The plot was great! I was hooked and finished it quickly. It lost me a little in its depiction of rural poverty. There were nuanced bits and cartoonish bits. And when I actually got to the end I was a tad confused. Overall a pretty good reading experience but I have a feeling it wouldn’t hold up well under closer scrutiny. ( )

"There isn’t much of anything but crushing poverty in the holler, making hope hard to sustain.

Wavie hasn’t even left the cemetery where her mother’s funeral was held before a stranger, her ignorant and mean aunt, Samantha Rose, shows up to take the grieving 12-year-old back to the family home in Conley Holler. That house, “a whole new level of despair,” turns out to be more hovel than home, part of the reason Wavie’s mom turned her back on it years ago. It’s quickly obvious that Samantha’s interest is motivated by Wavie’s Social Security check—not affection or family ties. Befriended by resilient neighbor kids Gilbert and Camille, Wavie eventually finds a way to achieve the good life that her mom promised her she deserved. Wavie has a delightfully memorable first-person voice that includes pithy observations, such as “If the [war on poverty] was over, my new neighborhood was proof we’d lost.” She’s so engaged with the people around her that her perceptions breathe full life into a range of characters, from the school principal who high-fives students (while secretly checking for lice) to an elderly, confused ex-lawyer grieving for his beloved lost son. Camille and her Mexican-American family are some of the few people of color in this mostly white, not universally welcoming Kentucky community. If things work out a bit too well for real life, this glimpse of happiness can be forgiven.

A moving and richly engaging tale of despair and redemption. (Fiction. 10-14)

Recommended Ages: Gr. 4-7 (maybe 5-7)

Plot Summary: Wavie just buried her beloved mother and has become an orphan who doesn't know where she will end up. On the way out of the funeral, Samantha Rose shows up and claims she is her aunt and will take her to her trailer park to care for her. Samantha Rose is only after the money the state will pay her to take in Wavie and she makes Wavie clean her extremely messy house and yard. But Wavie finds a way to hold herself together, do what Samantha Rose asks, and still explore the woods near her new home. She finds a local cemetery and starts to clean it up, hoping that someone is doing the same to her mother's grave. She makes friends with Gilbert and Camille who help Wavie as she discovered her mother gave her up for adoption for 8 days after she was born, and her adoptive parents still send money twice a year during her birthday and Christmas. What does that mean? If she was meant to be adopted, she never would have known her mom. Will she have to stay in this impoverished trailer park with Samantha Rose forever?

Setting: trailer parks, Applalacia

Characters:
Wavie Boncil Conley - brave and strong, does an amazing job of moving on while still mourning
Ronelda May Conley - Wavie's mama, died of cancer
Hannah - Wavie's friend
Mrs. Chipman - social worker in charge of Wavie's case
Samantha Rose - Wavie's aunt
Gilbert - Wavie's new friend, lives with his Grandma, asks friends and neighbors for water to clean himself
Camille - extremely smart girl living in Conley Holler, her parents own the Hispanic restaurant in town, don't have much more money than the others but they do share food, even meat, with their guests and neighbors
Frank and Beans - brothers who live in Conley Holler, can't read
Angel Davis - old man that lives in the woods, doesn't keep himself clean and mumbles to himself, used to be a lawyer
Uncle Philson - Samantha Rose's brother, disabled but not explained, stays in the house all the time, talks rarely but well

Recurring Themes: socioeconomic status, intelligence, achievement, friendship, love, caring for others, loss, gardening, poverty

Controversial Issues: none, but a somewhat sophisticated plot

Personal Thoughts: Very well written. Great first line: "An actual clown conducted my mama's funeral." This author did an amazing job of showing (not telling) us the love that Wavie and her mama had for each other, as well as the relationships between many other people. The way the ending wrapped up may be a little confusing and younger kids may need some clarification. This would be a great book for a parent child book chat.

Genre: realistic fiction

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HOPE IN THE HOLLER by Lisa Lewis Tyre
This delightful middle grade novel features a plucky 5th grader who has just lost her mother to cancer. Wavie is sent to live in a tiny Appalachian hamlet with an aunt she didn’t know existed. Wavie acts and speaks like a real 5th grader. So, too, do the other young people in her new town. Her aunt, Samantha Rose, is a horror and her cousin isn’t much better. An uncle and a weird old man make up the rest of the main characters in this lively novel.
A mystery and secrets lead to the plot which moves along quickly. Middle graders will love this book that emphasizes honesty, pluck, determination, kindness, friendship and bravery. This would be a good book for a parent/child book club or an all student book group. Even boys would like it as there are several interesting boy characters in the plot.
5 of 5 stars ( )