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Dear Hank Williams

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Dear Hank Williams

Paperback(Reprint)

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Paperback(Reprint)
$16.99

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Overview

It's 1948 in Rippling Creek, Louisiana, and Tate P. Ellerbee's new teacher has just given her class an assignment—learning the art of letter-writing. Luckily, Tate has the perfect pen pal in mind: Hank Williams, a country music singer whose star has just begun to rise. Tate and her great-aunt and -uncle listen to him on the radio every Saturday night, and Tate just knows that she and Hank are kindred spirits.

Told entirely through Tate's hopeful letters, Dear Hank Williams is a beautifully drawn novel from National Book Award–winning author Kimberly Willis Holt that gradually unfolds a story of family love, overcoming tragedy, and an insightful girl learning to find her voice. This title has Common Core connections.

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About the Author

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250079787
Publisher:	Square Fish
Publication date:	05/10/2016
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 7.00(h) x 0.70(d)
Lexile:	820L (what's this?)
Age Range:	9 - 12 Years

About the Author

Kimberly Willis Holt is the author of the many award-winning novels for young adults and children, including The Water Seeker, My Louisiana Sky, and When Zachary Beaver Came to Town, winner of a National Book Award for Young People's Literature. She is also the author of the bestselling Piper Reed series of chapter books and several picture books. Holt was born in Pensacola, Florida, and has lived all over the world-from Paris to Norfolk to Guam to New Orleans. She now lives in Texas with her family.

From the B&N Reads Blog

Page 1 of

Editorial Reviews

02/23/2015
When Tate Ellerbee’s teacher tells her class to think about who they might choose for a pen pal assignment, the 11-year-old immediately knows who she will write to: Hank Williams, an up-and-coming country singer she and her guardians, Aunt Patty Cake and Uncle Jolly, listen to each week on a Saturday night radio show, Louisiana Hayride. In letters written over the course of the 1948–49 school year, Tate unspools her life story to Hank, first sharing the lies she’s been telling herself, then reversing course with one hard truth after another. The last big reveal doesn’t quite pack the emotional wallop it might, but Tate is a very entertaining letter writer, and Holt (the Piper Reed series) salts her letters with just enough detail about post-WWII America to make this more than just a story about a girl coming to terms with the bad hand she’s been dealt. A redemptive ending helps redress the balance of a mostly tragic story told in a folksy voice. Ages 9–12. Agent: Amy Berkower, Writers House. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for Dear Hank Williams:
An Amazon Best Book of the Year
A VOYA Perfect Ten
A Wisconsin Reading Association Just One More Page! Master List Selection
A Missouri Mark Twain Award Nominee

“*The strength of this novel lies in the insight Tate develops as she deals with tragedy and depends on the love of family. VERDICT Artfully told, this middle grade novel pleases on many levels.” —Maria LaRocco, Cuyahoga Public Library, Strongsville, OH, School Library Journal, starred review

“With tidbits of history woven throughout and the rich cast of characters, especially an endearing protagonist, Dear Hank Williams is a novel that sings from the heart.” —VOYA, starred review

“Soulful and satisfying.” —Kirkus Reviews

“A heartbreaking revelation at the book's end secures Tate's place as a lovable protagonist, while opening the door to a hopeful future.” —Booklist

“While readers will find plenty to love and to revisit if encountering this novel on their own, the snappy pace, engaging tone, and epistolary format make this an engaging classroom readaloud, with the skillful exposition and the incorporation of historical details providing discussion fodder and potential curricular connection.” —The Bulletin

Praise for:
When Zachary Beaver Came to Town:

Winner of the 1999 National Book Award for Young People's Literature

"This book packs more emotional power than 90% of the so-called grown-up novels taking up precious space on bookshelves around the country."—USA Today

"Holt may not take her readers on wild flights of fantasy, but her quiet novel offers a slice of life that's hard to resist."—The New York Times Book Review

"In her own down-to-earth, people, smart way, Holt offers a gift. . . . It is a lovely—at times even giddy—date with real life."—The Horn Book, starred review

Praise for My Louisiana Sky:

"An unusually auspicious debut."—Publishers Weekly, starred review

"This lyrical first novel brings fresh perspective to the guilt and anger and caring that surround the mentally disabled. All the characters . . . are drawn with warmth but no patronizing reverence."—Booklist, starred review

From the Publisher

★ 03/01/2015
Gr 4–7—The year is 1948, and Tate P. Ellerbee is writing to her favorite singer, Hank Williams, as part of a pen pal assignment at school. Although her letter writing is one-sided, Tate continues to send Hank details of her life. She tells Hank about her actress mother and famous photographer father. Tate lives with her Aunt Patty Cake, who she describes as being like the sun because no matter what happens, she's always there. Her Uncle Jolly is the comic relief, as he has one heartbreak after another in his pursuit of a wife. Holt skillfully uses foreshadowing and the element of surprise in a twist ending. Included are some glimpses into the anti- Japanese and anti-communist feelings after the war. The author also highlights the Louisiana Hayride and Grand Ole Opry shows broadcast on radios throughout the country during that time period. The strength of this novel lies in the insight Tate develops as she deals with tragedy and depends on the love of family. VERDICT Artfully told, this middle grade novel pleases on many levels.—D. Maria LaRocco, Cuyahoga Public Library, Strongsville, OH

School Library Journal

2015-02-03
Tate has gumption, and it's a good thing: She's the only one who has faith in her ability to sing—except for her little brother, Frog, and everyone seems surprised whenever Tate mentions him. Tate explains all this and more in her pen-pal letters to Hank Williams. Her teacher has arranged an exchange of letters with Japanese students, but it's too soon after World War II for Tate's comfort; besides, she and Hank have singing in common. Sassy and observant, Tate also tells him how her parents travel while she lives in a house by a cemetery with her aunt, uncle and Frog. She helps Aunt Patty Cake sell cosmetics—except in Pine Bend where colored folks live, but her aunt won't explain why this is. Writing proves therapeutic, and Tate begins to revise half-truths: She has no idea where her father is, and Momma is in jail. And Tate almost gives up the idea of the talent contest she's had her heart set on entering when her new dog, Lovie, goes missing: She's too sad to sing. It's while searching for Lovie in the cemetery that Tate faces, finally, the lie she's been telling herself about her most sorrowful loss. Real to the period and place, subtle and gently paced, Tate's story is heartbreaking but hopeful; when she sings, Tate remembers the good times. Soulful and satisfying. (Historical fiction. 8-12)

Kirkus Reviews

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