Blume, L.M.M. (2008). Tennyson. New York: Random House.
ISBN-13: 9780440240617
· Plot Summary
Tennyson Fontaine's mother has left home, and her father decides to search the Depression Era Louisiana bayou country to find her. Tennyson and Hattie are taken to the broken down ancestral mansion known as Aigredoux, a colorless house where all the residents are trying to live like the Civil War never happened. Aunt Henrietta believes the sisters will be the key to saving the family home and reputation, entering into a series of lessons to teach the girls how to interact with would-be future suitors; at ages eleven and eight, the girls are not at all interested. Tennyson has set out on a mission to bring her mother home, using dreams about the house's past to begin a series of articles in the magazine her mother has been trying to become published in for years. Ultimately, Tennyson is successful with her venture, just not in the way she wished.
· Critical Evaluation
Effective and entertaining transitions between 1932 and 1862, with realistic characterizations in keeping with Southern families of the times. Tennyson believes people are destined to repeat history, but she did not know how right she was until she was taken to Aigredoux.
· Reader’s Annotation
Southern lives of the Depression Era were not always so obviously effected by the hardness of the times, lost in the past as they were.
· Information about the author
Lesley M.M. Blume resides in New York City, but has always been intrigued about life in the South. She has authored two other novels, and Publisher's Weekly as deemed her "a writer to watch".
· Genre
Historical Fiction
· Curriculum Ties
History
· Booktalking Ideas
The Great Depression's effect on families and individual morale.
Events of the American Civil War and the destruction of property.
· Reading Level/Interest Age
Grades 6-7/Ages 10-11
· Why did you include this book in the titles you selected?
Attended daughter's school book fair, and found this title in the tween area. I was born and raised in the South, and whereas Tennyson lives in 1932, some of the attitudes have not changed regarding family, ethnicity, and what occurred during the Civil War.
