The Babbs Switch Story [Hardcover]

Darleen Bailey Beard (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 10 and up | Grade Level: 5 and up

A novel told in a strong Southern voice

Ruth Ann Tillman loves to sing, especially the solo in the annual Babbs Switch, Oklahoma, Christmas Tree Celebration. And no matter what Elden Larrs says teasingly, she’s good. But this year, 1924, Mom and Pop won’t let Ruthie perform. The problem is Daphne, her sister. At sixteen, four years older than Ruthie, Daphne still carries her one-armed, bald-headed doll for comfort and reaches out to stroke anything soft and soothing. When she almost smothers Mrs. Larrs’s baby this way, Mom and Pop know they’re in trouble – and that Ruthie had better not appear on the schoolhouse stage. Ruthie is indignant. Why does she have to share her life with such an oddball sister? Christmas Eve arrives, and Ruthie goes to the celebration, even though she can’t participate, and even though “daffy” Daphne is at her side. At least she can see Elden. Then the schoolhouse catches fire, as it really did on that night in Babbs Switch, and Ruthie discovers what her sister means to her.

Inspired by a tragedy, Darleen Bailey Beard’s tribute to Babbs Switch is nonetheless filled with humor and warmth and the charm of first romance.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In 1924, in Babbs Switch, Okla., 36 people died when fire broke out at a Christmas party in the town's one-room schoolhouse. As a note makes clear, the event inspired Beard's (The Flimflam Man) novel, but the incendiary relationships not the fire fuel it. Twelve-year-old Ruthie Tillman tires of the idiosyncrasies of her older sister, Daphne, who is "not right in the head" (she seems mentally retarded) and whose "uncontrollable passion for soft things" has resulted in her unintentionally suffocating the family's kittens. When Daphne comes close to killing the Larrses' baby, Elizabeth, Ruthie and her parents are appalled and worried, and Ruthie is kept from performing in the Christmas Tree Celebration. But at that fateful party, Daphne escapes with Elizabeth, saving the life she nearly extinguished. Colorful, period-flavored dialogue keeps this tale moving at a fast clip as it explores the complexities of friendship, family dynamics and the awkward but exhilarating steps toward first love. "I'd rather kiss the south end of a northbound mule!" Ruthie tells pesky Elden Larrs, yet by book's end, Elden's kiss makes her "spine tingle like a hedgehog." Beard makes plentiful references to the '20s (George Gershwin, Bessie Smith, scandalously bobbed flappers); at the same time, her evocation of the jumbled feelings of adolescence both loving and hating a sister (or a pesky boy) are timeless. Ages 10-up.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grades 6-9--This slight historical novel follows 12-year-old Ruth Ann Tillman as she comes to terms with changing friendships, her older sister's disability, and a devastating schoolhouse fire. It's 1924 and Ruthie is growing up in a small Oklahoma town. Some of the townspeople think her older sister belongs in an institution, but Ruthie knows that Daphne is just different. At 16, she still doesn't understand that squeezing a kitten too hard can kill it. When Ruthie is chosen to sing the solo in the school's Christmas pageant, she's thrilled. Then Daphne, who has a passion for soft things, nearly suffocates a neighbor's infant. To keep the family out of the spotlight, Ruthie's parents forbid her to perform. Everything comes to a head at the pageant, where a candle on the Christmas tree ignites the crowded one-room schoolhouse. With Daphne presumed dead, Ruthie finally realizes how much her sister means to her. Then, in a twist that is far too neat, the teen is found alive and is a hero after rescuing the very baby she nearly killed earlier in the book. Beard's novel is based on a real event, a fire that killed 36 people and led to new safety laws nationwide. However, the story deals more with Ruth Ann's personal dilemmas than the historical tragedy. It is a quick read, packed with period detail, but much of the novel isn't particularly memorable and the happily ever after ending defies belief.
Miranda Doyle, San Francisco Public Library
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR); 1st edition (April 10, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374304750
• ISBN-13: 978-0374304751
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #920,016 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars The Babbs Switch Story, February 6, 2010

By 

Carl Brantley "POPI" (OkieCity, Ok USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Babbs Switch Story (Hardcover)

My Granddaughter is an avid reader, and she wanted this book more than anything else, She would even fore go a xmas present. I searched everywhere and a friend suggested that I try Amazon. I got the used book as opposed to the new book. The price was right, and the book in excellent condition. It was Ellie's best Christmas. Thanks Amazon!