LCE 6th Grade Electronic Book Review

1. Student Reviewer’s Name: Mary P.
2. Date of review of book: February, 2008
3. Complete Book Title: Gentle’s Holler
4. Author of Book: Kerry Madden
5. Year the book was published: 2005
6. Genre: Realistic Fiction
7. Student rating of the book (1 the highest, 5 the lowest): 2

8. Main conflict in the book: Livy Two’s, short for Olivia Hyatt Weems, family is short on money. Without a job for daddy, there’s not much food, clothes, and furniture to go around. Things become even worse when Gentle becomes blind and soon Emmett, the oldest, runs away. Now daddy is in a coma and can’t even try to find a job again.

9. Setting of the book: (place and time): The setting is in Maggie Valley in 1943 and Livy Two’s family lives in a Holler.

10. Main Characters and part they play in the book:
(1) Livy Two is a twelve year old girl who wants to visit exotic places. She tries to help her young blind sister to try and read braille and tries to teach her dog, Uncle Hazard, how to be a Seeing Eye dog.
(2) Gentle is a blind four year old girl who needs her family to help her walk around the yard. Gentle helps Livy Two to be strong and brave when dad is in a coma and Emmett runs away to ghost town in the sky to find a job.

11. Are the characters believable and interesting? The characters are very interesting, especially Gentle. Since Gentle is blind it is fun to see what problems she faces.

12. One excellent direct quotation from the book: (include who said it, page number, and use
quotation marks!) “I started calling for her, and Mama bolts out of the house, all the blood drained from her face. ‘I told you to watch her, Livy Two. You promised me!’ ‘ I was watching her,’ I cry, and then we all take off, calling, ‘ Gentle, Gentle!’” (pg.76) Gentle has just become lost and Mama is yelling at Livy Two because she wasn’t watching her.

13. Good reasons to read the book: A good reason to read this book is so you can learn about a poor family who lives in a Holler.

14. Any reasons not to read the book? If you like books with action, then Gentle’s Holler is not for you. That is the only reason I can think of to not read this book.

15. Did you like this book or not? And why…. I liked this book because it was a fun story about Livy Two’s family problems and the troubles she faces in the Holler. This is the first book in a series of four.