title: How It Happened in Peach Hill
author:  Marthe Jocelyn 
description: <i>Starred Review.</i> Grade 59During the 1920s, 15-year-old Annie travels from town to town in upstate New York with her mother, a self-proclaimed spiritual adviser. Annie is her mother's secret weapon: by posing as an idiot, she can eavesdrop on conversations around town and gather fodder for "Madame Caterina's " fortune-telling sessions. The downside, of course, is that Annie is never able to let anyone learn just how intelligent and lonely she really is. When they move to Peach Hill, the teen longs to settle down, and it seems she may get her wish when, in a rebellious moment, she feigns a miraculous cure that allows her to drop her mentally disabled pose. Finally, she is able to attend school and get to know some of the townspeople on her own terms. But the mother is as tenacious as the daughter, and has no intention of losing Annie's services. Add to the mix a local schemer who is determined to use the duo's skills to his own advantage and a persistent truant officer who has her doubts about Madame Caterina, and the result is a rollicking coming-of-age story that ends with dreams realized in unexpected ways. Jocelyn's research of the period is evident, and the old wives' tales that she has chosen as titles for each chapter hint at how the plot will unfold. Readers will not soon forget this unconventional mother-and-daughter team.<i>Kim Dare, Fairfax County Public Schools, VA</i> <br />Copyright  Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
zlib_text: Dedication
  This story is dedicated to the strong women in our lives—our grandmothers, Mary, Virginia,
  Gretchen and Ruth; our mothers, Linda and Susan; and to daughter Glen.
  
  Prologue
  “Shh. Quiet,” Sienna Compton warned as she and her cousins snuck into her family’s barn. It was
  nearly two a.m. on her sixteenth birthday. Sweet sixteen. At last.
  Her cousins—and best friends—Jade, Sterling and Hope had planned a sleepover to celebrate
  with her. They’d piggy-piled into sleeping bags in Sienna’s bedroom shortly after ten, chatting and
  giggling for hours. Her dad, Seth, had come in twice to tell them to quiet down.
  After a couple hours of whispered conversations, the rest of the house fell silent. That was when
  Jade had climbed out of her sleeping bag, tiptoed to the door and listened for a moment before
  declaring the coast was clear.
  When Sterling had asked what the heck it was clear for, Jade had refused to answer, picking up her
  backpack and telling them to follow her. On their way out, t