By Colorado Kids Advisory Board member Mikhail Talley

Title: The Legacy of Gloria Russell
Author: Sheri Gilbert
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Number of Pages: 218

The Legacy of Gloria Russell was about a preteen boy named Billy- James who in a small town in the Ozark Mountains learned more about the importance of family, the art of getting to know someone, himself, friends, and old town history while dealing with the death of his best friend, Gloria Russell.

I liked the feel-of-a-small-town setting, a setting that everyone knows one another. I also liked the way Ms. Gilbert portrays a single, hardworking mom, the kind of mom who will do anything to keep her two boys (the other is named Raymond- Clay) together, educated, and up & running. The details were excellent and created a lot of great images such as the mountains, the people, Billy- James' own home life, and the town's "faith". It was as if I was watching television instead of reading a book at some points. The characters seemed really easy to relate to such as while Billy James was learning how important family was it made me think about family also.

I really didn't like the fact that I couldn't easily find a plot throughout the book because sometimes it was hard to follow the storyline. Other than a "sometimes" confusing storyline, I really enjoyed this book and I would definitely recommend this book to 10-12 year olds. If you liked this book, you would like Olive's Ocean by Kevin Henkes, which is a book about a girl who mourns a classmate's death during her summer vacation. (February, 2005)