Contemporary Realistic Fiction

The Year the Lights Came On is a beautiful novel written by Terry Kay. My dad initially read this book book and had my mom read it. She loved it so much that she made all seven of us read it! It is about an 11 year boy raised in rural Georgia at time when electricity was invented. This is Terry Kay's first novel. I would use this book in a middle school Social Studies class to give students an idea of what life would be like with and without electricity. I would have my students dress up and act out certain scenes from the book.
Kay, Terry. (1989). The Year the Lights Came On. University of Georgia Press.