Elvira’s family has never been the warm, fuzzy type. Most of the time, Elvira can’t stand the sight of her little sister, Kerrie. Elvir...
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reviews
Dec 23, 2008
Rory
rated it: 
Like "The Postcard" by Tony Abbott, which I also just read, this book went down smoothly enough--it had just enough well-rendered details, and a good group of believable, dynamic characters, and a strong enough sense of place, and was pitched perfectly to the 12-year-olds it was written for. But I was pretty bored reading it, and that made me realize something.
I often protest that children's and YA fiction can be just as good as the best stuff for adults. I don't want to r More...
I often protest that children's and YA fiction can be just as good as the best stuff for adults. I don't want to r More...
Jul 14, 2008
Kathleen
rated it:
It should be 3.5 stars but I still haven't figured out how to give to do half stars.
When a very pregnant Mel hears that her mother may be dying, she packs up her 13 year old daughter Elvira and 8 year old daughter Kerrie and heads to Memphis to be with the family. Mel and her husband Tony, an Elvis impersonator, have had a fight just a few days earlier so he is in Las Vegas with no idea that his girls are headed to a reunion which may be anything but happy.
While it was a More...
When a very pregnant Mel hears that her mother may be dying, she packs up her 13 year old daughter Elvira and 8 year old daughter Kerrie and heads to Memphis to be with the family. Mel and her husband Tony, an Elvis impersonator, have had a fight just a few days earlier so he is in Las Vegas with no idea that his girls are headed to a reunion which may be anything but happy.
While it was a More...
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Jun 28, 2009
Elizabeth
rated it:
This YA novel was not bad, but suffered from having great unmet potential. 12 year old Elvira, her mother, and her little sister take an impromptu trip to Memphis to visit a grandmother she has never met after her father, a former Elvis impersonator, has a mid-life crisis and takes off for Vegas. On the plus side, the characters are great and believable (and you believe they are a family, and the author as a good ear for dialogue. On the negative, the ending felt tacked on and yet managed to tou
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Jan 26, 2009
Kelly
rated it:
In this title, 13-year old Elvira, along with her mother and little sister, visits her mother's estranged family in Memphis after her father leaves for Vegas to compete in an Elvis impersonator contest/competition. We follow Elvira through a road trip, meeting family she's never before met, rebelling against her mother, and accepting her changing world.
Couloumbis does a great job developing her characters - they change and interact with each other in realistic ways and even the most More...
Couloumbis does a great job developing her characters - they change and interact with each other in realistic ways and even the most More...
Aug 11, 2008
Becky
rated it:
Couloumbis, Audrey. 2008. Love Me Tender.
"Early Friday afternoon, Daddy left mad.
He carried his guitar. The weather had turned so hot, the sweaty circles on his T-shirt looked like the wings of an insect against his back.
I followed him, dragging his duffel and panting, "Daddy, this thing is too heavy. What all are you carrying in here?"
What, besides his blue suede shoes and tight white jeans, did he need?"
The narrator of Love Me Te More...
"Early Friday afternoon, Daddy left mad.
He carried his guitar. The weather had turned so hot, the sweaty circles on his T-shirt looked like the wings of an insect against his back.
I followed him, dragging his duffel and panting, "Daddy, this thing is too heavy. What all are you carrying in here?"
What, besides his blue suede shoes and tight white jeans, did he need?"
The narrator of Love Me Te More...
Jan 04, 2009
Katherine
rated it:
Audience: ages 10-14
Recommend to: fans of Catherine Murdock and Sharon Creech
1. Love in families doesn't always look like what you expect it to, especially when you have three generations of stubborn women. Elvira's mother, Mel hasn't talked to her own family in years. In fact, 13-yr-old Elvira has never even met them. After their father heads to Las Vegas to enter an Elvis impersonator contest, Mel receives word that her mother is dying and she packs up the girls and heads h More...
Recommend to: fans of Catherine Murdock and Sharon Creech
1. Love in families doesn't always look like what you expect it to, especially when you have three generations of stubborn women. Elvira's mother, Mel hasn't talked to her own family in years. In fact, 13-yr-old Elvira has never even met them. After their father heads to Las Vegas to enter an Elvis impersonator contest, Mel receives word that her mother is dying and she packs up the girls and heads h More...
May 14, 2008
Tasha
rated it: 
Elvira's father has left to pursue his dream of being one of the great Elvis impersonators and her mother, Mel, has just received word that her mother is dying. So off they head to Memphis where Elvira and Kerrie will finally meet their maternal grandmother. But grandma isn't dying and her relationship with Mel is strained and bitter. Mel's sister Clare wants to put her mother in a nursing home, but Mel isn't sure that is necessary. As they spend more time with each other, the varied persona
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Jun 18, 2011
Tracie
rated it:
Elvira's mom hasn't spoken to or of her family for years. But when her father leaves after a fight and Mel (Elvira's mom) gets a call saying her mother is at death's door, the family packs up and sets off to meet that part of the family. Once there Elvira, still longing for her father, finds that family isn't always what you dreamed, but sometimes it's better than you hoped.
Jul 02, 2009
Jespera
rated it:
Elvira is the daughter of an Elvis impersonator/gardener and a free spirited mom she calls Mel. The story starts as her dad leaves for a competition after a fight with Mel who is expecting another child. Then a phone calls leads Mel to take her two daughters to her own home where they meet her mother and sister. I really like the relationships between the sisters and the dialog.
Nov 16, 2008
Makenna
rated it: 
this book is a amazing book.
when 13 year old elvira's mom, mel gets pregnant, her dad leaves the family to go enter a elvis impersinators contest. meanwhile, the family gets a strange message on the answering machine. it says "mother's time is coming" with out a hello or a goodbye. they decide to drive to nashville, where mel's mother lives. on the way, they encounter some things that aren't too great. elvira's little sister, kerrie gets some fake eyelashes stuck on her eyelashe More...
when 13 year old elvira's mom, mel gets pregnant, her dad leaves the family to go enter a elvis impersinators contest. meanwhile, the family gets a strange message on the answering machine. it says "mother's time is coming" with out a hello or a goodbye. they decide to drive to nashville, where mel's mother lives. on the way, they encounter some things that aren't too great. elvira's little sister, kerrie gets some fake eyelashes stuck on her eyelashe More...
Nov 02, 2009
Kim
rated it:
Elvira worryies about her family. Her father left after her parents had a fight. Her mom, who is pregnant, takes her and her younger sister to visit their grandma. Usually visiting your grandma is a good thing, but Elvira has never met her grandma because her mother had stopped talking to her.
Jun 06, 2008
Ryann
rated it:
Teen Elvira is left to take care of her pregnant mom and younger sister when her dad, an Elvis impersonator, takes off (after a fight with mom) to win a big competition in Las Vegas. When a cryptic message is left on the home machine that hints at a grandma's sickness, the girls hop in the truck and take off for Memphis, TN. The next couple of days are spent getting acquainted with a grandma they girls never met and dealing with the undefined absence of their father. It ends plausibly, with r
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Sep 21, 2008
george
rated it: 
The premise is that Elvira is thirteen years old. Her mother is pregnant and her father, an Elvis impersonator, has flown the coop to an Elvis competition in Vegas. Then the call comes that Mel's (that would be Elvira's mother) mother is about to die. So Mel, Elvira and little sister Kerrie hop in the car and drive to Memphis to see the mother Mel no longer has a relationship with and the grandmother the girls have never met.
Eh. I didn't really like it all that much. I mainly felt li More...
Eh. I didn't really like it all that much. I mainly felt li More...
Nov 11, 2011
Ashley
rated it:
Personally, I found the writing and the characters to be well done, but not much of a thrust to the story. Great for kids that stories about real-life, though.
Jun 13, 2008
Jennifer
rated it:
I liked, but did not love, this book. I enjoyed it more the further I got into it. It took me some time to get used to the way the characters in the family related to one another-- for awhile I just had to trust that the love really was there between all of them-- but there are some positive messages to be gained, and some funny passages as well.
Oct 31, 2008
April
rated it:
Possible Mock Newbery choice. Story about a family with a father that is an Elvis impersonator who leaves the family for a contest in Las Vegas and then the two sisters and there pregnant mother get an emergency call to go to Memphis where the girls meet their sometimes forgetful grandmother and eccentric aunt.
Apr 29, 2008
Linda
rated it:
Elvira's dad, an Elvis impersonator, heads to Vegas to hit the big time, leaving Elvira (13), her 8-year-old sister and her embarrassingly pregnant mother behind. The girls head to Memphis to see "the grandmother" (as Elvira calls her). Elvira's voice keeps this one going. 4.5 stars.
Jul 31, 2008
Mallory
rated it:
I didn't realize this was a kids' book when I bought it secondhand (oops) but it's a cute premise and a decent coming of age story. Suggest it to the 10-14 year old set of girls in your life; they'll be happy you did.
May 12, 2008
Megan
rated it:
This is a really cute story! What would you do if your dad was an Elvis impersonator who took off for Vegas and your mom took you on a long roadtrip to see your long-lost grandmother?
Jun 05, 2008
Hannah
rated it:
Turns out I'm not the only writer who thought a teenaged girl with an Elvis-impersonating father would be funny. Rats.
Aug 09, 2008
Marilyn
rated it:
Well-developed characters and a distinct voice/POV distinguished this book for me.
Oct 26, 2011
Sep 30, 2011
