Module 7: My Louisiana Sky

Bibliography
Holt, K. (1998). My Louisiana Sky.
New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company.
Summary
Tiger, the protagonist of My Louisiana sky, faces what many young people face in life.  The feeling that they are different and not accepted because their family is different.  Tiger's mother and father are mentally challenged, a fact that constantly bothers her and makes her feel alienated from her peers. The story follows Tiger as she deals with ridicule and rejection because her parents are different, but also reveals her friendship with Jesse Wade and support from her grandmother and aunt.  Tiger's grandmother is the strong member of the family, but when she suddenly dies Tiger turns to her mother's sister to rescue her from Saitter.  After moving away from her parents and into the city with her aunt, Tiger learns that her mother was not born with a disability, but suffered a life changing accident as a child.  Tiger decides to return to her hometown to help her mother and daddy and realizes the true friendship she has in Jesse Wade.
My Impression
This was one of my favorite reads.  The plot contains such a relevant theme of young people-that of being rejected for being different.  Holt had a way of drawing me into the plot and feelings of Tiger, her mother, Granny, and even her Aunt Dorie Kay.
Review
Horn Book Magazine

"For eleven-year-old Tiger Ann Parker, Saitter, Louisiana, is not only the place where she has lived her whole life with Momma and Daddy and Granny, but also a place where some people think that her "Momma and Daddy should have never been allowed to get married because they're different" — or "retarded." Momma giggles and coos in front of the new rabbit-eared television from morning 'til night ("It's Howdy Doody time…") and Daddy can't even do simple math. Granny, the backbone of the household and an integral source of strength for Tiger, tells her, "People are afraid of what's different. That don't mean different is bad. Just means different is different." But for Tiger, "different" has become just plain embarrassing. Why can't her parents be more like Aunt Dorie Kay, Momma's younger sister, who wears high-heels and make-up and has a fancy job in Baton Rouge? When the death of her grandmother presents Tiger with the opportunity to move with Dorie Kay to Baton Rouge, even in her grief she can hardly leave Saitter fast enough. But after cutting her hair a la Audrey Hepburn and going by "Ann" for a while, Tiger begins to see the ways of her parents that, while not glamorous or book-smart, root her to home and to herself. Holt's languid storytelling style is as unhurried as a Louisiana summer, a soft steady breeze turning the pages. She exercises unusual restraint for a first-time novelist as she eases the action along with a low-key, unpretentious plot, never resorting to over-dramatization or sentimentality in developing her uncannily credible characters. So honest is Holt's portrayal of Tiger, Momma, Daddy, Granny, and the rest that one wonders if she wrote their story while sitting in a rocker on a Saitter front porch, under the vast promises of a Louisiana sky."
Use in Library
Great book for discussion of feelings for pre and young teens. This book could be read aloud to classes, or if it is read in the classroom, the library would provide time for extensions of discussion of what makes people reject others.  Librarian could list suggestions by classes as to how campus can be known as tolerant for those facing hardships.
Review. (1998, July/August). [Review of the book My Louisiana sky, by Kimberly Willis Holt]. Horn Book Magazine. Available from:  http://libproxy.library.unt.edu:2104/ehost/detail?vid=7&hid=17&sid=70c5da72-abd1-4cfd-a56f-58b3945173c9%40sessionmgr4&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=a9h&AN=856875

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