LOVE, RUBY LAVENDER

Good garden of peas! It’s hard to imagine a better book for audio narration than this charming, funny, and deeply touching novel of life in the small town of Halleluia, Mississippi. Think kidnapped chickens! Think Yoo-Hoo and pink muumuus! Think handmade quilts, letters tucked into the root tangle of a silver maple tree, and the deep love between a granddaughter--9-year-old Ruby L--and her widowed grandmother--Miss Eula. Judith Ivey’s long, leisurely vowels are filled with the sultriness of summer, the longing for connection, the generations-old belief that life does go on, even after a tragic loss. Ivey, Bemmie, and Bess will squawk at you. Miss Mattie will scold you sternly. Aunt Tot will bless your heart. Miss Eula will cajole you with the hoarse voice of reason. And Ruby herself will charm you with her brash enthusiasm and down-home sincerity. There’s more fun and feeling here than you can shake a stick at! T.B. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award, 2003 ALA Notable Recording © AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine [Published: OCT/ NOV 02]