Kerry Madden - Gentle's Holler

[Mary]

I really enjoyed Gentle's Holler; I found it to be a very believable story. I enjoyed the honest portrayal of a family that truly cared for each other. I also thought the characters were clearly delineated and carefully drawn.

A children's librarian I had the pleasure of working with for several years just alerted me to an online interview with this author. Check it out at: cynthialeitichsmith.blogspot.com/2005/07/author-interview-kerry-madden-on.html

[Tess]

Madden does an excellent job of characterization. The unique personality of each family member was vivid. The way she crafted language was beautiful too. Early on, her description of how Jitter remarked after Becksie as an "itchy mosquito echo" was wonderful.

Livy Two's song lyrics didn't do much for me. I couldn't find the music of the words; I wanted to hear the tune and I couldn't put it together in my head. The overall imagery in the book was beautiful, so I expected something more from the song lyrics. Of course, Livy didn't seem to spend a great deal of time on the lyrics, so maybe that was the point: that she just sang about everyday things in a straight-forward fashion.

[gbishop]

Gentle's Holler by Kerry Madden

Is it a serious Newbery contender for me? Yes, because it made think about the characters as I read it. I didn't particularly like the end though and endings are important to me.

I have to agree that Madden did an excellent job with the character development in the book. For me when characters are developed well I grow stronge feelings about them as I read and I definitely had stronge for these characters. I especially liked the message that grandma gave to Livy Two about staying mad at the people you love. I would have to say grandma was my favorite character even though she didn't have a big part in the story along with the librarian. I absolutely loved the dog. What a great dog! THese kids needed that dog. Why do I say this? Well, I am sorry to say but I didn't like their parents. It appeared that their mother was a smart woman but why would a smart woman keep having children that she couldn't feed and take care. I don't have a problem with dreams either but their dad was worthless in my opinion. Once you are a parent your dreams are on the back burner not the front burner where his were.