My guest reviewer friend has graciously agreed to post another review on Bookworm Lisa. Thanks Whitney!
With a Name Like Love by Tess Hilmo
Age recommendation: Middle Grade
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Description from Amazon: One of School Library Journal’s Best Fiction Books of 2011
When Ollie’s daddy, the Reverend Everlasting Love, pulls their travel trailer into Binder to lead a three-day revival, Ollie knows that this town will be like all the others they visit— it is exactly the kind of nothing Ollie has come to expect. But on their first day in town, Ollie meets Jimmy Koppel, whose mother is in jail for murdering his father. Jimmy insists that his mother is innocent, and Ollie believes him. Still, even if Ollie convinces her daddy to stay in town, how can two kids free a grown woman who has signed a confession? Ollie’s longing for a friend and her daddy’s penchant for searching out lost souls prove to be a formidable force in this tiny town where everyone seems bent on judging and jailing without a trial.
Whitney's Thougts: In addition to its other accolades, this book also won Best Novel by a New Author and Best Youth General Fiction in the 2011 Whitney awards. If you liked To Kill a Mockingbird, you’ll love With a Name Like Love. In fact, the book reads like a tribute to Harper Lee’s masterpiece. You have your close-minded southern town; your wise, nonconformist father; your winsome, plucky young heroine desperate for both justice and mercy; your obviously unjust accusation; and your heart-warming and surprising ending that changes the world as these people know it just a titch. I especially enjoyed the addition to the formula of Jimmy, the boy who gently and tenderly collects frogs. Maybe a few degrees too sweet for me (I’ve never met children as lovely as Ollie and her sisters), but if you’re not a heartless old cynic like me, you’ll love it.
In October 2011 Tess Hilmo did a guest post on this blog. Please click on this link to see it! http://lisaisabookworm.blogspot.com/2011/10/guest-post-tess-hilmo-author-of-with.html
Great review Whitney. To Kill a Mockingbird was/ is one of my favorite books and your review has me adding this to my list!
ReplyDeletewow, this sounds so good! i hadn't seen it before, thank you for sharing.
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