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Iva Honeysuckle #1
Iva Honeysuckle Discovers the World
Eight-year-old Iva Honeycutt is sure that she’s destined for greatness. And this summer Iva has big plans to make her first great finding General Braddock’s treasure, which was buried somewhere in her small town of Uncertain, Virginia during the French and Indian War. And to make sure she's up to the task, she invents a new name for her discoverer self, Iva Honeysuckle.
Still, even a great discoverer can hit a few bumps on the road. Like Iva’s bossy double-first cousin, Heaven. And her great-great-grandfather Ludwell’s treasure map not exactly being crystal clear. And on top of it all, her supposedly trusty dog, Sweetlips, falling asleep on the job. Must Iva do everything on her own?
Candice Ransom and Heather Ross have created a sweet, self-assured and completely irrepressible heroine in Iva.
Still, even a great discoverer can hit a few bumps on the road. Like Iva’s bossy double-first cousin, Heaven. And her great-great-grandfather Ludwell’s treasure map not exactly being crystal clear. And on top of it all, her supposedly trusty dog, Sweetlips, falling asleep on the job. Must Iva do everything on her own?
Candice Ransom and Heather Ross have created a sweet, self-assured and completely irrepressible heroine in Iva.
160 pages, Hardcover
First published April 10, 2012
47 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
November 15, 2012
Sometimes you want to put aside all the nastiness and ugly in the world and step into a gentler place. Iva Honeycutt's world is that kind of gentler place for me. Church and praying is a natural part of life, kids go to vacation church school (which I assume is the equivalent of Vacation Bible School here in Oklahoma), where the teacher uses a flannel board to tell Bible stories, families are close, and I would imagine their town sheriff is someone like Mayberry's Andy Taylor.
This doesn't mean Iva is a perfect kid, though. The young adventurer gets angry and annoyed often, mostly at her double-first-cousin Heaven, who always seems to be in Iva's way and who never seems to stop talking. Iva is determined to use her time this summer to find a treasure from the French & Indian War. Her great-great-grandfather Ludwell Honeycutt left a hand-drawn map showing the location of a cannon full of gold, buried in Uncertain, Virginia by General Braddock centuries before. All Iva has to do is find the right stream by the right road, then she can dig her way to riches, fame, and fortune. Since she's always aspired to be a discoverer, Iva is pretty excited about the fame part.
I will admit, I am a sucker for southern-style stories with uniquely-named, quirky characters (if they're not too ridiculous). Get a load of some of the population of Iva's world: her sisters, Lily Pearl and Arden; Mr. & Mrs. Priddy, who own Priddy's Taxidermy & Cake Decorating, a business with a blue line painted down the middle of the floor to separate the two halves of the store because the married owners haven't spoken to each other for years; Swannanoah Priddy, who runs the town dump; her neighbor-lady and friend, whose first name is Walser; Iva's dog, Sweetlips; and the man with the most fun name to say, Euple Free, a cool guy with a cool pick-up truck. Say it: Euple Free. Sounds like something you're looking for in quality health foods. So delicious! And it's EUPLE-FREE!
I like Iva. She's got spunk. I'd like to dig for treasure right alongside her. I like her town, Uncertain, and I like her family and her world. Seems a pretty good place to be.
This doesn't mean Iva is a perfect kid, though. The young adventurer gets angry and annoyed often, mostly at her double-first-cousin Heaven, who always seems to be in Iva's way and who never seems to stop talking. Iva is determined to use her time this summer to find a treasure from the French & Indian War. Her great-great-grandfather Ludwell Honeycutt left a hand-drawn map showing the location of a cannon full of gold, buried in Uncertain, Virginia by General Braddock centuries before. All Iva has to do is find the right stream by the right road, then she can dig her way to riches, fame, and fortune. Since she's always aspired to be a discoverer, Iva is pretty excited about the fame part.
I will admit, I am a sucker for southern-style stories with uniquely-named, quirky characters (if they're not too ridiculous). Get a load of some of the population of Iva's world: her sisters, Lily Pearl and Arden; Mr. & Mrs. Priddy, who own Priddy's Taxidermy & Cake Decorating, a business with a blue line painted down the middle of the floor to separate the two halves of the store because the married owners haven't spoken to each other for years; Swannanoah Priddy, who runs the town dump; her neighbor-lady and friend, whose first name is Walser; Iva's dog, Sweetlips; and the man with the most fun name to say, Euple Free, a cool guy with a cool pick-up truck. Say it: Euple Free. Sounds like something you're looking for in quality health foods. So delicious! And it's EUPLE-FREE!
I like Iva. She's got spunk. I'd like to dig for treasure right alongside her. I like her town, Uncertain, and I like her family and her world. Seems a pretty good place to be.
April 24, 2025
The start of this book was so promising with the protagonist, a young girl lecturing the crayons in her crayon box. But it quickly descended into modern unpleasantness with petty quarrels, too quirky characters, and sibling snark. What really sunk this book was its stereotyping of religion and religious characters. I will have to look elsewhere for worthy realistic fiction to recommend to the middle grade girls I know.
August 7, 2023
Hostile tone. Not the kind of thinking I want kids to learn from the books I supply.
December 19, 2016
va Honeysuckle Discovers the World is a realistic fiction novel set in Virginia in which Iva Honeycutt attempts to uncover buried treasure she believes was left behind by her great-grandfather, Ludwell. To avoid being associated with her “double-first cousin,” Heaven, who is a cruel tattle-tale, Iva takes on the last name Honeysuckle in the hopes that when her name appears in the local newspaper after her great discovery no one will associate her with her cousin. Instead of fame and fortune, however, Iva’s summer brings frustration, as Heaven becomes close to Miz Compton, the church school teacher Iva has always considered her best friend, and pushes her to the breaking point with her snobby attitude.
Iva’s hometown of Uncertain, Virginia is similar in many ways to other quirky small towns depicted in children’s fiction, such as Hard Pan from The Higher Power of Lucky, and Naomi, from Because of Winn Dixie. Uncertain is populated by interesting, larger than life minor characters with strange names like Swannanoah and Euple, and places like the junkyard and a taxidermy and cake decorating shop are just some of the bizarre stopping points on Iva’s expedition. Iva’s family dynamic is also on the unusual side. Her mother and Heaven’s mother are sisters, and her father and Heaven’s father are brothers. Each of the girls’ siblings is paired off into a perfect cousin-to-cousin best friendship, with only Iva and Heaven struggling to connect. This difficult relationship is the main focus of the entire story, and I think the passages I enjoyed reading most were the ones where the quirky setting took a backseat to the complicated interactions between these two girls who want to like each other, even underneath the bad feelings that exist between them.
Iva Honeysuckle Discovers the World compares well to the Kylie Jean books by Marci Peschke, which focus on another Southern girl with a strong personality. I didn’t have a very strong connection to the story myself, because I got kind of bogged down in the eccentricities of the town and its residents, but I think kids, who haven’t read Fannie Flagg’s and Rebecca Wells’s novels, might find these elements much fresher than I did. If nothing else, girls will certainly understand the desire for a best friend, the frustration of being shown up by an enemy, and the wish to make a great discovery no one else has ever made before. Also, a bonus for children’s librarians - there is an entire chapter devoted to an incident with a flannel board. I have to admit that it was my favorite part of the entire story!
Iva’s hometown of Uncertain, Virginia is similar in many ways to other quirky small towns depicted in children’s fiction, such as Hard Pan from The Higher Power of Lucky, and Naomi, from Because of Winn Dixie. Uncertain is populated by interesting, larger than life minor characters with strange names like Swannanoah and Euple, and places like the junkyard and a taxidermy and cake decorating shop are just some of the bizarre stopping points on Iva’s expedition. Iva’s family dynamic is also on the unusual side. Her mother and Heaven’s mother are sisters, and her father and Heaven’s father are brothers. Each of the girls’ siblings is paired off into a perfect cousin-to-cousin best friendship, with only Iva and Heaven struggling to connect. This difficult relationship is the main focus of the entire story, and I think the passages I enjoyed reading most were the ones where the quirky setting took a backseat to the complicated interactions between these two girls who want to like each other, even underneath the bad feelings that exist between them.
Iva Honeysuckle Discovers the World compares well to the Kylie Jean books by Marci Peschke, which focus on another Southern girl with a strong personality. I didn’t have a very strong connection to the story myself, because I got kind of bogged down in the eccentricities of the town and its residents, but I think kids, who haven’t read Fannie Flagg’s and Rebecca Wells’s novels, might find these elements much fresher than I did. If nothing else, girls will certainly understand the desire for a best friend, the frustration of being shown up by an enemy, and the wish to make a great discovery no one else has ever made before. Also, a bonus for children’s librarians - there is an entire chapter devoted to an incident with a flannel board. I have to admit that it was my favorite part of the entire story!
August 31, 2012
Iva longs for adventure. Iva wants to do amazing things, but Iva is in the middle and that makes achieving greatness a challenge. You see her mom and her aunt married brothers and planned to have children (double- first cousins) who would grow up to be best friends and neighbors. That worked for her older sister, Arden and cousin, Hunter. It worked for little sister, Lily Pearl and cousin, Howard. But it did not work for Iva and her bossy, rule-following, perfect cousin, Heaven.
Summer is here and Iva has decided this is her opportunity to make important discoveries. Recently while her dad was cleaning out the attic he found some interesting artifacts: a small black journal containing tire pressure records, a geography bee medal dated 1923 and a stack of magazines. These things had once belonged to her great grandfather and reading through the old National Geographic magazines, Iva discovered a map. It seems to show where General Braddock had stopped in Uncertain, Virginia (the very town Iva lives in now) and had buried a cannon full of gold. The weight needed to be left behind so his troops could move more quickly to battle. That treasure has been waiting in the ground for over two hundred years and Iva is determined it will be found.
Iva’s plans for the summer are set, but things don’t go as smoothly as planned. It’s hard to discover things on your own. It takes time to avoid people – Iva will do most anything to keep away from Heaven. Iva’s mom thinks she should be nicer to her cousin. She thinks she should do things with her so she has a friend, but Heaven is always in the way and she never wants to do anything of interest. First there is the yard sale, then there’s the kitten and then Iva’s only friend, Mrs. Compton becomes Heaven’s friend too. Iva doesn’t know what to do or how to take Mrs. Compton’s advice, “If you are a friend you’ll have a friend.”
You’ll have to read Iva Honeysuckle Discovers the World to find out about the discoveries that are made. There’s more than one, and while they may not surprise you, you’ll be glad to have Iva Honeysuckle as an explorer friend.
Summer is here and Iva has decided this is her opportunity to make important discoveries. Recently while her dad was cleaning out the attic he found some interesting artifacts: a small black journal containing tire pressure records, a geography bee medal dated 1923 and a stack of magazines. These things had once belonged to her great grandfather and reading through the old National Geographic magazines, Iva discovered a map. It seems to show where General Braddock had stopped in Uncertain, Virginia (the very town Iva lives in now) and had buried a cannon full of gold. The weight needed to be left behind so his troops could move more quickly to battle. That treasure has been waiting in the ground for over two hundred years and Iva is determined it will be found.
Iva’s plans for the summer are set, but things don’t go as smoothly as planned. It’s hard to discover things on your own. It takes time to avoid people – Iva will do most anything to keep away from Heaven. Iva’s mom thinks she should be nicer to her cousin. She thinks she should do things with her so she has a friend, but Heaven is always in the way and she never wants to do anything of interest. First there is the yard sale, then there’s the kitten and then Iva’s only friend, Mrs. Compton becomes Heaven’s friend too. Iva doesn’t know what to do or how to take Mrs. Compton’s advice, “If you are a friend you’ll have a friend.”
You’ll have to read Iva Honeysuckle Discovers the World to find out about the discoveries that are made. There’s more than one, and while they may not surprise you, you’ll be glad to have Iva Honeysuckle as an explorer friend.
March 9, 2014
I definitely enjoyed meeting Iva and Heaven Honeycutt. These two are double first cousins. There is a LOT of tension in their relationship. Their mothers (Aunt Sissy and Aunt Sissy Two) wanted to time their pregnancies so that all their children could be best friends with each other. Arden and Lily Pearl are Iva's sisters. Hunter and Howard are Heaven's sister and brother. Ransom does a great job at bringing ALL six children to life in her book. Both families feel completely believable. I also enjoyed the community that this one is set in. Several neighbors enter into the story in lovely ways.
Iva and Heaven are different. Different from one another, yes, but also different from other children their own age. Neither girl truly excels in making and keeping friends.
Heaven loves going to yard sales. She likes buying things for her hope chest. When she's not looking for embroidered pillow cases and other dainty household items, she might be found praying or assisting with vacation church school.
Iva dreams of being an adventurer, she longs to discover something WONDERFUL in her hometown of Uncertain, Virginia. She has a plan. Once this girl has a plan, she likes to STICK to it. But it isn't always easy to stick to plans when plans don't take into account every little thing!
This is a summer adventure. I would definitely recommend this one!
Iva and Heaven are different. Different from one another, yes, but also different from other children their own age. Neither girl truly excels in making and keeping friends.
Heaven loves going to yard sales. She likes buying things for her hope chest. When she's not looking for embroidered pillow cases and other dainty household items, she might be found praying or assisting with vacation church school.
Iva dreams of being an adventurer, she longs to discover something WONDERFUL in her hometown of Uncertain, Virginia. She has a plan. Once this girl has a plan, she likes to STICK to it. But it isn't always easy to stick to plans when plans don't take into account every little thing!
This is a summer adventure. I would definitely recommend this one!
July 24, 2013
Iva's mother and her sister married brothers. They then had the awesome plan of having their children as close to each other as possible so the kids could grow up with an instant best friend. It worked for the most part. They had three sets of "double first cousins". The best friend part didn't work out so well with the middle set. Iva and Heaven can't be more different from each other. Iva Honeycutt (or Honeysuckle as she prefers to be called) is determined to follow in her great-grandfather's adventurous footsteps. She is the only one in the family who doesn't think he was a crackpot. She believes he knew where a real buried treasure was located and she has the map to prove it. But this isn't just a story about buried treasure and one young girl's search for it. It is more importantly a story of that self-same little girl learning to be a friend, so she could have friends.
September 29, 2012
Iva Honeysuckle is one of my new favorite eight-year-olds. It's the summer after third grade, and Iva is determined to find the treasure that her great-grandfather searched for during his lifetime, and to cement her reputation as a discoverer. Standing in her way are a bossy older sister, a younger sister prone to running around the house with no clothes on, and her nemesis-- her cousin Heaven, whose idea of a good time is hitting yard sales and bossing everyone around at vacation bible school. A cast of quirky characters helps bring the town of Uncertain, Virginia to life. Kids who have outgrown Junie B. and moved on to such spunky heroines as Clementine and Just Grace will enjoy getting to know Iva.
March 9, 2012
This book was fairly interesting, but it was rather short. I liked the spunk of Iva Honeysuckle, but felt like the story was a little too predictable. I enjoyed some of the conversations between the characters and thought there were some cute and humorous moments, but nearly enough to complete the story. I didn't feel like i was relatable or interesting enough to become a family favorite. It didn't feel fleshed out and I wasn't really engaged in the story. Probably wouldn't recommend.
*Taken from my book reviews blog: http://reviewsatmse.blogspot.com/2012...
*Taken from my book reviews blog: http://reviewsatmse.blogspot.com/2012...
July 16, 2012
"Iva Honeysuckle Discovers the World" is about a girl named Iva Honeycutt(she calls herself Iva Honeysuckle) who wants to find General Braddock's gold buried in Uncertain, Virginia. She has an enemy: her cousin, Heaven Honeycutt. Heaven wants to get Braddock's gold for her own. Will Iva let her, not let her, or just let her help? Will Iva find General Braddock's gold. . . . . or will she not?
I love this book because it was so intriguing. I just couldn't put it down. I recommend this book to anyone that wants to read a good adventure book.
I love this book because it was so intriguing. I just couldn't put it down. I recommend this book to anyone that wants to read a good adventure book.
August 30, 2011
sweet little book about a girl who really wants to be an explorer and her cousin who is way to perfect for her. lots of conflict (the two families planned on having their kids at the same time so they'd have built-in friends) between them but ultimately everything works out. I liked it and Candice Ransom is the queen of the middle reader group, the 2nd grade readers, and her books often deal with the issues of how to get along. good stuff.
May 13, 2012
This is a delightful story about the rivalry of two double first cousins. It is so on target that you can't help laughing and wondering if you ever acted like miss Iva and Miss Heaven. It wasn't an easy trip to the conclusion, and one wonders if Iva and Heaven have more adventures in store Ms. Ransom?
June 14, 2012
Iva lives in Uncertain, Virginia, and that's the world she sets out to discover. This was a charming story about discovery: of oneself and the others around you, particularly family whom we often take for granted. A good read for fourth and fifth graders.
August 18, 2012
I am tempted to take this home to my 13 year old. The characters are young for her, but the eccentric neighbors and Iva's frustrations are so well done, I'm betting she'd enjoy it. Give this to girls who read Judy Moody, Piper Reed, Just Grace and the like.
January 8, 2013
I was hooked when she personified her 64 crayons. Bluegreen had to sit in time out at the back of the box because his wrapper was peeled.
Or...she was so close to her pesky double cousin, Heaven, that when Heaven sneezed, Iva reached for a kleenex.
Or...she was so close to her pesky double cousin, Heaven, that when Heaven sneezed, Iva reached for a kleenex.
May 12, 2014
What a great book filled with humor and southern charm! While I’m still disappointed with this books serious lack of diversity, it’s almost understandable because it mostly features a large extended family of double cousins (whose mothers married brothers).
January 26, 2017
Not bad. I only read this book because i was bored with the book i was currently reading, it's about a girl named Iva Honeycutt. Iva goes looking for treasure her great grandfather buried, she also gets help from her cousin, Heaven.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 4, 2012
Fun and adventurous. A quick read and a nice story about friendship and family that isn't sappy but hits all the right points.
November 7, 2013
Will recommend to families wanting a "gentle" read.
January 5, 2016
I loved this feisty little character. Good series book for a 2nd or 3rd grader.
November 26, 2014
Writing is fine, I just wasn't into the voice.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews