Although Ruby seemed to just appear out of thin air on the steps of the courthouse on the first day of summer in 1944, no one in Way Down Deep, West Virginia, ever worried too much about where the toddler came from. They figured that if Ruby’s people were dumb enough to lose something as valuable as a child, then that was their problem. So even though Ruby can’t help but wonder where she came from, she has led a joyful and carefree life in Way Down Deep, loved and watched over by Miss Arbutus – proprietor of The Roost, the local boardinghouse – the residents of The Roost, and the rest of the town. But when Ruby is twelve, a new family moves to Way Down Deep, and they inadvertently provide enough clues about Ruby’s past that she is able to find her own people. Ruby travels from Way Down Deep to the top of Yonder Mountain to learn who she really is – only to find that she is bound to Way Down Deep by something even stronger than family ties: love.
 
With a touch of fairy-tale magic and a lot of heart, Ruth White explores just what it is that makes a place truly home.

Way Down Deep is full of love, pain, a great mystery, but most of all, a happy ending. You've got to read it. I'm not kidding.

My 9 year old grandaughter and I read this book together. She loved it. She could not wait for the next night so we could read together. Finally she took the book and read it herself just to find out the end. Great book. Well done

This is a lovely lovely little story. This book was purchased In Memory Of my Mother-in-Law, Alma Lynn Wendell Laney, by the Marshall Co. (WV) Board of Education in honor of her 35 years of service as Secretary at Cameron High. I wanted to read what they picked for her and just loved the book. She would be very pleased to have her name associated with this wonderful story.
:) Pam and Mark

I like to purchase for my granddaughter, books that she really enjoyed reading. Rememberances of childhood. This book and others by Ruth White talk of difficult times for children - seperation and longing. They are presented in a way that is positive but with understanding of emotions.

A young child mysteriously appears into an idyllic community, Way Down Deep, in the Appalachian mountains. This caring community embraces the concept of "It Takes A Village" and helps the local old-maid raise her with love and acceptance. She becomes friends of a poverty-ridden family whose father needs forgiveness. Their senile relative's rantings begin to raise questions about who she really is and offer hope that she may find her true family - and she does!

I would rate this a five were it not for the insertion of a magical explanation for her appearance at Way Down Deep. It just doesn't fit with this, otherwise, home-spun type novel. It's like putting a Star Wars scene into Little House on the Prairie - doesn't fit.