Sylvia & Miz Lula Maye

by Pansie Hart Flood, Felicia Marshall (Illustrator)

Overview

When 10-year-old Sylvia Freeman moves to Wakeview, South Carolina, she's sure that her summer is going to be plain ol' boring—that is until she meets her 99-year-old neighbor, Miz Lula Maye. It's always been just Sylvia and her momma, but as the hot summer days pass, she finds herself heading down the dusty dirt road that runs from her house to Miz Lula Maye's more and more. With Miz Lula Maye, everything is an adventure, whether they're swaying on the porch swing or chasing after missing cats. Then, one day, a stranger comes to town with news about Sylvia's past that changes her life forever. With her world turned upside-down, what can Sylvia do?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781467732079
Publisher:	Lerner Publishing Group
Publication date:	08/01/2013
Series:	Fiction - Middle Grade
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	120
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	10 - 11 Years

About the Author

Felicia Marshall draws on her childhood experiences in rural Texas for her illustrations. Her most recent book, Beautiful Shades of Brown, was an NCSS-CBC Notable Social Studies Trade Book, a Eureka Honor Book, and won the Northern Lights Book Award.

Editorial Reviews

This lumbering first novel takes place during the summer of 1978, when 10-year-old Sylvia moves to rural South Carolina with her mother, who has found a job picking peppers. On her own during the day, the African-American youngster strikes up a friendship with Miz Lula Maye, her 100-year-old neighbor. When the girl's mother, who refuses to discuss their family history with her daughter, asks Sylvia if she really likes "hanging out with that old lady," the girl defensively replies, "What do you mean? What's wrong with being friends with an old lady? She makes me feel alive! We have fun together doin' things and talkin'! I like spendin' time with Miz Lula Maye besides, she doesn't even act old!" Sylvia's first-person narrative frequently sounds forced and becomes burdened with inconsequential details. After eating lunch one day with her elderly friend, for instance, Sylvia helps the woman tend to her cat's broken tail and then lies down to nap, noting, "As I drifted off into a much needed and deserved sleep, my last thought was that I was surprised I hadn't thrown up that delicious ham sandwich." With its sleepy pace and overly neat conclusion (Miz Lula Maye's long-lost grandson reappears and turns out to be Sylvia's father), this will likely hold little interest for most young readers. Ages 8-12. (Feb.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Gr 3-6-When Sylvia Freeman moves with her mother from Florida to South Carolina in 1978, she doesn't know a soul in town. With her mom out working in the pepper fields all day long, the African-American child is on her own and befriends an elderly neighbor. An unlikely best friend for the almost 11-year-old, the 100-year-old woman shares her life and wisdom with the lonely girl, and Sylvia feels special in her presence. The plot thickens when a strange "Mystery Man" arrives and turns out to be her father-and Miz Lula Maye's long-lost grandson. Soon after Sylvia's parents met, her father was drafted and lost touch with her mother when she stopped writing. She never told him about their daughter. When he returned from Vietnam, the disoriented veteran was unable to locate either his sweetheart or the grandmother who had raised him. Now that he's finally back, he and Miz Lula Maye have a touching reunion, though the storybook ending stops there. Ms. Freeman is still not in love with him and the family's future is uncertain. The only sure thing is that Sylvia and Miz Lula remain the best of friends. The protagonist is a spirited, sassy girl with a strong, engaging voice, and the old woman is warm and spunky. Despite the somewhat convoluted plot, this first novel is a satisfying, humorous read.-Barbara Auerbach, New York City Public Schools Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

School Library Journal

A move to the South Carolina countryside brings two unlikely African-American characters together in an ever-deepening friendship that has more consequence than one of them can foretell. Ten-year-old Sylvia Freeman, new to this country road with only three houses, befriends Miz Lula Maye, who is almost 100 years old. Told in Sylvia's first-person voice, the story reveals a burgeoning fondness between the two, as they spend more and more time together. Despite her age, Lula Maye shares the child's sense of vivacity and engagement with life. Sylvia, never the dispassionate observer, offers her editorial comments on everything. Most of this is delightful, but debut novelist Flood sometimes has the girl slip from a little girl's vernacular to a more knowledgeable narrator's voice, with words like "savory," or constructions like "As I drifted off into a much needed and deserved sleep." Meanwhile, the pair's friendship takes an unexpected turn one morning after Sylvia spends the night at Lula's, only to find a strange man staying with her momma. It turns out that blood is thicker than tearful water when all is revealed at church that day. Sylvia's world is temporarily turned upside down, but friendship wins out after all. This story is more complicated than the narrative first suggests and too much must be explained at the end-its abruptness maybe because the momma character has not been developed enough to foreshadow the revelations of the story. Or perhaps, because more of Sylvia's adventures are planned and the author was concentrating too much on introducing the major recurring characters. Marshall's pencil drawings dramatically complement this pivotal moment in a young girl's life.(Fiction. 8-10)

Kirkus Reviews