Love Me Tender Book

Elvira’s family has never been the warm, fuzzy type. Most of the time, Elvira can’t stand the sight of her little sister, Kerrie. Elvira and her mother, Mel, fight more often than not. Mel hasn’t spoken to her own family in years. And when Mel announces she’s pregnant again, Elvira’s daddy storms off to Las Vegas to enter an Elvis impersonator competition. But when an urgent phone call sends Elivra, Mel, and Kerrie on an unexpected trip to visit Mel’s family, Elvira discovers that love doesn’t always look like it does in television commercials–it can be as simple as a bucket of blueberries, an attic full of memories, or a song. But it’s there all right. You just have to know how to look for it.

Publishers Weekly

Couloumbis's (Getting Near to Baby ) winning, witty portrayal of a slightly neurotic American family encapsulates universal truths about family relationships. The narrator, 13-year-old Elvira, is horrified when her father leaves home after a quarrel, bound for an Elvis impersonation competition in Las Vegas even though Elvira's pregnant mother, Mel, wanted him to stay home. Elvira worries that he won't come back, but her concerns shift when, prompted by a dire phone call, Mel packs up Elvira and her younger sister, Kerrie, and drives everyone off to visit her long-estranged mother in Memphis. (Opening the door at six in the morning to a pregnant Mel arriving unannounced with the granddaughters she's never met, Mel's mother greets them flatly with, "He's left you.") Elvira, getting to know "the grandmother" (as Elvira thinks of her) and Mel's sister, Clare ("pronounced Clare-ree ," advises Elvira, "same accent on both syllables"), has ample opportunity to reflect on families, her own attitudes about being an older sister and daughter, and the origins of family rifts. Tart characterizations, lively dialogue and Elvira's frank narration keep this perceptive novel both credible and buoyant. Ages 8-12. (Apr.)

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