Meely LaBauve
by Ken Wells
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Description
Fifteen-year-old Meely LaBauve is growing up on Catahoula Bayou and living by his wits. His father is an alligator hunter, still unable to cope with the death of his wife eight years earlier. He finds comfort in bottles of hooch and with companionable women and disappears for days at a time. School, for Meely, is a long, dusty walk away in a place where truancy isn't a top priority. "Up at Catahoula School, we've got all the grades. I'm in ninth when I'm in anything," says Meely. But the law show more has it out for Meely's dad; and Junior Guidry, nephew of a rogue cop and a bully himself, considers badgering Meely his favorite sport. When the LaBauves find themselves in the law's sights, it takes baseball bats, fire ants, flying alligators, an unidentified body, and a lot of fast thinking to set things right. Not since Huck Finn rafted down the Mississippi has there been a coming-of-age story like this, told in such an utterly authentic, unlettered American voice. From a charming encounter with first love in the Canciennes' corn patch to an adventurous paddle through wild and timeless places little explored, Ken Wells has cooked up a zesty gumbo of a book--rich, poignant, and often hilarious. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
I picked up a book called "Junior's Leg" and found out it was a sequel to "Meely LaBauve", so I decided to read Meely first. I really really liked this book and it's hard to say why. It has to be good writing, because it just tells a story about a teenage boy, not really my cup of tea. But, I really hated to see the story end.
I love this book. Meely's lifestyle is not normal, his mother is dead, his father leaves him alone, he goes to school when he wants, and struggles to eat. But he likes his life. So when bully, Junior Guidry starts messing with his life, Meely figures it is worth fighting for. And he does, with hilarious, and sometimes sad, results.
Solid southern fiction, clear, direct writing, absent of annoying frou-frou.
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Author Information
23 Works 726 Members
A Senior writer and features editor for page one of The Wall Street Journal. In 1982, he was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for The Miami Herald. He lives with his family outside Manhattan. (Bowker Author Biography)
Awards and Honors
Awards
Distinctions
Classifications
- Genres
- Fiction and Literature, General Fiction, Young Adult, Historical Fiction
- DDC/MDS
- 813.54 — Literature & rhetoric American literature in English American fiction in English 1900-1999 1945-1999
- LCC
- PS3573 .E4923 .M44 — Language and Literature American literature American literature Individual authors 1961-
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 139
- Popularity
- 234,658
- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (4.00)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 7
- ASINs
- 1
