Tallahassee Higgins

Rating:
Summary: VERY REALISTIC ! WONDERFUL BOOK
Review: I am a 25 year old playwright. I just read this book and I regret I hadn't read it when I was in grade school. It was very realstic and Mary Downing Hahn is an amazing author who blends suspense with a bit of horror ( somtimes) and adds a whole twist of reality. I recomend this book to grade school children and adults who haven't read t

Rating:
Summary: This is the BEST book!
Review: Tallahassee Higgins is possibly the greatest book out for teens these days. While I have read almost every single one of Mary Downing Hahn's books, I have to say, this is the one I enjoyed the most. It's both realistic and exciting at the same time. I think this will be the one book most teens can relate to. I certainly could!

Rating:
Summary: Fine book, though it could have been much better.
Review: Tallahassee Higgins reckon's she's got to be the unhappiest twelve-year-old in the world when her free-spirited, unconventional, flighty young mother Liz leaves her at an aunt and uncle's house while Liz goes off to Hollywood to hit it big. She does poorly in school, her only friend's mother hates her guts, and she has to have things like bedtimes and is made to do her homework. Tallahassee, who is not used to following rules, constantly argues with her Aunt Thelma over them. Every day she hopes Liz will hit it big and send for her.

There are two principal conflicts in the story. The first and most realistic in my opinion is Tallahassee's longing for her mother, longing to be with her. It is obvious to the reader and all the characters except Tallahassee herself that Liz is not going to pick her up anytime within the near future. Quite conceivably Tallahassee will be living with her aunt and uncle for years. Liz, like Kathy in Rainbow Jordan, loves her daughter in her own way but is not capable of taking care of her. And, like Rainbow, Tallahassee doesn't see this and regards her mother as something close to an angel. She's got a lot to learn.

The second conflict is Tallahassee's pondering as to who her father was. Liz never said. Tallahassee only knows that she isn't blonde and beautiful like her mom; she has freckles and big teeth and red hair. "You take after your father," Liz always said. Tallahassee never gave the matter much thought till she saw a photograph of Liz's long-dead childhood sweetheart who used to live in the neighborhood...and he looks just like her.

The young man, who was killed in Vietnam, does in fact turn out to be Tallahassee's father. However I think it would have been a better literary device if (a) Tallahassee hadn't been so sure and (b) Maybe he wasn't her real father after all, maybe it was coincidence. But she asked Liz when Liz came for a very short visit, and Liz told her the truth.

While the book does a good rendering of complicated family relationships and a child's love for her mother, I think it could have used some work...