Jessie's Mountain

Jessie's Mountain is the third book in Kerry Madden's Maggie Valley trilogy and takes place about a month after the conclusion of Louisiana's Song . Daddy is improving, but he's still unable to work, and it's more and more likely that the family will have to move to Grandma Horace's house in Enka. Determined to prevent this, Livy Two hatches a plan to run away to Nashville and get a record deal. When it doesn't go quite as she expected, it looks as if the family will have to leave Maggie Valley behind. Along with this, Grandma Horace gives Live Two her mother's diary from when she was her age. As Livy reads her mother's words, she mourns the girl who had dreams and spunk who has now become a tired, overworked mother of ten. Then Livy Two hatches a plan that will not only make her mother's girlhood dreams come true but that will also enable the family to stay and thrive in Maggie Valley. In this final book, I enjoyed getting to know Jessie, the mother, a little better as well as Jitter, Livy's younger sister. Kerry Madden continued to interweave the family's hardships with a bit of humor and warmth. I didn't, however, get as much of Livy Two's voice and spunk in this one, and I found it a bit refreshing to read Jessie's diary and hear her voice. I also have mixed feelings about the ending of the book...it almost seemed "too happy" and perhaps a bit unrealistic. That, however, did not stop me from thoroughly enjoying the book and being satisfied with the trilogy as a whole. After reading all three, my favorite book was Louisiana's Song . I think Madden really went more in depth with the characters in that book and presented realistic, gut wrenching feelings and situations. I would recommend this series to young girls in the 10-12 age range. I think they would enjoy hearing the story from Livy Two's point of view. While this is the end of the "Maggie Valley trilogy," I hope this isn't the end of the Weems' family's story.

My daughter and her friends love these books. Although she is a teenager and too "sophisticated" now for the series, she sat down and read Jessie's Mountain the moment she got it. She and her urban friends discuss how wonderful it would be to grow up in a place like Maggie Valley, in an easier time and with all those brothers and sisters.

Jessie's Mountain (Maggie Valley Novels) While this book may be set in the 1960's, its truths are as petinent today. Families still struggle, still worry about their children, still love, and still work together to create the closeness of family. Livy Two learns that the love of family means foregiveness and re-embracing into the family circle. While this may be the last books of this series, we certainly hope that Kerry Madden writes many more with the Maggie Valley setting. Our library is home to numerous home school families, and they are enthralled with this book. Family referring to family member and then to other families in their group.

We love these books!!!...as parents who like to read what their kids read, we look forward to these books which take us back to our childhoods...but our two girls cherish and adore reading them as well. After reading this most recent in the series, they insisted we go back and read the first two again. If you looking for something tender and true in the tradition of "Little House" books, these are for you. (You don't have to read them in the order they were published...each book stands on its own!)

In GENTLE'S HOLLER, Kerry Madden introduces young readers to Olivia (better known as Livy Two) Weems, a twelve-year-old with a passion for books and music. Livy has eight siblings of various ages and tempermants, a sweet mama, and a starry-eyed daddy. Money's tight - Daddy's music fills the heart and ears more than it fills the pocketbook - but the Weems make do, and their household is always bursting with family, love, and music. The story continued in LOUISIANA'S SONG, the second book in the trilogy, which was just as precious as the first. JESSIE'S MOUNTAIN, the final book in the trilogy, is named after the mother of the family. In a rare act of tenderness, Grandma Horace gives Livy Two the diary her mom wrote when she was about Livy's age. The journal entries and sketches give Livy new insight into her mom. Though she keeps it to herself at first, she ends up reading passages to her brothers and sisters. The story also takes Livy Two and Jitters on a journey to Nashville, because Livy is dead-set on auditioning for a music man named Mr. George Flowers. It's an expensive trip in more ways than one, and the fallout follows Livy for the rest of the book. ("It's as if I left Maggie Valley a little girl and came back home grown up. Even Mama and Daddy look older to me, like the worry of the last few days aged them all at once.") Music, as always, brings the family together and will bring smiles to readers' faces. JESSIE'S MOUNTAIN is a satisfying conclusion to a trilogy that's as sweet as a slice of homemade pie.