Last in a Long Line of Rebels has everything I look
for in a middle reader novel, adventure, mystery, a great group of friends, and
a message of hope. In this novel, a young group of friends look for lost Civil
War gold in an attempt to save the heroine, Louise’s, home from
destruction. Louise Mayhew is the
junkman’s daughter living in a historic home that has been in the family since
before the Civil War. She is challenged by snooty Sally on the last day of
school that she will not have an exciting summer. Louise takes up the challenge and soon embarks
on an adventure with her cousin Patty, and two guy friends Benzer and Franklin.
While visiting a museum about local history with
Louise’s feisty grandmother, Bertie, the crew discovers that Louise’s
Great-Great-Great Grandfather may have stolen and hidden gold during the Civil
War and may also have killed Franklin’s ancestor during the deed. The crew search through the house, junkyard,
library, and museum for clues. Louise
makes discoveries about herself and her family, such as the disturbing fact
that her mother’s art studio was once a slave cabin. She can’t believe her family owned slaves.
There is also a great sub-story about Isaac, a high
school athlete that work’s for Louise’s Dad.
He is denied a scholarship because of his race, but he dreams of playing
football for the University of Tennessee.
Will he be able to make his dream come true?
I thought this was a great adventure and coming of
age story. I also loved how it used both
history and current day to tell a story of tolerance and acceptance of all
people. I also loved how Louise found
her namesake’s diary and learned the real story of what happened during the
Civil War. I loved reading this as an
adult, but I know that as a child, this would have been exactly my type of
book. Sadly my sons are on a Star Wars
fix so I was unable to get them to read this with me.
I also loved the setting of Tennessee and the small
town. I’ve never been to Tennessee, but
I have lived in small town America most of my life. I loved the Southern lifestyle, but how all
small towns are the same with bullies and heroes. I was distressed about “chocolate gravy”
though. What is chocolate gravy? I don’t know whether I should be horrified or
want to eat it.
Some of my favorite quotes:
“Some people like comfort foods; I like comfort
clothes.” Louise is my kind of person
“You’d be amazed how quickly people can forget their
own history if you don’t preserve it.
And when you forget the past, you’re bound to repeat the same old
mistakes.” Bertie (Grandma) to Louise.
“As a general rule, I try not to say anything
hurtful about people, even jokingly.”
Daddy said to the group. This is
a good rule to live by.
Overall, Last in the Long Line of rebels was a gem
of a book. I highly recommend it for
both middle readers and adults alike that are looking for a great story that
includes
Book Source:
Review Copy for being a part of the TLC Book Tour. Thank-you!
Lisa Lewis
Tyre’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS:
Monday, February
1st: Geo
Librarian
Tuesday, February
2nd: Randomly
Reading
Wednesday,
February 3rd: All
Roads Lead to the Kitchen
Thursday, February
4th: Life is Story
Monday, February
8th: Just
Commonly
Wednesday,
February 10th: Shooting
Stars Mag
Thursday, February
11th: Musings
by Maureen
Monday, February
15th: Peeking
Between the Pages
Tuesday, February
16th: You
Can Read Me Anything
Wednesday,
February 17th: WV
Stitcher
Thursday, February
18th: Tina
Says…
Monday, February
22nd: The
Things You Can Read
Wednesday,
February 24th: A
Chick Who Reads
Thursday, February
25th: Just
One More Chapter
Monday, February
29th: Laura’s
Reviews
Wednesday, March
2nd: Absurd
Book Nerd
Thursday, March
3rd: FictionZeal
Monday, March
7th: View
from the Birdhouse
LINKS:
Thank you for the lovely review! And yes, you MUST try chocolate gravy over a hot, buttery biscuit! Another reviewer made it here: http://www.girlichef.com/2016/02/buttermilk-biscuits-chocolate-gravy.html
ReplyDeleteThanks again. (Also, my daughter is CRAY-ZY about Star Wars. The force is strong. Don't even try to fight it.) Lisa
Terrific review, Laura! And you chose wonderful quotations, as usual, which gave me a glimpse into this book. Chocolate gravy sounds interesting. (I suppose you could also call it chocolate sauce.) I will check out the link above. Happy Leap Monday!
ReplyDeleteI love Star Wars too, but do wish that Kile would vary his reading. He seems to have a lot of fun reading the books with me so I'm going with it.
ReplyDeleteI think I need to try out Chocolate Gravy!!
I love Tennessee and all my friends there rave about chocolate gravy but I still haven't tried it. Apparently it is very delicious!
ReplyDeleteThanks for being a part of the tour!