Customer Reviews

Gentle's Holler (Maggie Valley Novels)

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
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In GENTLE'S HOLLER, Kerry Madden introduced young readers to Olivia (better known as Livy Two) Weems, a twelve-year-old with a passion for books and music. Livy has eight siblings of various ages and tempermants, a sweet mama, and a starry-eyed daddy. Money's tight - Daddy's music fills the heart and ears more than it fills the pocketbook - but the Weems make do, and their household is always bursting with family, love, and music. Livy Two also sings and plays music, often writing songs about the struggles her family has faced and the hardships they've overcome. The story is set in 1960s North Carolina, a beautiful backdrop for this artistic and energetic family.

As the tale progresses, Livy Two watches carefully over Gentle, the next-to-youngest one in the family, who has always had difficulty with her eyes. Meanwhile, the eldest son, Emmett, looks beyond the holler and fixes his eyes on Ghost Town in the Sky, a new place on the top of a mountain where he might be able to get a job. Livy Two's trips to the lending library truck connect her with another kind soul, Miss Attickson, who encourages Livy's voracious appetite for novels and poetry.

GENTLE'S HOLLER is the first in The Maggie Valley Trilogy. The second book, LOUISIANA'S SONG, is just as precious as the first book. I can't wait to read JESSIE'S MOUNTAIN, the final book in the trilogy. This series will be loved by kids and families who enjoyed the All-of-a-Kind Family books by Sidney Taylor, The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall, and Cheaper by the Dozen and Belles on Their Toes by Frank B. Gilbreth and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey.

Gentle's Holler was my introduction to the Weems family. Totally enjoyable! Although the book is listed under youth fiction, I (well past youth) found the book absolutely delightful.

Livey 2 (named after her late sister whom she talks and prays to) struggles through life in North Carolina during the 1960's. She has lots of sisters and not much food for the whole family, so she's constantly hungry. But the biggest problem of all is that her younger sister, Gentle, is blind. This story about a musician, (Livey 2 plays the guitar), is not as sad as it sounds. It uses no bad language and is child appropriate. I thought the characters were realistic and the plot was very interesting.

We are big fans of "Offsides" [Kerry Madden's first novel], and have been anticipating the author's next book. Gentle's Holler delivers! It has earned its place on our shelves with other all-time favorites...the Little House books, Christy, Cheaper By The Dozen, A Tree Grows In Brooklyn, and etc.
The book reminded me of my childhood, that brief unique late 50's-early 60's window of Americana that I'd forgotten how precious it was until Gentle's Holler reminded me all over again. Even if you have never lived/visited the tucked-away corners of Appalachia where the book takes place, you will easily be transported there. A great book for readers of all ages, and great for families to enjoy together. Publisher wisely has released the book in time for summer vacations!

It's well worth getting to know Livy II, her parents and her eight (!) living siblings. That Livy's story is shadowed by her ninth sibling, Olivia, or Livy I, and Gentle, her little hard of seeing sister, signals the quirkiness of Kerry Madden's writing.
This is a tale of the rural poor in North Carolina in the 1960's, but all kids can relate to the dreams and foolishness and tragedies of Livy II and her family.
Remarkably, the author has made each and every sibling, as well as the parents and relatives, a distinct character. Your kid is bound to relate to one of them.
This is an especially good story for modern urban kids to take a trip to the country.

randomly picked this book up, and was entranced by it. it's a genuinely funny, touching book that i've bought for the children (both male and female) of a few friends of mine. really strongly recommend!

The Weems family lives in 1960s Appalachia, and their experiences, as related by daughter Livy Two, are vastly different from our modern lives. However Livy Two Weems speaks with a voice as clear as birdsong. She is wise but not a know-it-all; poetic but not precious. Her story is compelling; through hard times her practical good humor serves her, and her readers, well. This is a book that cries to be read out loud -- to a class, a library circle, or at bedtime. Young readers are introduced to issues of poverty, class, artistic impulse, and family devotion in a thought-provoking, but truly gentle, story. I hope we get more books about the hard-working Weems family. Highest recommendation!

Kerry Madden, author of Gentle's Holler, has written a beautiful, humorous and poignant story of a mountain family who knows both poverty and love intimately.

Livy Two Weems is 12-years old and has a desire that is burning a hole in her heart to see the world beyond the North Carolina hills. But she also knows how important family is in the scheme of life. And so what she wants and what she knows - is told in the songs she writes and plays on her guitar.

I am drawn to and fascinated by Livy Two Weems. Although a child, she is wise, ambitious, kind, loving, smart as a whip and talented. And she has a heart as big as the holler where she lives. It is through Livy's eyes that we see the Weems family and live their struggles.

Livy Two's mama is pregnant again, her harsh grandmother has come to visit after neglecting the family for five years, and her daddy is still hanging on to his dream of selling his banjo songs. There are nine children to feed (the tenth, Livy One, died the day she was born) and Livy Two knows that dreams of selling songs doesn't put food on the table.

When a doctor tells the family that one of the children, Gentle, will always be blind, Livy Two decides there has to be a plan to help her. But other tragedies visit the Weems home, and Livy Two may not be able to be the strong girl her family needs.

There are sad and tragic events that take place in this book but love and hope never take a vacation. The characters are rich, real, complex and the kind you want to meet and ask to stay awhile. I loved all of them and didn't want them to leave. Madden's characters know they are poor, but also know that poverty is a situation and not about who they are. They are wonderful proud people who are doing their best.

In our society of conspicuous consumption, wanting it all, dissatisfaction with the small things, we and our children would do well to read this book and take its message to heart. I can only hope that Madden will give us more of Livy Two and her family. It would be sad to just let them go. Their message is far too important.

Kerry Madden tells a beautiful story in "Gentle's Holler." While on the surface it seems a simple story, it unfolds with a quiet power that resonates with the reader. Although it is written for young people, it held this older reader from first word to the last. And I will pass it on to my young friends and family, recommended highly.

In Gentle's Holler Kerry Madden deftly portrays the difficult lives of this family of ten without losing the musical voice of the 12-year-old heroine. As readers see "Livy Two" grow through her new perceptions of her parents, her older siblings and her blind baby sister, they can experience many wondrous complexities of family dynamics. It's a great read in the tradition of Betsy Byars. Readers who enjoy Gentle's Holler might also enjoy Danger, Long Division, in which a modern Maryland latch-key kid discovers that she has what it takes to help her baby brother who has special needs.