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    Belle Prater's Boy
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    Belle Prater's Boy
    Unavailable
    Belle Prater's Boy
    Audiobook3 hours

    Belle Prater's Boy

    Written by Ruth White

    Narrated by Alison Elliott

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    When Belle Prater disappears, Belle's boy, Woodrow, comes to live with his grandparents in Coal Station, Virginia. Woodrow's cousin Gypsy is the town beauty, but she has hidden sorrows and secrets of her own. She wonders how Woodrow can accept his mother's disappearance when she's never gotten over her father's death. That's when Woodrow tells Gypsy the secret about his mother.


    From the Trade Paperback edition.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateSep 9, 2008
    ISBN9780739371923
    Unavailable
    Belle Prater's Boy
    Author

    Ruth White

    Ruth White was born and raised in the 1940s and 1950s in and around the coal-mining town of Whitewood, Virginia. "My fondest memories are of playing in the hills and creeks, and of family read-alouds, which we had almost every day. Before I started school, I knew that I would be a writer someday, and I never wavered from that goal. What I did not know was that I would be writing about those days in which I was living. I had visions of stories involving princesses and swashbuckling heroes, lovesick cowgirls and faraway places with strange-sounding names. It was only after I grew up and away from the Appalachian region that I realized what a wealth of unique story material I had stored up in my memories during those early years, and therein lay my greatest asset as a writer." "My sisters and I were not only avid readers but also great mimics. We had no television, but we had the movie theaters close by, and we were privileged to see the latest movies from Hollywood, which we would later act out to one another. We would write down all the lines we could remember from a good movie and learn them for our own entertainment. We also picked up every song that came along and developed a remarkable repertoire of folk, country, blue-grass, spiritual, and popular music. To this day we know the words to thousands of forgotten songs. We are a wealth of music trivia! I often use the lyrics of some of these songs in my books." "Upon graduation from high school, I had a rare opportunity to go to college. It was almost as if the fates took over for me at this point and manipulated me right into a good education and preparation for a future career. There was a beautiful little college down in North Carolina called Montreat, which I still dream about and think of sometimes with a feeling much like homesickness. Going there was a turning point of my life. It lifted me out of the only life I had ever known and introduced me to a wider world. From there I went on to Pfeiffer College, married, had a child, and settled down to being a mother and teacher." "But the memories of the hills did not leave me. They did, in fact, haunt me, so that I began writing down some of those memories, and from these writings my novels sprouted, took root, and grew like living plants. They have gone through many revisions, on paper as well as in my mind, but what they represent for me is a record not only of my past but of the Appalachian region." "It is important to me that the children of today read these books and feel they can escape for just a little while into another place and time which once was very real. I want them not only to enjoy my stories and my particular style but also to feel what I used to feel when I was in the habit of reading every book I could find -- 'This feels right. I love this. Someday I will write books like this.' " Ruth White holds Bachelor of Arts degrees in English and Library Science. She worked in schools as both a teacher and a librarian in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia before moving to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where she writes full time.

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    Reviews for Belle Prater's Boy

    4/5

    133 ratings11 reviews

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    • 5/5
      12 year old Gypsy’s cousin Woodrow comes to live with her grandparents after his mother disappears and his father is unable to care for him. Woodrow is a truly special boy and Gypsy befriends him as she is fascinated by Belle’s disappearance. Great characters and 1950’s small town West Virginia life.
    • 5/5
      12 year old Gypsy's cousin, Woodrow, who she doesn't know very well, comes to live next door with his grandparents after his mother, Belle Prater, mysteriously disappears, and his father grows to be more and more of a drunk. The two quickly grow to be fast friends, eventually sharing even their deepest secrets, which turn out to have something in common.
    • 4/5
      I read this 3 years ago and remember the plot and characters, but I don't remember enough to write a real review. I just know that I, personally, loved it. None of my students have taken this one off the shelves.
    • 1/5
      Belle Prater's Boy is a 1997 Newbery Honor Book and it is pretty boring. The ending, which is wrapped up in the last 40 pages was pretty neat but getting there just took too long. I think adults would enjoy this mystery more than youths. The story is set in the 1950's and there are many references to music, movies and other pop culture from the time. Gypsy's aunt Belle has gone missing and now her cousin Woodrow has come to live with them. The book attempts to take on some heavy issues like depression and death but with a family history so wrapped up in lies its hard to tell what to think or feel about anything,
    • 4/5
      Engaging story of two cousins living in rural 1950s West Virginia, both facing loss within their families. I was pleased to see not only good character development, but also an avoidance of stereotypes.
    • 4/5
      I listened to this on CD, and loved it. Uproariously funny and touching too. Woodrow's mother, Belle, has disappeared. Story is told from the point of view of Woodrow's cousin Gypsy, and her voice stays with you. Full of delightful expressions, many of which I've adopted as my own. Which is to say, yes, I'm more broke than the ten commandments.
    • 5/5
      I picked this book up and seriously could NOT put it down. And most of the time I was standing while reading it because I was supposed to be getting in the shower, but I couldn't stop reading while standing in the bathroom telling myself to put it down and get on with my shower. That's how good it was. Good thing it was Sunday morning and I have late church. I loved the tone and voice of the book. I loved the characters. I loved the strong family. I loved the lessons that were taught. I loved the relationships. I will definitely read the sequel and hope not to be too disappointed.
    • 5/5
      Insightful, poignant, touching and sensitively written, this 1997 Newbery honor book is one I highly recommend. With shades of Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird, the reader observes small-town life through the eyes of a young, precocious young girl.In 1953 Belle Prater left her house, her near-do-well husband and young son and vanished from Coal Station, VA, never to be found.In 1954 Gypsy Arbutus Leemaster's view of life is about to change when she befriends her cousin Woodrow after he moves across the street to live with their grandparents. Years earlier Gypsy's father died, and she, like Woodrow knows the pain of loss.As the story unfolds, we learn that Gypsy's mother was the pretty one; Woodrow's mother, Belle, was plain and could not compete when Gypsy's mother stole the heart of Belle's suitor and married him.Cross-eyed and wearing hand me down clothes, Woodrow is Belle Prater's boy. Pretty like her mama, dressed in frills, Gypsy is about to learn that appearances are deceiving.Lonely and abandoned Belle Prater's boy experiences snitty comments, not only at the hands of the town bully, but in particular by the small-town, nasty society mavens.This is a story of multi-faceted layers, of looking past appearances, of sibling rivalry, of decisions that have a life-long impact and of small town life with its charm and chills.
    • 5/5
      This wonderful book depicts life in the Appalachia region of Virginia. Family life, struggle, and deep characters remind me of To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. I listened to the audio with narrator Alison Elliott who does a marvelous job. I would recommend this to adults as well as children. Thoroughly enjoyed the many layers of the tale; the sisters, Belle and Love, the stepfather Porter, the grandparents, Woodrow--the country cousin growing up in coal country, and Gypsy the beauty who wanted to be recognized for something other than her looks.
    • 4/5
      When Woodrow's mother suddenly disappears, he moves to his grandparents' home in a small Virginia town where he befriends his cousin and together they find the strength to face the terrible losses and fears in their lives.
    • 5/5
      A gentle, moving book about a young girl growing up in rural Virginia in the 1950s, and what happens after her aunt Belle disappears and her cousin Woodrow moves in with her grandparents next door.There are two mysteries in the book: what happened to Belle Prater? and why does Gypsy have terrible nightmares about a faceless animal? In the course of the book, Woodrow and Gypsy discover the truth about the parents they have lost (his mother, her father) and learn a lot about what it means to grow up.