Book review: Leaving Gee's Bend by Irene Latham

G.P. Putnam's Sons

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Alabama Arts Awards 2007 video on Gee's Bend quilters (4:34 min)
Free gift from author: Ludelphia's Sewing Kit

Ten-year-old Ludelphia Bennett had never set her bare feet on any dirt outside the small sharecropping community of Gee’s Bend, Alabama. There was never a need for it. While her daddy and brother were in the fields pulling cotton, Ludelphia helped her mama around the house. When there wasn’t work to be done she pulled the small scraps of cloth and needle from her pocket to work on her story quilt. Stitching the tiny pieces together settled her thoughts and comforted her.

As time passed, Mama needed her help more often. It seemed that the bigger the baby grew inside Mama, the weaker she became. One morning, a series of coughing fits seized Mama and caused her to collapse on the floor. She couldn’t get back up. It was all Ludelphia could do to get Mama across the room and onto the cornshuck pallet she used for a bed. It was too soon for the baby to be born but it couldn’t be helped. Without a doctor or time to spare, Ludelphia and her neighbor, Etta Mae, did everything they knew how to do.

When her mama’s health takes a turn for the worse and her family says there’s nothing else they can do, Ludelphia takes matters into her own hands. She decides that her mama’s only hope is for her to leave Gee’s Bend in search of a real doctor with real medicine. The perilous journey to Camden is over 40 miles long and danger lurks at every turn. Ludelphia’s greatest strength is her ability to draw on the words of wisdom her mother instilled in her over the years. Will this inner strength be enough to carry Ludelphia to Camden and back in time to save her mother’s life?

Leaving Gee’s Bend is set in 1932 in the dirt-poor sharecropping community of Gee’s Bend, Alabama. The language used is authentic to the period and people. The characters and landscape are vivid. The author moves smoothly between Ludelphia’s inner thoughts and the world around her. Although the protagonist is only ten, Leaving Gee’s Bend will appeal to more than a middle-grade audience and is reminiscent of Wilder’s Little House series.

Latham has successfully woven together a novel that reflects the deep faith and inner strength of the people of Gee’s Bend and offers a glimpse into the area’s rich quilting history.

Watch the YouTube book trailer:

Editorial Reviews:

From School Library Journal
Grade 4–6—Blind in one eye and shouldering a fair share of work as part of a family of sharecroppers, 10-year-old Ludelphia Bennett is no stranger to hardship or determination. Though her small town of Gee's Bend is geographically isolated by the Alabama River, she sets off on her own to Camden, 40 miles away, to find a doctor for her sick mother. Constant throughout her arduous journey is a stitched-together fabric, and she both physically and mentally chronicles her experiences as she pieces a quilt together. This is the way Ludelphia tells her story, of seeing white people for the first time, of encountering kindness and hate, and it is also the way Latham pays homage to the community spirit that historically fostered a heritage of artisan quilt-makers. While there is a bit of a reliance on coincidence, what shines through is the characterization and sense of place. Rural Alabama of 1932 is brought to life, complete with characters' prejudices and superstitions that are eventually overcome thanks to Ludelphia's indomitable strength. Here is a story that is comforting and warm, just like the quilts that make Gee's Bend famous.—Joanna K. Fabicon, Los Angeles Public Library
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"authentic and memorable" -- Booklist

"stunning debut" -- First Draft Magazine

"strong tale of hope and survival"
-- Library Media Connection, *recommended

"captivating... a tale that will stay with the reader forever" -- Robin Smith, Bookpage.com

Product Details:

* Reading level: Ages 9-12
* Hardcover: 240 pages
* Publisher: Putnam Juvenile (January 7, 2010)
* ISBN-13: 978-0399251795

About the author:

Irene Latham is a poet and novelist who writes heart-touching tales of unexpected adventure. Her debut midgrade historical novel LEAVING GEE'S BEND (G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2010) is set in Alabama during the Great Depression. A resident of Birmingham, Alabama, for the past 25 years, she has published over 120 poems of various books, journals and anthologies, including a full-length collection WHAT CAME BEFORE, which was named Alabama State Poetry Society's book of the Year and earned a 2008 Independent Publisher's (IPPY) Award. Irene loves exploring new places and often uses "research" as an excuse to travel. Her favorite characters in books and real life are those who have the courage to go their own way.

For more information visit the following websites: