PHILIP HALL LIKES ME. I RECKON MAYBE

by Bette Greene ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 1974

Beth figures that Philip Hall does like her, even if it's partly because she always lets him come first. But it's not until she has become number one best student and beat him out at the county fair calf-raising contest that he half admits it. It's Beth's determination to become a veterinarian that pushes her ahead in school -- ""Ain't nothin' wrong with ambition. The Lord Jesus had it aplenty,"" comments Ma, who also understands that ""being you, you couldn't hardly do nothin' but your best."" Even Dr. Brenner, offering to pay half her college tuition, beams that ""the whole town [of Pocahontas, Arkansas] is proud of this young 'un"" after she catches the turkey thieves in Pa's compound with only a BB gun. And Reverend Ross himself gives both approval and an important-sounding label, ""picket line,"" to her girls' club's boycott of a local merchant who refuses to refund their 89¢ each for T-shirts that shrank in the wash: ""Folks who is standing like one of God's own soldiers against the world's injustice is a picket line."" I reckon Philip Hall can't help liking spunky, expansive Beth despite his eleven-year-old bravado, and you'll like her too.

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1974

ISBN: 0141303123

Page Count: -

Publisher: Dial

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1974

Categories: FICTION