Reviews for Belle Prater's Boy

The average rating for Belle Prater's Boy based on 2 reviews is 5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2010-06-15 00:00:00 Maria Martinez I ripped right through this fantastic book. Belle Prater is the aunt of the narrator, a pretty sixth-grader named Gypsy Arbutus Leemaster. Belle's son Woodrow is her seemingly ungainly and cross-eyed cousin. Apparently abandoned by his mother, who has mysteriously disappeared from "way far in the head of a long, isolated holler," Woodrow comes to live with the cousins' grandparents, residents of the tony part of Coal Station, Virginia. They live right next to Gypsy and her mother and step-father. Woodrow is such a surprising and endearing character, one of the best I've come across in children's books. And Gypsy has her own unexpected aspects as well. I really liked it that although we learn what happened to her father (needed a hankie there), other mysteries are left unresolved. Plus I'm a sucker for that time. It was my childhood, too. The references to politics and culture, and in particular, the music--"Tramp on the Street," "When the Moon Comes Over the Mountain," "Oh My Pa-Pa," "Wings of a Dove" (oh how I love that song), even Dinah Shore singing "See the U.S.A. in a Chevrolet"--really resonated with me. Those allusions to a time gone by are just bonuses to a rich tale full of magic and emotion, a tale where the poetry of Rumi is as important an underpinning as the lyrics to a Ferlin Husky song. Highly recommended

Review # 2 was written on 2019-12-21 00:00:00 Kemal Ersin Yilmaz This is a good book for older children dealing with loss in their lives. I won't say anymore because I don't want to spoil it.