrival of Mary Frances, a free-spirited twelve-year-old who already knows how to smoke.

The seemingly peaceful summer, however, was shaken when one of the children is murdered. In a neighborhood once thought to be safe, the murder sent a shock wave throughout the town. Cricket is then drawn in the confusing world of adults. Her young and innocent mind has been muddled by a slew of disturbing violence she and her friends witnessed. The murder and the investigation that followed added more confusion to Cricket’s mind.

The seemingly peaceful summer, however, was shaken when one of the children is murdered. In a neighborhood once thought to be safe, the murder sent a shock wave throughout the town. Cricket is then drawn in the confusing world of adults. Her young and innocent mind has been muddled by a slew of disturbing violence she and her friends witnessed. The murder and the investigation that followed added more confusion to Cricket’s mind.

The seemingly peaceful summer, however, was shaken when one of the children is murdered. In a neighborhood once thought to be safe, the murder sent a shock wave throughout the town. Cricket is then drawn in the confusing world of adults. Her young and innocent mind has been muddled by a slew of disturbing violence she and her friends witnessed. The murder and the investigation that followed added more confusion to Cricket’s mind.

— In-house Book Review

The Shingle Weaver’s Picnic by P.C. Smith is a sweeping murder mystery told through the eyes of a young girl as she and her younger brother sort out the effects of their late mother. Annie Elizabeth Jordan, Cricket to her friends, was just a child when the U.S. was dragged into war in late 1941. With her pilot father stationed at Pearl Harbor and killed in the first wave of Japanese bombers, her family was shrouded in grief. With her mother expecting their second child, Cricket would make their annual summer visit to her beloved grandparents in the U.S. Northwest on the train by herself this year. But this summer was to be like none she had experienced before as violence and brutality were to visit the small town of Everett, Washington State when a young girl is murdered and one of Cricket’s summer friends is arrested as the culprit. It is up to Cricket’s elderly grandfather, a retired lawyer and judge, to try to unravel the mystery and defend her friend from an unjust prosecution. It is a year in which Cricket has to try to understand the adult world and what could motivate adults to perpetrate such evil actions as war and murder.

The Shingle Weaver’s Picnic is a beautifully written and charmingly endearing account of how a young girl can come to terms with the seemingly senseless violence and brutality perpetrated by adults in this world. Author P.C. Smith has found a perfect balance between a young girl’s innocence and naiveté, with an understanding of the greed and motivation that drives some people to commit heinous acts. I particularly appreciated the descriptive flow of the narrative and was able to picture perfectly the small-town, petty-minded, and nosy neighbor environment of Everett as well as its glorious nature and beauty of the location. For me, the absolute highlight of the story was Cricket’s conversations with God. The innocence and sweetness of her requests and the manner of her prayers were just gorgeous and while displaying her naïve nature, they also showed her mature understanding of the events taking place around her. The author’s choice to present Cricket’s most challenging experience at the event that should have been the highlight of her annual visit, the annual fair, was inspiring. What should have been the event that she carried back home as a highlight would become the day she would never forget for all the wrong reasons. I thoroughly enjoyed this page-turning adventure and can highly recommend it.

—Grant Leishman for Readers' Favorite