Louisiana's Song

August 1, 2007
Gr 6-8-In this sequel to "Gentle's Holler" (Viking, 2005), Livy Two Weems pursues her dream of a songwriting career and a united family in the mountains of North Carolina in 1963. While she and her nine brothers and sisters are thrilled to welcome their father home after a devastating car accident eight months earlier, the severity of his brain damage leaves the family far from whole. His inability to provide for the offspring he can barely recognize taxes the family financially and emotionally. Add to that Grandma Horace's plans to move them to her home, the public school's hopes to send Gentle to a school for the blind and artistically gifted Louisiana to art school, and Livy Two's wounded pride when her sister makes a new friend, and mention of the turbulent sociopolitical climate of 1963 hardly seems necessary. But mention it Madden does, practically at the end of the book: a church bombing in Alabama and the assassination of President Kennedy. Every so often, Livy Two writes a new song, the lyrics of which appear in the text. They provide visible evidence of her commitment to her goal. One of the more intriguing story lines is that of her brother Emmett's leaving home to work at a theme park and his struggle with the unreliable, gambling-addicted uncle who fleeces him, but it isn't well developed. Purchase for readers who enjoyed the first book."Catherine Threadgill, Charleston County Public Library, SC"

Copyright 2007 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2007
In this follow-up to Gentles Holler (2005), narrator Livy Two and her siblings are trying to cope after their fathersurvives a horrible car accident but is too fragile to support the family. Brother Emmett has quit school to work in town, their mother knits sweaters to sell, and Livy begins working on the bookmobile with Miss Attickson and writes country-music songs that she hopes to sell in Nashville. Eleven-year-old Louisiana, a talented artist, turns out to be her fathers best caretaker. Its a hand-to-mouth existence with the specter of an even less-desirable situationa move to Grandma Horaces housealways lurking. Those who have read Gentles Holler will best appreciate this sequel, but it does stand alone. Beautifully written and true to its setting in the North Carolina mountains during 1963, this continues the warm, loving, and poignant saga of a family that struggles with everything but love.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)