School Library Journal Review
Gr 6-8-Olivene Love, the daughter of a traveling preacher, is tired of life on the road. However, when she takes on a mission to prove that a woman accused of murder is innocent, she realizes that family is more important than a place to call home. Set in 1957 Arkansas, this thoughtful story gives a refreshingly optimistic understanding of human nature. (Oct.) (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Olivene "Ollie" Love is tired of life on the road with her mother and four younger sisters, as they follow her father, a traveling preacher, from one dirt-poor town to another in the southern U.S. in 1957. She'd like to attend school, and, perhaps, make a friend. When the Loves set up their tent in Binder, Ark., 13-year-old Ollie finds another reason to stay put: Jimmy Koppel, a local boy whose mother, Virginia, has been jailed after confessing to the murder of Jimmy's no-account father, a mean drunk. Ollie's gut instinct is that Virginia is innocent, but Jimmy can't help to exonerate her. "You got a phone book?" he asks. "That'd be your list of suspects." As a detective, Ollie fumbles repeatedly, but her persistent attempts to find out what happened to Henry Koppel keep the plot clipping along. Debut novelist Hilmo creates a few truly despicable villains to balance out the goodness of the Love family. Fans of Ruth White's books will find a similarly affectionate portrait of a close-knit family of modest means, struggling to do good in the world and right by each other. Ages 10-14. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
It's the summer of 1957 when Olivene Love's family pulls into Binder, Arkansas, in a Chevy pick-up hauling their trailer behind them. Thirteen-year-old Ollie, "oldest daughter of the Reverend Everlasting Love," desperately wants a friend, but her father's a traveling preacher so they never stay in the same town for long. When Ollie meets Jimmy Koppel, also thirteen, she feels more than her usual hankering to stick around: Jimmy's in trouble and needs her help. His mother has confessed to murdering her husband, but Jimmy claims she's innocent, and Ollie believes him, thinking that he probably killed his abusive father himself, and that his mother is only protecting him. In any case, Ollie is determined to rescue Jimmy's mother from jail -- and ends up rescuing more people than just his mother. Debut-novelist Hilmo has the genre down pat: folksy-voiced girl with gumption arrives in small town and changes lives; the characters include a violent alcoholic parent, easy-to-hate townsfolk, a saintly old black man, and quirky siblings -- including a "simple" sister who nevertheless has memorized the dictionary. But the story's murder mystery is compelling, and Hilmo manages to make her (main) characters believable -- for all their perfection, Ollie and her dad have a sense of righteousness that rings true, and sweet, frog-loving Jimmy is a boy any girl would want to save. jennifer m. brabander (c) Copyright 2011. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Hilmo creates a family, a town and a mystery that readers won't soon forget.In July of 1957, the Love family rolls into the tiny town of Binder, Ark. Reverend Everlasting Love, his wife Susanna and their daughters Olivene (called Ollie), Martha, Gwen, Camille and Ellen set up camp so Reverend Love can preach for three evenings before they load it all up again and head to the next small town down the road. Such is the life of an itinerant preacher's family. But there is something different about Binder, Ark., something strange enough to cause the family to stay a while longer. Ollie meets a boy named Jimmy, whose mother is in jail for killing his brutish father. Jimmy insists she didn't do it, but everyone else in town is convinced she did. Poor Jimmy could certainly use a friend. The Love family, particularly Ollie, cannot abide the injustice, but what can they possibly do to help? And just how long will they stay in Binder, anyway? There is, after all, a boarded-up church in the center of town needing a preacher, and Ollie, for one, would sure love to stay put for a good long while. Hilmo relishes her small-town setting and develops her characters with affection. Readers will become caught up in events as firmly as Ollie is.A story about the meaning of home, justice and love, beautifully told. (Historical fiction. 9-12)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* It's 1957, and most people have refrigerators and flushing toilets. But 13-year-old Ollie and her four younger sisters travel with their mother and father, an itinerant preacher who brings his message of salvation and love all over the South. In fact, Ollie's father's name is Everlasting Love, and she knows there's no finer man, anywhere. When the family pulls into Blinder, Arkansas, the plan is, as always, to stay just three days preaching. Then Ollie meets a sad, dirty boy, whose mother is in jail for killing his father, and she knows they've got to stick around and right a wrong. Hilmo's first novel is a small gem of a book. The mystery of who killed Jimmy's father carries the action along, but this is really a family portrait that's suffused with the bickering, hopes, fears, and love found in big families. The supporting cast of Blinder citizens is also carefully drawn, flitting about but never landing on caricature, so the folks seem just a little larger than life. A warm and thoughtful look back.--Cooper, Ilene Copyright 2010 Booklist