My Louisiana sky

Format:

Book

Title:

My Louisiana sky

Author:

Holt, Kimberly Willis author

ISBN:

9780805052510

9780440415701

9780312660956

Edition:

First edition.

Publication:

New York : Henry Holt and Company, [1998]

Physical Description:

200 pages ; 22 cm

Summary:

Growing up in Saitter, Louisiana, in the 1950s, twelve-year-old Tiger Ann struggles with her feelings about her stern, but loving grandmother, her mentally slow parents, and her good friend and neighbor, Jesse.

Reading Level:

Middle School.

Program Information:

Accelerated Reader 4.6.

Reading Counts! 5.9.

Subject(s):

Parent and child -- Juvenile fiction.

Grandmothers -- Juvenile fiction.

Parents with mental disabilities -- Juvenile fiction.

Friendship -- Juvenile fiction.

Intellectual disability -- Juvenile fiction.

Children's stories, American -- 20th century.

Parent and child -- Fiction.

Grandmothers -- Fiction.

People with mental disabilities -- Fiction.

Friendship -- Fiction.

Louisiana -- Juvenile fiction.

Geographic Term:

Louisiana -- Juvenile fiction.

Genre:

Holds:

Available:*

Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Stayton Public Library	JF HOLT	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Amity Public Library	TEEN FIC HOLT	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Library	YA FIC HOL	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

Tiger Ann Parker wants nothing more than to get out of the rural town of Saitter, Louisiana--far away from her mentally disabled mother, her "slow" father who can't read an electric bill, and her classmates who taunt her. So when Aunt Dorie Kay asks Tiger to sp the summer with her in Baton Rouge, Tiger can't wait to go. But before she leaves, the sudden revelation of a dark family secret prompts Tiger to make a decision that will ultimately change her life.

Set in the South in the late 1950s, this coming-of-age novel explores a twelve-year-old girl's struggle to accept her grandmother's death, her mentally deficient parents, and the changing world around her. It is a novel filled with beautiful language and unforgettable characters, and the importance of family and home.

My Louisiana Sky is a 1998 Boston Globe - Horn Book Award Honor Book for Fiction.

Author Notes

Kimberly Willis Holt was born in Pensacola, Florida September 9, 1960, but spent most of her childhood in Forest Hill, Louisiana.

Kimberly is a children's writer, most famous for writing When Zachary Beaver Came to Town, which won the National Book Award for Young People's Literature in 1999.

She has also won, or been shortlisted, for a number of prestigious awards: Mister and Me, My Louisiana Sky, Dancing in Cadillac Light, Keeper of the Night, Waiting for Gregory, Part of Me, Skinny Brown Dog, Piper Reed Navy Brat, Piper Reed the Great Gypsy, and Piper Reed Gets a Job.

Kimberly lives in Amarillo, Texas.

(Bowker Author Biography)

Reviews (5)

School Library Journal Review

Gr 4-9-Set in the South in the late 1950s, this coming-of-age story explores a 12-year-old girl's struggle to accept her grandmother's death, her mentally deficient parents, and the changing world around her. By Kimberly Willis Holt. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publisher's Weekly Review

In this poignant adaptation of Holt's debut novel, actress Ivey's natural Southern twang goes down as smooth as "Momma's extra-sweet lemondade." Twelve-year-old Tiger Ann Parker finds herself going through some momentous changes in the summer following sixth grade. Though she fiercely loves and defends her parents--both of whom are mentally disabled, or "slow," as Tiger prefers--Tiger harbors guilt about sometimes feeling embarrassed by Momma and Daddy. She's also torn between playing baseball with her best pal, Jesse Wade, and sitting on the sidelines with the girls in pretty dresses. Luckily, she has her loving, pragmatic Granny at home to help her sort through the confusion. But when Granny suddenly dies from a snake bite, Tiger's world turns upside down. In the weeks following Granny's death, Tiger discovers how truly special her parents are and that she could never leave them or their tiny rural hometown of Saitter, La. Set in the 1950s, Holt's story evokes an era on the cusp of technological and social change, when life was mostly simple, though larger problems like racial inequality loomed. Ivey portrays Tiger with the perfect mix of innocence and a sense of blossoming wisdom. Ivey's other characterizations call on a range of colorful, though never overly affected, Southern cadences and inflections. Ages 9-up. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Horn Book Review

Eleven-year-old Tiger Ann Parker wishes her parents would be more like Aunt Dorie Kay, who has a fancy job in Baton Rouge. But Tiger's parents are different--some say retarded. After her caretaking grandmother dies, Tiger moves in with her aunt, but begins to miss her parents' ways that, while not glamorous or book-smart, root her to home and to herself. Holt never resorts to over-dramatization or sentimentality in developing her uncannily credible characters. From HORN BOOK Fall 1998, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Kirkus Review

In her first YA novel, Holt gives a fresh theme sensitive and deliberate treatment: The bright child of ``slow'' parents comes to terms with her family's place in the community. Tiger Ann Parker is smart; she's gotten straight A's and won the spelling bee five years in a row. People in her rural 1950s Louisiana community can't figure out where she got her brains, because everyone knows that her parents, are mentally challenged. Her mother has the capabilities of a six-year-old, while her father, a good steady worker at the nursery down the road, can't manage writing or simple math. Tiger loves her parents, but as she enters middle school she becomes increasingly aware that she's socially ostracized by her classmates; her affection for her family becomes mixed with shame and anger at their differences. When Tiger's loving grandmother, who has always run the household, has a fatal heart attack, Tiger is invited to live with her glamorous Aunt Doreen in Baton Rouge. Tempted to move away and reinvent herself, Tiger ultimately comes to appreciate her parents' strengths and her own as well. Tiger, with her warring feelings, is a believable and likable narrator, and while the offerings of big-city living are too patly rejected, a well-developed setting and fully-realized characters make this an unusually strong coming-of-age story. (Fiction. 10-14)

Booklist Review

Gr. 6^-9. This lyrical novel, set in central Louisiana in the 1950s, brings fresh perspective to the guilt and anger and caring that surround the mentally disabled as it focuses on 12-year-old Tiger Ann and the love mixed with shame that she feels for her "retarded" parents.