My Louisiana Sky

Module 7 - March 1-7

My Louisiana Sky by Kimberly Willis Holt

Summary:
Tiger Ann is a bright girl who is quickly entering her pre-teen years. As most girls this age, Tiger is becoming very aware of herself and how she compares to others around her. Tiger suddenly becomes self-conscious of how the other girls don't play boyish sports such as baseball. She also becomes painfully aware that her parent's mental disabilities make them different from the other parents. Tiger is thankful for her grandmother who is the one she looks to for help in overcoming her frustrations. However, her life is turned upside down when her grandmother dies suddenly. Tiger's sophisticated aunt offers her the opportunity to reinvent herself in a big, exciting new city. In the end, Tiger learns a lot about families and discovers where she truly belongs.

Thoughts of a Book Worm:
Although this book starts off a little slow, the characters develop into ones that you can almost see and hear. I felt that the author truly established Tiger Ann as a believable, pre-teen who struggles with the fact that her family is 'different'. I think many pre-teens and teenagers can relate as they notice qualities about their own families that embarass them. In this sweet coming of age story, Tiger learns that there is no set definition of a family. All families have their different strengths and weaknesses that allow them to love and care for each other through the good times and the hard times.

Reviews:
"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 . 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." - The Horn Book Magazine

"Tiger wonders why she's so different from her parents, why she can get all A's in school when her mother is sweet, but childlike, and her father is considered retarded. Luckily, she has her Granny to hold the odd household together-until Granny dies. Tiger faces discrimination from her classmates and even considers accepting her "normal" aunt's offer to move in with her in Baton Rouge. How she comes to terms with her backcountry family and the world of the nineteen-fifties is the meat of this delicately written book." - Children's Literature

Suggested Activities:
Students can create a chart that depicts the similarities and differences between big cities and small towns. Students can then discuss the pros and cons of living in a big city or small town. Afterwards, they can further extend the activity by writing a persuasive paragraph that persuades the reader to move to either a small town or a big city.

Bibliography: Holt, K. W. (1998). My Louisiana Sky. New York: Dell Yearling.