Belle Prater's Boy: (Newbery Honor Book)

by Ruth White

Overview

Around 5:00 a.m. on a warm Sunday morning on October 1953, my Aunt Belle left her bed and vanished from the face of the earth.

Everyone in Coal Station, Virginia, has a theory about what happened to Belle Prater, but twelve-year-old Gypsy wants the facts, and when her cousin Woodrow, Aunt Belle's son moves next door, she has her chance. Woodrow isn't as forthcoming as Gypsy hopes, yet he becomes more than just a curiosity to her— during their sixth-grade year she finds that they have enough in common to be best friends. Even so, Gypsy is puzzled by Woodrow's calm acceptance of his mother's disappearance, especially since she herself has never gotten over her father's death. When Woodrow finally reveals that he's been keeping a secret about his mother, Gypsy begins to understand that there are different ways of finding the strength to face the truth, no matter how painful it is.

Belle Prater's Boy is a 1996 Boston Globe - Horn Book Awards Honor Book for Fiction and a 1997 Newbery Honor Book.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250005601
Publisher:	Square Fish
Publication date:	05/22/2012
Series:	Belle Prater , #1
Pages:	224
Sales rank:	491,479
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 7.46(h) x 0.62(d)
Lexile:	760L (what's this?)
Age Range:	10 - 14 Years

About the Author

Ruth White is the author of Sweet Creek Holler, an ALA Notable Book, and Weeping Willow, an ALA Best Book for Young Adults. She lives in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Editorial Reviews

Gypsy, the 12-year-old narrator, is all excited when her cousin Woodrow moves in with their grandparents next door—Woodrow's mother . . . has disappeared without a trace, and Gypsy hopes that Woodrow will divulge some new clues. Instead, she gets a best friend. . . . White creates vivacious, memorable characters.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review

“An admirable, stirring book.” —The New York Times Book Review

From the Publisher

PW gave a starred review to this Newbery Honor book about the friendship between a sorrowing 12-year-old girl and an unusual boy in 1950s Western Virginia: "so fresh that readers can practically smell the lilacs and the blossoming fruit trees." Ages 10-up. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Gr 5-8-This Newbery Honor winner tells a story by 12-year-old Gypsy. Everyone in Coal Station, Virginia, has a theory about what happened to Belle Prater, but Gypsy wants the facts. When her cousin Woodrow, Aunt Belle's son, moves next door, she has her chance.

School Library Journal

Woodrow Prater and his cousin, Gypsy, help each other discover the truth about their families while strengthening their own bond of friendship. With a delicate, smooth Southern accent, Elliott reads the parts as a gifted storyteller might perform them. She doesn’t individualize voices for each character, but instead becomes a conduit for the story, shaping the words and feelings into thoughts that flow into the listener. Elliott’s gently haunting voice appropriately conveys the sense of loss the characters feel and their acceptance of past events. P.A.J. ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine

AUG/SEP 98 - AudioFile