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Kimberly Willis Holt

Autor(a) de When Zachary Beaver Came to Town

22+ Works 5,503 Membros 324 Críticas 1 Favorited

About the Author

Kimberly Willis Holt was born in Pensacola, Florida September 9, 1960, but spent most of her childhood in Forest Hill, Louisiana. Kimberly is a children's writer, most famous for writing When Zachary Beaver Came to Town, which won the National Book Award for Young People's Literature in 1999. She mostrar mais has also won, or been shortlisted, for a number of prestigious awards: Mister and Me, My Louisiana Sky, Dancing in Cadillac Light, Keeper of the Night, Waiting for Gregory, Part of Me, Skinny Brown Dog, Piper Reed Navy Brat, Piper Reed the Great Gypsy, and Piper Reed Gets a Job. Kimberly lives in Amarillo, Texas. (Bowker Author Biography) mostrar menos

Séries

Obras por Kimberly Willis Holt

When Zachary Beaver Came to Town (1999) 1,908 exemplares
Piper Reed: Navy Brat (2007) 895 exemplares
My Louisiana Sky (1998) 770 exemplares
Mister and Me (1998) 497 exemplares
Dancing In Cadillac Light (2001) 256 exemplares
The Water Seeker (2010) 191 exemplares
Keeper of the Night (2003) 166 exemplares
Piper Reed, Clubhouse Queen (2008) 121 exemplares
Dear Hank Williams (2015) 99 exemplares
Piper Reed Gets a Job (2009) 69 exemplares
Piper Reed, Campfire Girl (2010) 66 exemplares
Skinny Brown Dog (2007) 50 exemplares
Waiting for Gregory (2006) 43 exemplares
Piper Reed, Forever Friend (2012) 37 exemplares
The Ambassador of Nowhere Texas (2021) 22 exemplares
Piper Reed, Rodeo Star (2011) 19 exemplares
Dinner with the Highbrows (2014) 18 exemplares
The Lost Boy's Gift (2019) 16 exemplares
The Hurricane Girls (2023) 11 exemplares

Associated Works

Destination Unexpected: Short Stories (2003) — Contribuidor — 77 exemplares

Etiquetado

Conhecimento Comum

Membros

Críticas

Gorgeous! Epic! Transporting!

One of my librarian colleagues took this book out of the running for our Mock Newbery early (back when the title was "The Dowser's Son") because of a couple lines right at the book's opening: "...he'd not been with a woman in a long time. Without thinking he said, 'Well, I reckon I could marry you.'" Out of context, I can see how this might make the book seem too mature for the Newbery age range (up to and including 14-year-olds). But I think this is a [b:Higher Power of Lucky|62151|The Higher Power of Lucky (The Hard Pan Trilogy, #1)|Susan Patron|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1399772267s/62151.jpg|60390] scrotum-esque fallacy. Adolescents are not necessarily going to read "been with a woman" as "had sex with a woman" so they won't necessarily go so far as to read that line as, "he was horny," which is how most adults would read it. Just like how kids aren't scandalized by reading the world "scrotum." Which is to say, I'm going to argue that this should totally be included in our Mock Newbery. In fact, it just jumped to the top of my list.

Now back to the actual book. I would put The Water Seeker in a class with [b:Anne of Green Gables|8127|Anne of Green Gables (Anne of Green Gables, #1)|L.M. Montgomery|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1390789015s/8127.jpg|3464264] and [b:Sarah Plain and Tall|106264|Sarah, Plain and Tall (Sarah, Plain and Tall, #1)|Patricia MacLachlan|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327254558s/106264.jpg|2674739], i.e. excellent historical fiction about families and communities. They have drama, humor, and the fascinating details of an earlier time in history. They're beautifully written. The characters seems real enough to touch.

This story's hero is Amos Kincaid. Amos is born in 1833. His father is a beaver trapper, but he also has a special talent passed down to him from generations of Kincaids: he can find water in the ground. Amos inherits this skill, but it's a long time before he can use it.

Amos loses his mother at birth and is raised by a patchwork of communities: a minister and his wife at a mission near an Native American community, a family farm run by a widow and her six sons, traveling with his father and his new Shoshone wife, and on the Oregon Trail in a community of people seeking their fortunes out West. Along the way, the spirit of his mother follows him, almost haunting the women who come into his life.

There's so much in this story it's hard to believe it's just 300 pages. A sampling of the issues addressed: inheritance, domestic violence, racism, first love, death, what it means to be a family (or a tribe), and what it means to grow up and become a man. It's a beautiful story, filled with memorable characters, moments of joy and sadness, and a satisfying conclusion.
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Assinalado
LibrarianDest | 10 outras críticas | Jan 3, 2024 |
FROM AMAZON: The lives of four generations of one Louisiana family, woven together by a master storyteller

Tracing a family's roots is like taking a journey through the years. In the case of one Louisiana family, that journey can be charted by the books they read and loved.

The journey begins in 1939 with Rose, who moves with her mother and siblings from rural Texas to live with their estranged grandfather in the Louisiana bayou. Rose connects with this flavorful community through her love of books and by driving a bookmobile. Two decades later, Merle Henry, Rose's son, is more passionate about trapping a mink than about reading, although there is a place in his heart for Old Yeller. In 1973, Merle Henry's daughter, Annabeth, feels torn between reading fairy tales and a crush on a real-life knight in shining armor. And in the present day, Annabeth's son, Kyle, finds himself in a bind: he hates reading, but the only summer job he can get is at the library.

In her people-smart way, Kimberly Willis Holt introduces us to a Louisiana family: touching, lyrical, and always intriguing, their stories reveal the powerful connections between four generations.
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Assinalado
Gmomaj | 6 outras críticas | Sep 10, 2023 |
I think I had different expectations for this book than what I was given. When I was told a post 9/11 take, I was truly expecting a tale that took place in the aftermath of 9/11. That IS a subplot for sure (a boy comes to town whose father has gone missing on that fateful Tuesday morning).....and another girl's life has been impacted by travelling that day.

However, this is more of a small town story. A story centered around a family....and of a girl searching for answers. Perhaps it is due to my NOT realizing this was a "sequel" of sorts, perhaps because I didn't know that the mystery about an individual had started in a previous book....but I found myself going "eh" throughout most of "The Ambassador of Nowhere Texas." I did not have the back story or history or the investment.

All told, this is not going to be a middle grade I gravitate towards recommending.
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Assinalado
msgabbythelibrarian | Jun 11, 2023 |
This book is really individual stories of several generations of a Louisiana family. The stories are loosely intertwined and at the end tied together by the theme of love for books! I listened to the audiobook, and the reader was great. Some people may feel that the stories were too spare or didn't explain enough about what happened to each character, but I loved the way each story answered some question about the last and hinted toward the next.
 
Assinalado
CarolHicksCase | 6 outras críticas | Mar 12, 2023 |

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Estatísticas

Obras
22
Also by
1
Membros
5,503
Popularidade
#4,531
Avaliação
4.0
Críticas
324
ISBN
235
Línguas
4
Marcado como favorito
1

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