Maybelle Lane is looking for her father, but on the road to Nashville she finds so much more: courage, brains, heart–and true friends. Eleven-year-old Maybelle Lane collects sounds. She records the Louisiana crickets chirping, Momma strumming her guitar, their broken trailer door squeaking. But the crown jewel of her collection is a sound she didn’t collect herself: an old recording of her … old recording of her daddy’s warm-sunshine laugh, saved on an old phone’s voicemail. It’s the only thing she has of his, and the only thing she knows about him.
Until the day she hears that laugh–his laugh–pouring out of the car radio. Going against Momma’s wishes, Maybelle starts listening to her radio DJ daddy’s new show, drinking in every word like a plant leaning toward the sun. When he announces he’ll be the judge of a singing contest in Nashville, she signs up. What better way to meet than to stand before him and sing with all her heart?
But the road to Nashville is bumpy. Her starch-stiff neighbor Mrs. Boggs offers to drive her in her RV. And a bully of a boy from the trailer park hitches a ride, too. These are not the people May would have chosen to help her, but it turns out they’re searching for things as well. And the journey will mold them into the best kind of family–the kind you choose for yourself.
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There is healing in this book, and laughter, and grace, and surprising love. Don’t read it with a box of tissues — just cry, then smile and grow.
Very interesting book! I definitely recommend this!
Book Review: The Lonely Heart of Maybelle Lane by Kate O’Shaughnessy (2020) (Middle Grade) (Fiction) 4 Stars ****
Eleven-year-old Maybelle Lane lives in the Pelican Park Trailer Court in Louisiana with her beloved mother. Since Maybelle’s mom works two jobs, Maybelle spends a lot of time alone or just running away from the neighborhood bullies. One of Maybelle’s hobbies is recording different sounds from nature or everyday life. With her acute sense of hearing, Maybelle recognizes the voice of her never-in-the-picture father, a DJ and advice-giver for a Nashville radio station. “And that’s when I heard it. The sound of my fate coming up to meet me.”
Maybelle’s mother always insists that Maybelle’s father is not interested in meeting her. When a Nashville singing contest is announced and Maybelle’s father is to be one of the judges, she secretly plans to travel to Nashville to enter the contest and meet her absentee father for the first time. Misdirected by his radio advice-giving persona, Maybelle believes that her father will be thrilled to meet her. But, how to make this happen? Hmmm.
As Fate intervenes, Maybelle’s mom is offered a singing/guitar playing gig for a few weeks on a cruise ship between Miami and the Bahamas. Their neighbor, strict, widowed teacher Mrs. Boggs, offers to watch Maybelle. Somehow, Mrs. Boggs agrees to take Maybelle to Nashville for the contest, using her RV as transportation, never knowing about Maybelle’s plan to confront her father. Since Mrs. Boggs only drives two-three hours a day and needs her afternoon naps, the trip takes six days. Young, troubled neighbor Tommy O’Brien tags along for a trip of a lifetime. The three travel companions each change for the better as they learn to share their problems and responsibilities, open their hearts and minds, become less rigid, take chances, overcome fears, and help build one another’s self-esteem. Together, the trio conspire to covertly rescue an abused dog, as each one contributes to its recovery and well-being.
Yes, Maybelle does sing in the contest and does meet her father, but nothing turns out as Maybelle envisions. With new attitudes propelling them to the future, all of their lives change for the better.
A charming, relatable story for young readers as characters experience disappointments and loss, but still pick themselves up to start over again.
The only thing I do not like is how the author uses this platform to encourage and condone same sex relationships. I do not believe this ideology should be presented to young children. This is an adult life style decision which should not be proselytized to impressionable young readers.
This was a sweet story that had a few twists and turns with a heartwarming ending. Yes, it’s a middle grade novel but sometimes that’s just what I need to be reading. Eleven-year-old Maybelle Lane enters a singing contest in Nashville, because her D.J. father (who doesn’t even know she exists) will be one of the judges and she believes once he meets her he will love her. But how will May get all the way from Louisiana to Nashville? This is just one of the many obstacles that May overcomes in this story of a road trip that’s a journey of the heart. I was so impressed with this debut novel. Loved the variety of characters, and how the author wove themes of loss, healing, and love into this story of courage and family. I guarantee you’ll be smiling when you turn the last page.