Author Historical Fiction
HEALING WATER (Spring 2008)
BLUE (2006)-See the review
here.
BEST FRIENDS FOREVER (1995)
Twelve year-old Livy Two lives a hardscrabble yet gentle existence. It’s gentle, because her large mostly happy family lives in slow-paced, beautiful Maggie Valley, NC. It’s hard, because Daddy doesn’t work a regular job. Daddy is a musician with a song in his pocket, a banjo in hand, and a plan to make it big one day. Since Livy Two writes lyrics also, she believes in her daddy’s dreams. And she has dreams of her own.
“…I want to see the world beyond the Smokies and I aim to bring my guitar with me when I do.
One day, I’d like to stroll along the Great Wall of China, ride me a camel in Egypt , swim in the Ganges River way over in India , and sip a cup of tea with the queen of England .”
Livy also dreams of helping her sister Gentle (whose eyes don’t work right) to learn Braille. Otherwise they might send Gentle to the school for the blind over in Raleigh . So with the help of the lady from the lending library truck, Livy Two gets a Braille book and begins to learn. Keeping the family together is a high priority for her!
But Daddy comes and goes on his quest to make it big. Mama is weary of his search for fame. She just wants him to feed his family. Grandma Horace with her glass eye (actually, a collection of them in different colors which she wears according to her mood) moves in to help out. And she’s is not the kind of grandmother who makes you feel better because she has arrived.
To make things worse Livy’s brother, Emmett gets fed up with daddy’s dreams and takes off for Ghost Town in the Sky to earn some money. Then tragedy strikes at another level, rearranging the family’s future even more dramatically.
And also leaving room for a sequel.
Fortunately,
Gentle’s Holler (2005) is just the first in a trilogy that takes place during the 1960’s.
Louisiana’s Song (2007) and
Jessie’s Mountain (2008) continue the Weem’s family story. Author Kerry Madden infuses her stories with love of family and an at-home feeling for the Smoky Mountains . These books are populated with distinctive and quirky characters, unforgettable names, and much warmth. They are wholesome, funny, and heartwarming!
Visit Kerry on the web at
http://www.kerrymadden.com/
Review by Joyce Moyer Hostetter
http://www.joycemoyerhostetter.com/http://www.joycemoyerhostetter.blogspot.com/Zoe Elias fantasizes about playing the piano – in Carnegie Hall.
The problem is - she does not have a piano.
There are other things she doesn’t have. Like a mother who has time for her or a father who can function in the real world. Or even a best friend, now that Emma Dent ditched her for Joella Tinstella.
But then, suddenly she has an organ (whether she wanted it or not), and organ lessons, and a wacky instructor. She also has a new friend – well not a friend, exactly. Just Wheeler Diggs who one day, follows Zoe home from school to get cookies baked by her dad. Somehow Wheeler and Zoe’s dad seem to hit it off which only adds to Zoe’s feeling of alienation.
So there are things that Zoe longs for and things that she feels stuck with. Somehow she has to find a way to deal with this less than perfect life of hers.
A Crooked Kind of Perfect is both funny and heartbreaking. It is populated with wacky characters that readers care about and is told in such a simple spare manner that one could almost miss how profound it really is!
Review by Becky Laney, frequent contributor
I read this book initially for Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-thon. Now, less than a week later, I have reread this little gem of a book. It's a book that I would describe as practically perfect in every way. (I don't know if Linda Urban would want me to stress the near-perfect part since the message of the book seems to be that nobody can be perfect, that life isn't perfect. But even the message seems perfect to me.) Our heroine, Zoe Elias, is ten-going-on eleven. She has one dream--a very big dream. She wants to play the piano. In what could be one of the best openings of all times we read about "How It Was Supposed To Be" versus "How It Is."
I was supposed to play the piano.
The piano is a beautiful instrument.
Elegant.
Dignified.
People wear ball gowns and tuxedos to hear the piano.
With the piano, you could play Carnegie Hall. You could wear a tiara. you could come out on stage wearing gloves up to your elbows. You could pull them off, one finger at a time.
Everybody is quiet when you are about to play the piano. They don't even breathe. They wait for the first notes.
They wait.
They wait.
And then you lift your hands high above your head and slam them down on the keys and the first notes come crashing out and your fingers fly up and down and your foot--in its tiny slipper with rubies at the toe--your foot peeks out from under your gown to press lightly on the pedals.
A piano is glamorous. Sophisticated. Worldly.
It is a wonderful thing to play the piano.
The next chapter...Zoe's reality...
I play the organ.
A wood-grained, vinyl-seated, wheeze-bag organ.
The Perfectone D-60.
That's it. The entire second chapter. What a statement! But I better watch my exclamation points in this review, just in case Zoe (or her creator) is reading. Zoe really doesn't like the excessive and unnecessary use of exclamation points.
Zoe's life isn't perfect. She wants to play piano, but she's stuck with the Perfectone D-60. She wants to be playing real music. She's stuck with beginning level songbooks like Television Theme songs and Hits from the Seventies. And her social life? Well, she's been recently dumped by her best friend because her friend's interests are changing--lip gloss, tv, music, clothes, and boys. That leaves Zoe with no one to sit with at lunch, doesn't it?
Enter Wheeler.
Usually, Wheeler Diggs is a mess.
Except his hair.
On anybody else, his curly hair might look goofy, but on Wheeler Diggs it looks just the right kind of wild. And it's dark, which makes his blue eyes look even brighter. And his smile, which is kind of lopsided, looks like he's trying not to smile, but he can't help it.
Which is why, sometimes, every once in a while, somebody will smile back. And sometimes, most of the time, those people will get punched in the stomach. Which is why even the kids who sit with him at lunch are a little bit scared of him and why, really, Wheeler Diggs doesn't have a best friend, either. (58-59)
Wheeler and Zoe are the unlikeliest of friends. But when he follows her home from school one day--to get his hands on some more of her dad's cookies--it's the beginning of an odd but satisfying friendship. Though Zoe doesn't admit this for the longest time. In this book, the reader sees if practice really does make perfect. . .and if wishes really can come true.
The characters, the relationships are about as perfect as can be. I've never seen family dynamics so well captured, so well displayed. Linda Urban has created memorable, authentic characters. The book has it all--moments of happiness, frustration, disappointment, loneliness, and joy. And plenty of humor!
It kind of goes without saying, but for the record...this is one that I love, love, loved!
Linda Urban's website is great too! (I better watch those exclamations.) You can find the recipe for
Bada-Bings cookies. You can read her thoughts on writing '
the perfect' book. (She writes in part that: "There is no perfect book. But there is a novel to be written that is perfectly you.")
And of course, you can find out more about Linda Urban on her
bio page. She also has a
livejournal page where you can read her latest thoughts.
Review by Joyce Moyer Hostetter
http://www.joycemoyerhostetter.com/The Wonder Kid is one that I like to recommend when I speak to school groups about polio. It’s a lovely little book. Such a great size and so kid friendly with its comic strip feel. It is the story of Jesse MacLean who faced some serious life changing things one summer. As Jesse puts it:
Summer is when you’re supposed to have all sorts of fun, like one long recess…
Well, 1954, when Gramps moved in with us, was the summer of no fun—and it was all because of polio.
1954 was also the year that Jonas Salk conducted his field trial for the polio vaccine and one year later he announced the vaccine’s success. Meanwhile parents were deathly afraid for their children’s health and Jesse’s mom was no exception. So she kept him in the house as much as possible – no swimming whatsoever and only one trip alone to the picture show. Jesse spent his time drawing, visiting with his Gramps, and imagining himself strong like Charles Atlas.
Then grief strikes Jesse and polio does too. He feels weaker than ever. But in some ways he is just finding his own strength.
This story is about much more than polio. It is about relationships and how they carry us through difficult times, how the smallest things we say have a lasting impact on others, and how people who seem really tough on the outside may actually feel as vulnerable as we do on the inside.
Jesse shares this story in first person. His voice is “easy listening” – not in the relaxing sense of the word; there are some disturbing things in his story. But he shares them with humor and honesty and the reader cares about him right away.
The author note at the end is a really good overview of polio history.
Oh, and I loved this word of wisdom from Jesse MacLean:
Sometimes when a mean thought goes through your head, it’s better to zip your mouth closed.
