With a Name like Love

Ollie Love and her family travel to a new town, hold religious services for three days, then move on. While it's the right life for her father, Ollie yearns to live in a real house and go to a real school. Then she meets a jittery boy and finds that the people in this new town think he's trouble.

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Digging further, she learns that his hateful father has been murdered and his mother is in jail after confess to the murder. Ollie befriends Jimmy and convinces her father that they need to stay a little longer in town to help free Jimmy's mother, whom she is sure is innocent. The Love girls learn a lot about both the good and bad of human nature as the family lingers, trying to help Jimmy. I can picture middle grade girls getting swept up in the plight of Jimmy and Ollie's determination to help him seek justice and get his mother back.

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Olivene Love, 13, is the eldest daughter of Everlasting and Susanna Love. With a name like Everlasting Love, what could her father be but a traveling preacher in the South in 1957. Their stop in Binder, Alabama was supposed to be like every other stop, 3-days of revival meetings and move on.

But

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Ollie meets Jimmy Koppel who follows her during her walk into town from their campsite and that changes everything. Jimmy's mother, Virginia, is in jail for confessing to the murder of his father, a man no one likes and who beats her. Once Virginia is moved to the county jail, Jimmy will be forced to live with an aunt in Tennessee who he never met. Jimmy is convinced of Virginia's innocence and convinces Ollie as well, who then convinces her father to get involved in trying to save the Koppels.

Tess Hilmo's debut novel With a Name Like Love is a charming read for late elementary schoolers. Ollie and her four sisters disagree with each other, as sisters do. Her parents seem to be the perfect parents, understanding their children, holding family councils, knowing what the 'right thing to do' is and instilling this understanding in their children. The townspeople run the gamut from the kindly Ms. Mahoney to the distasteful Esther Carter. Thus, Hilmo's characters are real, some fun and endearing, some not so nice. Her plot is plausible and her writing is descriptive, drawing you in from the beginning. And without preaching (no pun intended), she instills upon the reader the desire to do the right thing, something we need more of in this world. Hilmo's story and writing remind me a little of Richard Peck, a little of Kathy Appelt, and a little of Clare Vanderpool, in other words, good company.

We can use a little more love in this world, so read With a Name Like Love.

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The characters were compelling and original.That's how the book was special.The book was all about how Ollie was trying to get her friend's mom to be proven innocent. Through the story,you get hit with a plot that was thrilling but showcased each character.The ending was quite a disappointment

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though.

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I liked the story overall and I found I liked most of the characters. However, there were times when I felt the characters did not seem realistic enough. Also, the mystery plot did not seem strong enough to me, and I felt it was resolved a little too neatly.

I liked the story overall and I found I liked most of the characters. However, there were times when I felt the characters did not seem realistic enough. Also, the mystery plot did not seem strong enough to me, and I felt it was resolved a little too neatly.

Thirteen-year-old Olivene Love gets tangled up in a murder mystery when her itinerant preaching family arrives in the small town of Binder, Arkansas in 1957.