MOVING MAMA TO TOWN

by Ronder Thomas Young ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 1997

From Young (Learning By Heart, 1993), the credible, often tender story of Freddy James Johnson, 13, who takes on the responsibility of holding his family together when his daddy, Big Kenny, runs off. Freddy's first step is to move his mother and his little brother, Kenneth Lee, off their hardscrabble farm and into town where he takes a 45Ý-an-hour job at Fenton Calhoun's saloon, performing back-breaking chores. The town doyenne, Miss Precious Doolittle, likes Freddy's gumption and rents part of one of her houses to his family. The farm is sold to pay Big Kenny's gambling debts and the Johnsons start to understand that their new life is permanent. When a former farmhand, Custis Fulbright, offers to drive the family to Charleston to visit Mama's parents, Freddy--disliking Custis's too-familiar ways--refuses to go; Mama and Kenneth Lee join Custis and she subsequently dies in a car accident. As a picture of small-town Southern life in 1947, the book is fascinating; Young evokes the sights, sounds, and scents of the place and gives each scene immediacy. Every character is perfectly drawn, with the exception of Mama: Her haste in taking up with Custis is full of contradictions; her death makes all of Freddy's efforts to hold the family together abruptly moot. Still, this is a fine novel, informed by its protagonist's clear sense of right and wrong, and a work ethic that assures his future success.

Pub Date: April 1, 1997

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 219

Publisher: Orchard

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1997

Categories: CHILDREN'S