I bought this for my middle school library collection! Is a great addition to our Realistic genre section.

Loved this book. Must read for all middle and high schoolers. If you liked to kill a mockingbird you must read this book.

Incredible book filled with vivid characters and touching events. I especially enjoyed the relationship between Lyndie and her dad- very moving. DB is a humorous and sympathetic character who brings lightness, depth, and heart to the story. Lyndie is an engaging and admirable character that readers are sure to root for. Highly recommended.

Have your parents ever experienced adult problems that you just don't understand? Have you ever felt frustrated by being left in the dark when it comes to your family issues? Lyndie B. Hawkins is just such issues and she is about to blow her lid from all of the secrecy. All of her life she has had two loving parents, a great house, and a "normal" life. Then, when her dad came back from the Vietnam War everything changed. He didn't come back with any physical damage like so many others in their small town, but he did not come back the same as when he left. Things went from bad to worse when he lost his job. Her mom had to get a job and when she wasn't working she stayed locked up in her bedroom with headaches. The final breaking point was when they had to sell their house and move in with Lyndie's grandparents, Lady and Grandpa Tad. Lady is a very proper Southern lady who believes that family problems need to be swept under the rug and kept quiet from the gossiping small town. Things spiral out of control when she finds her dad hiding alcohol in his car and he walks around at night with a gun. All of this secrecy is killing Lyndie on the inside, but she is also having to cover for her family with her best friend, Dawn. Dawn is her only friend and all of the lying is driving a wedge between them. Then when Dawn informs her that her family is going to foster a juvenile delinquent boy named D.B, she thinks that she has lost her best friend forever. Little does Lyndie know that when the secrets of her family are exposed it will be an explosion that will affect not only her and her family, but the friends around her. Will Lyndie ever be able to confess to Dawn what is actually going on in her life? When it is finally revealed who D.B's foster family was, will this contribute to the explosion? Will Lady continue to cover up her family secrets or will she finally put away her pride so that her son can get help? Read this incredible story to find out the answers to these questions and so much more!

This book grabbed my heart and wouldn't let go until the last page. Growing up a southern girl myself, I can relate to the small town southern life. Lyndie had to endure more than any eleven-year-old girl should have to and I loved her southern grace. She knows when to keep her mouth shut but she also knows how to give some sass when it was appropriate. She can "bless your heart" and then be "madder than a wet hen" within "two shakes of a sheep's tail". Do not miss this story of family, friendship, love, and loyalty. This is a must read for 2019!!

Ahhh, this book was a bit of nostalgia. I read a lot of books when I was younger in which authors looked back to life changing times in their lives and wrote of that era. Mostly it was their tweens in the 60's and 70's. This one takes me back. I turned 14 in 1985, just slightly off from this story. I remember how the US was coming to terms with how horrible Vietnam was and that maybe we should be a little more honest with ourselves about our own history. Sure, that lesson still hasn't gotten to everyone, but it is out there.

Here we have Lyndie. Her entire life is changing. Not a thing staying the same. Her dad lost his job and his good friend. He is drinking more and more and he is thinking about his past. Mom has headaches and has lost her spark. She works and sleeps. They have lost their home and have to move back in with Dad's parents, controlling and proper Southern grandma and busy, avoiding grandpa. Lyndie is caring but confused. She loves history and the Civil War but she is realizing that our history may not be what we always thought it was, and neither is her own family.

Everyone in her life is more and more obsessed with their own agenda so Lyndie looks for distraction with a deer she names Velvet and the new kid in town DB. Tensions get stronger and stronger and you just know you are headed for an explosion. You watch everyone running full speed at each other completely unable to stop themselves.

Thank you to Gail Shepherd and the publishers for allowing me this copy to read and review. In a time when we are truly trying to understand the effects of trauma, especially on children, this is a nice addition to my library.

How many times in my life have I heard the phrase, "Kids are resilient?" I have said it myself, but in reading The True History of Lyndie B. Hawkins, I see how hollow and insufficient those words can be.

Lyndie is a character that is not unlike one of our other favorite characters in literature, Scout Finch. At 11, she is a little older than the character from To Kill a Mockingbird, but a self-awareness and strident personality shines through along with a thirst for knowledge and a straight moral compass. However, Lyndie is faced with different challenges while growing up in 1980s Tennessee. Her father has been recently laid off, and the family has been forced to sell their house and move in with Lyndie's grandparents. Her mother is mired in depression-like symptoms and her father is trying to drink away the pain of his service in the Vietnam War. Her grandmother, Lady, is caught between putting on a straight face for her granddaughter and ignoring the strife in her house, and trying to fix the two parents in pain.

And there is the normal daily life of a 7th grader that Lyndie is trying to navigate. She has conflicts with her best friend, Dawn, and a new boy named DB who has moved in with Dawn's family.  They all go to Convenant Academy, a place that at times is too strict for Lyndie's taste. Her life is filled with so many interests; she's a student of history, a person who cares deeply for animals and people in need. She possesses a wise voice that in some ways is wise beyond her years.

At one point, I thought that Shepherd was trying to pack too much into this book. Too many characters and conflicts for Lyndie to try to manage, but that's what makes it realistic. Kids experience these trials and at times hear and see things they are not suppose to, but Lyndie is unmovable and fights back against each challenge.

Shepherd has written a book that looks sharply at a family in trouble and a strong girl who finds a way to rise through the storm.

4.5 out of 5 stars.

Gail Shepherd's debut middle grade novel, The True History of Lyndie B. Hawkins, is a poignant, well-written story of an eleven-year-old girl whose life is turned upside down when her little family of three has to move in with her grandparents, Lady and Grandpa Tad. Lyndie, named for President Lyndon Baines Johnson, doesn't understand why her father lost his job and is acting weird, and why her mother has headaches all the time. Used to a more free spirited household, where her dog Hoopdee gets to sleep on her bed, she fights against the schedules her grandmother Lady imposes upon her.

Lyndie's voice throughout the book is wonderfully written. You can feel the southern lilt in not just the dialog, but also in the narrative. Her voice is fresh and mature for an eleven year old whose passion is books and history. Lyndie's best friend Dawn and her new friend D.B. help give Lyndie depth and show the many facets of the growing pre-teen.

This middle grade novel eloquently looks at how families are affected by PTSD - Lyndie's father is a Vietnam war veteran, and this fact colors much of his behavior in the book. Through Shepherd's skillful storytelling, Lyndie explores how lies and truth can affect the world around her, and the importance of understanding to whom to be loyal.

This is a wonderful debut novel, and I look forward to more from Gail Shepherd.