Leaving Gee's Bend

Ten-year-old Ludelphia Bennett has never stepped food out of her tiny hometown of Gee's Bend, Alabama. Honestly, she's never seen a reason to. Her family, her small community of sharecroppers, and her quilting are more than enough to keep her busy and happy right at home. Even though she's only got one working eye, Lu's a natural at stitching, though she doesn't always have the materials she needs for a good quilt. Mama says that every quilt tells a story, and Lu dreams of stitching a quilt that will tell a great story and make her mama smile.

Suddenly, though, things in Ludelphia's life go awry, and she finds her story changing in a big way. When Mama falls ill and is near death and the only advice forthcoming is to wait it out, Lu show more knows she can't just stand by and watch while her mama slips away. Soon she determines that the only way to save Mama is to leave Gee's Bend and travel to Camden in search of a doctor. Thus begins a journey fraught with danger but also with excitement during which Lu will meet both good and evil people and hopefully emerge on the other side with a better story for her quilt than she could have ever imagined.

Drawing inspiration from the real Gee's Bend's rich quilting history, Irene Latham has crafted a beautiful story of her own. Leaving Gee's Bend is a coming of age story set in a vividly drawn 1930s sharecropping community. In it, readers can find a realistic few of the hardscrabble lives lived by sharecroppers and the fine line between getting by and dire unsurvivable poverty. Ludelphia is a precocious and lovable narrator, always with the best of intentions, but occasionally getting into some scrapes due to her impulsiveness and trusting nature. Seeing her grow through her journey and collect the many experiences and pieces that will go into her quilt makes Leaving Gee's Bend a heartwarming story and a satisfying read. show less

10-year-old Ludelphia Bennett wears an eye patch over her dead eye, loves quilting, and has never gone beyond her loving community of Gee’s Bend, Alabama—until her mother is dying, and then Lu decides to make the 40-mile journey to the larger town of Camden to get medical help. But life outside Gee’s Bend is not as simple, as Ludelphia must confront obstacles not only in the form of physical impediments but also cold-hearted people if she wants to save her mother.

A great main character unfortunately doesn’t make up for the contrived plot in this lukewarm debut novel that attempts to be a moving journey of familial resilience in the face of racism and other elements.

At the beginning, I thought this book was almost magical. show more Ludelphia is a fantastic narrator, her voice so genuine, earnest, and warm. She’s ten years old but will be loved by readers of all ages, a classic protagonist going on a seemingly straightforward journey for someone else and discovering something about herself in the process.

Unfortunately, the plot felt slow and forced all the way through. The moment Lu leaves Gee’s Bend, I had trouble that the world was ours, that this is historical fiction. The world outside Gee’s Bend was disconcertingly black-and-white: things and people were either blessed angels helping Lu, or else they were sinister, malicious, inhumane beings. Lu’s greatest human antagonist comes in the form of Mrs. Cobb, whose late husband is Lu’s family’s employer of sorts. It’s hard to get a read on Mrs. Cobb. One minute she’s almost saccharinely kind—the next, she’s one step away from joining the KKK.

I understand that, to a young girl like Ludelphia, the unknown world might seem like it consists of simple binaries, but I was really hoping for more, events and people that we can actually claim as our own history, ugly as it may be. The story plods along until we can’t see Lu’s natural charms for the eyeroll-inducing melodrama.

LEAVING GEE’S BEND has a great protagonist but is sadly lacking in plot strength. It’s no standout addition to African American historical fiction, but perhaps there may be young readers who are interested in the concept enough to lose themselves in Ludelphia’s mesmerizing narration and not notice the story’s flaws. show less

Leaving Gee's Bend was a book I really enjoyed. It had everything I love in a book. It had a character that at first glance seems weak and then shows how strong a character they are. It has the history part that I loved. To top all of this off they merged all of this with one of my favorite things, quilting.
Leaving Gee's Bend is the story of Ludelphia Bennett, a ten year old black girl who must seek medical help for her mother. Her mother was pregnant and had been having terrible coughing fits. The baby comes early and Ludelphia with the help of her friend Etta Mae they deliver the baby. When Ludelphia's mother begins to cough up blood, Ludelphia decides to travel 40 miles out of Gees Bend to get a doctor for her mother. Little does show more she know that the help she finds there will be her towns saving grace. As Ludelphia is telling her story she is using the making of a quilt for her mother to help tell that story. As quilters we take every piece of fabric and we choose to place it where we do to tell a story, our own story. Ludelphia is able to tell her mother the story of her quilt after she is well. I had read several reviews that were not as enthusiastic as I felt about the book. I can only believe it is because maybe the reader was not a quilter who looked at the history of quilting and the stories they tell. I connected with this book because over the years I have taught the history of quilting in my classroom at school, used it to teach Geography and American History. I used it as projects to accompany novels we read. We've made baby quilts for pregnancy centers for community service. Maybe that is why this will have a prominent place on my shelves at school and will be another way I can pass on a love of quilting show less

A touching story told through Ludelphia's unique and authentic voice. I had no previous knowledge of Gee's Bend, but I'm a seamstress too and the quilting attracted me from the beginning. But once I got to know the main character, it was her view of the world surrounding her that charmed me completely. Beautifully written.

Ludelphia Bennett is worried about her mom. After several miscarriages, Mama finally seems to be carrying a baby to term. But she is coughing a lot and looking weaker every day. When the baby comes early, Ludelphia doesn't know what to do. She asks their neighbor, Etta Mae, for help. But Etta Mae has a bad reputation since she came back to the little town of Gee's Bend, and everyone thinks she made things worse instead of better. When Mama gets sicker and sicker after the birth, Etta Mae challenges ten-year-old Ludelphia to go for help--in the next town over. Does Ludelphia have what it takes to leave Gee's Bend and make it back?

There is more to little Ludelphia than you would think at first glance. She has lived in the microscopic town show more of Gee's Bend all her life, but out of love for her mother she is willing to journey alone to the next town. Of course she meets unforeseen obstacles along the way, but she ultimately meets them head-on with all the grace she can muster. She must be a beautiful quilter as well. Her quilting is what helps her to think clearly. She accumulates little pieces of cloth along the way to make a quilt for Mama when she gets better. Each piece will tell a part of the story of her journey.

I really liked the sense of community that the people of Gee's Bend shared. Of course they didn't all get along, but they looked out for each other and shared the little they had.

My one complaint isn't even about the book itself. I read the Author's Note as well, and apparently this book is loosely based around some true events in the town's history. I would have liked a little more of an explanation about what happened. I'm sure I can go look it up on Wikipedia or something, but it would have been nice to have it right there in the book.

For a story about a memorable character set in a small community, give this one a try. show less

Ludelphia lives in Gee's Bend, an isolated community of share croppers in rural Alabama. Although her family struggles to make ends meet, Ludelphia finds joy in her stitching and in creating quilts that tell a story. When her mother becomes desperately ill, Ludelphia knows it's up to her to bring a doctor to Gee's Bend. Leaving her hometown for the first time in her life, Ludelphia ventures out with only her stitching in her pocket. Determined at first to save her mother, Ludelphia soon realizes that her entire community is in peril, and it's up to her to save them all.

I haven't read any Middle Grade books in years because I figured that at my age I would find them silly. Well I'm really glad I took a chance on this one. I enjoy reading books set in the South. There's something so realistic about them even when it's fiction.

Ludelphia is one of my favorite main characters. She's only ten but she's smart, and extremely courageous. At times she's a little naive but what ten-year-olds aren't? I'm glad the author captured the fact that even though she wasn't afraid of much, she still made mistakes that most kids make.

This novel is pretty much about Ludelphia's journey to get her sick mom some medicine. Some of the people she meets along the way are very helpful and kind. Other people she encounter appear show more to be helpful but may have other motives. She learns at her young age that not everyone can be trusted and that looks are sometimes deceiving. In the end, Ludelphia proved that no matter how young, sometimes you can still make a difference. I would definitely recommend this book to ages 9 and up. show less