Dress Codes for Small Towns

Otters Holt, Ky., is home to the Harvest Festival, a giant “Corn Dolly” statue, and Billie McCaffrey, daughter of the local preacher—and a girl no one expects to ever win a (much smaller) Corn Dolly, a cornhusk doll awarded annually to a woman who best exemplifies femininity and grace. The summer before senior year, tomboyish Billie begins to fall for her two best friends, Woods and Janie Lee, just as those same two friends start having feelings for each other. With the Harvest Festival in peril of cancellation, Billie and her five closest pals, aka the Hexagon, rally to save it. Billie’s shifting relationships with her friends, father, and small town are poignant, as is her evolving friendship with Hexagon member Davey, who introduces her to a world outside of Otters Holt, where she feels freer to question and explore her sexuality. Small-town hijinks and the true-to-life interconnectedness of the characters bring warmth and humor to Stevens’s bighearted contemplation of love, family, and home. Ages 14–up. [em]Agent: Kelly Sonnack, Andrea Brown Literary. (Aug.) [/em]