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    The Mighty Miss Malone
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    The Mighty Miss Malone
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    The Mighty Miss Malone
    Audiobook7 hours

    The Mighty Miss Malone

    Written by Christopher Paul Curtis

    Narrated by Bahni Turpin

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    In the Newbery Medal and Coretta Scott King Award-winning Bud, Not Buddy, Bud met a girl named Deza Malone in a Hooverville. This is her story.

    "We are a family on a journey to a place called wonderful" is the motto of Deza Malone's family. Deza is the smartest girl in her class in Gary, Indiana, singled out by teachers for a special path in life. But the Great Depression has hit Gary hard, and there are no jobs for black men. When her beloved father leaves to find work, Deza, Mother, and her older brother Jimmie go in search of him, and end up in a Hooverville outside Flint, Michigan. Jimmie's beautiful voice inspires him to leave the camp to be a performer, while Deza and Mother find a new home, and cling to the hope that they will find Father. The twists and turns of their story reveal the devastation of the Depression and prove that Deza truly is the Mighty Miss Malone.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateJan 24, 2012
    ISBN9780307968234
    Unavailable
    The Mighty Miss Malone

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    Reviews for The Mighty Miss Malone

    4/5

    169 ratings27 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Deza Malone (deh'-zah, don't call her dee'-zah!) is a tough, and extremely smart black girl growing up in Gary, Ind., during the Great Depression. The book is divided into three parts. Part 1, which is over half the book, introduces Deza and her family, her proud, serious mother, Peg; her loving, silly father, Raymond; and her tough but stunted older brother, Jimmy, who sings like an angel. We learn about their life in Indiana, the hardships they face because of the depression, and their strength as a family. At the end of Part 1, Raymond has left Gary to find work in Flint, Mich., and the remaining family is evicted from their home. They decide to go to Flint to hunt for their husband and father. In Part II, Deza, Jimmy and Peg are living in a Hooverville camp outside Flint. This takes up most of the remainder of the novel. Part III gets the family back on their feet again in most ways, but felt rushed. I would have liked the final section to spend a little longer getting where it was headed.Deza is a delightful (if somewhat boastful) protagonist, and you will root for her all the way.
    • 4/5
      What an enjoyable read! This is story of Deza Malone, an intelligent, vivacious, African American 12-year-old girl, trying to survive the Great Depression with her family. I enjoyed it very much and learned a lot too :)
    • 4/5
      I really liked this book. Deza is a good female character. I think my nitpicks with this book have to do with the fact that I am an adult reading a children's book so that affects my perspective somewhat. I would have loved Deza as a child.
    • 4/5
      This book was not what I expected, but in a good way. Christopher Paul Curtis handles some challenging issues: discrimination, poverty, separation. But he manages to do so in such a way that the reader does not feel bogged down, but instead feels encouraged by Deza's strong spirit and adaptability. Even with an ending that doesn't answer all the questions, you're left with a feeling of hope and pride in the way the Malone family survives.
    • 3/5
      I liked this, but I've seen it on the short list for the Newbery and I don't think it's quite that good. I did like the dental aspect though. That was new and different.
    • 2/5
      "We are a family on a journey to a place called wonderful" is the motto of Deza Malone's family. Deza is the smartest girl in her class in Gary, Indiana, singled out by teachers for a special path in life. But the Great Depression hit Gary hard, and there are no jobs for black men. When her beloved father leaves to find work, Deza, Mother, and her older brother Jimmie go in search of him, and end up in a Hooverville outside Flint, Michigan. Jimmie's beautiful voice inspires him to leave the camp to be a performer, while Deza and Mother find a new home, and cling to the hope that they will find Father. The twists and turns of their story reveal the devastation of the Depression and prove that Deza truly is the Mighty Miss Malone.
    • 5/5
      Slated as a possible 2013 Newbery medal winner, this book is well deserving of that honor...if indeed it is chosen.A stand alone sequel to Bud, Not Buddy, the character of Deza Malone was first introduced in that book.Life was brutal during the depression, and exceedingly so for poor black families. Work was hard to find and the author accurately portrays the difficulty of finding work if you were white, and almost impossible, if your skin color was black.Poor in finances, but rich in the solidarity of family and in the concept of hope, we see the Malone family through spunky, intelligent and sensitive twelve year old Deza's eyes.Her brother Jimmie is a hair's length away from embracing a path with near do wells. Her father is loving and kind but his spirits are severely depressed because he cannot support his family. In addition, he is haunted by memories of a fishing trip wherein he was one of few who returned. Deza's mother is solid, loving and nurturing.Deza is very smart and at the top of her class. She and her family have high hopes.When their father leaves Gary Indiana to search for work in Flint, things spiral out of control. After months with no contact from him, Deza and her family journey to find him. Riding the rail cars, sleeping in shanty shacks and meeting a host of characters, Deza proves to be the Mighty Miss Malone.This is an incredible story written by the hands of a master story teller. Not only does Christopher Paul Curtis portray the hardship of the depression, but he has an incredible ability to accurately depict poverty and loss and the brutal day - day existence.With the backdrop of the importance of the Joe Louis - Max Schmeling boxing matches, this book packs a whallop of poignancy.Five Stars
    • 4/5
      Three and half stars? Four? I liked this book, but I was always aware it was a STORY as opposed to something that could have happened to a real person. I did love the details about daily life during the Depression, and enjoyed the Gary and Flint settings. The camp was awesome, um, in a way that you're probably not supposed to think that camps of homeless people are awesome. It's just that all those little details of a kid making a home from scratch are downright irresistible (one of my favorite books as a kid was one of those Scholastic paperbacks, about a Mexican family that made a home in an old boxcar, and I LOVED it). The aspect that worked the least for me was the seriousness of the father's situation -- it kept getting worse and worse, and I don't know if it didn't feel believable to start with, or it wore me down to the point that I didn't feel the impact as much, but my impression was that his situation was exactly as bad as the plot needed him to be at any particular moment.I'm still thinking upon some of Deza's more impulsive moments. The book doesn't show a lot of consequences for them. She punched a grown man at a night club? You'd think there would be some more follow up to this, either this has ramifications for her brother, or it's so silly to think of a 12 year old girl trying to punch a club bouncer that the story becomes hilarious. Instead, it just ... happens. I guess this is a Christopher Paul Curtis thing -- if Deza isn't aware of it, or thinking about it, the reader doesn't get to see it either. I've never read The Quest of the Silver Fleece and I think I should.
    • 5/5
      This is an intriguing story and an enjoyable read. The author has incredible voice!
    • 3/5
      Growing up in Gary, IN in 1936, spunky and optimistic Deza Malone remains focused on her straight-A+ status and goal of becoming a teacher one day. None-the-less, the Great Depression is taking its toll on her family. They get by on her mother's housing-keeping wages, but Deza's teeth are rotting and her brother Jimmie hasn't grown in three years. Deza's father heads out to Flint, MI to find work, and when the Malones wait for months without hearing from him, they set out after him. Their journey takes them through the not-uncommon scenes of the times-- train jumping, Hoovervilles, speakeasies, poorhouses. Though rich in detail, the involved plot gets muddled at times along the way (we hear of a dentist at the beginning who will fix Deza's teeth, but nothing comes of that until the very end of the book). Curtis has fun with language, using Deza's love of her thesaurus and alliterative father to explore a wide vocabulary. A wonderful jumping off point for further classroom lessons on the poverty and other realities of the Great Depression, as well as the importance of family. Recommended for grades 4-8.
    • 3/5
      Deza Malone's biggest concern is getting straight A+'s on her schoolwork until her father is in a boating accident and she learns that their family will have to move to Flint, Michigan in the hopes that he can find work. Finding work is not an easy proposition for an African American man in 1936, the throes of the Great Depression. As Deza finds out, the best-laid plans oft go awry. But Deza won't let anything dampen her spark. The book started off slowly, but it picked up when the family left Gary. I'm not entirely convinced about the female voice - I found Deza obnoxious instead of funny for the first half of the book, but as she started to grow up a little and there was more action in the plot, the voice worked better for me. Mr. Curtis makes a great point in the second half of the book about kids seeing themselves in the stories they read. I know just the young lady I want to hand this book to.
    • 4/5
      Very like Bud, Not Buddy: rundown but determined young protagonist, miserable life circumstances alleviated by the power music (and it's power to make money), and authentic period details about place and poverty. Joe Louis subplot mostly effective, and a wonderful glimpse at an important American moment.
    • 4/5
      In Bud, Not Buddy, Bud met a precocious girl at a camp next to a railroad track near Flint, Michigan. That girl was Deza Malone and this is her story.It’s the Great Depression, and times are hard in Gary, Indiana, where the Malone family lives. Mr Malone has a hard time finding work; the few jobs available don’t go to black men like him. He makes the difficult decision to leave for Flint, Michigan, where he’s heard there may be a job. But when the family doesn’t hear from him for weeks, Mrs Malone decides to take Deza and her older brother Jimmie, and go looking for him. I just love Deza Malone! She’s smart, courageous, resilient and big-hearted. The family’s journey is perilous at times, and Mrs Malone’s worry is well-founded. But they also have moments of joy, and meet with kindness and compassion from total strangers. There are many twists and turns in their journey, but they continue on despite any setbacks, certain that their destination is “a place called Wonderful” and that together, they will make it there. Middle-grade readers will learn some history and how people dealt with homelessness, hunger and racism in that era. Curtis also give a strong message on the power of family unity, of working together for a common goal, and of never giving up your dreams.
    • 3/5
      Narrated by Bahni Turpin. Like many families during the Great Depression, Deza's family is having its struggles, especially after her father is injured in a boating accident. Roscoe Malone is forced to leave Gary, Indiana, to find work in Flint, Michigan. Deza and her mother and brother journey to Flint to find him, along the way living in a homeless camp for several months. Turpin gives a pert and sympathetic voice to Mighty Deza Malone, a smart little girl who just wants her family reunited. The James-Cagney-like voice Turpin gives Deza's conniving "second brain" is especially amusing.
    • 5/5
      I am totally in love with this book, even though it broke my heart. Gah, Feelings. (Better review TBD after the Feelings turn into regular feelings that I can articulate.)
    • 5/5
      Right out the gate, I'd like to say that Ms. Turpin should perform all the audiobooks. This was the most exceptional single-narrator performance I've ever had the pleasure of hearing. She had me utterly convinced throughout that every character and every emotion was real. I couldn't honestly tell you how much of the book was amazing because Mr. Curtis is an exceptional author and how much was because she nailed the performance. As for the story itself, it is a magnificent piece of middle-grade historical fiction. It weaves the suffering of the Great Depression, especially as experienced by African Americans, into a powerful narrative of one family's struggle to survive. It also touches on the significance of the 1936 boxing match between Joe Louis and Max Schmeling. It is heartbreaking at times and uplifting at others. It speaks to the power of hope, family, optimism, and perseverance. It examines the racism of the time through a prism that allows you to better see the racism of our time. This may well be one of the finest works of children's historical fiction ever produced. Adults would be remiss to bypass this one simply because of the reading level.Do NOT skip the afterword either. Mr. Curtis expands on the social significance of the boxing match in addition to addressing his concerns about income inequality and poverty in this country.
    • 5/5
      It's the spring of 1936, and America is in the grips of the Great Depression. Across the country, sports fans are hanging their hopes on the upcoming boxing bout between Joe Louis and German champion Max Schmeling. And in Gary, Indiana, Deza Malone's family is getting by, if only just. Her father was laid off at the factory, but her mother has a steady job cleaning for the manager of the local bank. Deza is busy with her normal pursuits: getting top marks in school and attempting to read every book in the Gary Public Library. But, in such precarious times, even a small disaster can topple a family's security. When one such disaster strikes the Malone family, can they rise above it?I've really enjoyed every book I've read by Christopher Paul Curtis, and this was no exception. I found it a little darker and more sobering than some of his books, though it still contains sparks of his trademark humor. As always, Curtis has the ability to create characters one really cares about. I loved the family dynamics in the Malone family, and the way Curtis explored those dynamics as the family underwent trials and hardships. I listened to the audiobook version of this story, and narrator Bahni Turpin did an excellent job as always -- as I listen to more and more audiobooks, she is one of the names I'm starting to watch for. I highly recommend this book, especially as an audiobook.
    • 5/5
      This book made me cry. A story of a girl with so much potential, but her family's circumstances are her obstacles in life.
    • 5/5
      Deza Malone is the smartest girl at her school in Gary, Indiana. She loves everything about school and checks out books from her local library regularly. Deza’s older brother, Jimmie, excels at singing and has a voice like an angel. Sadly, he hasn’t grown since he was twelve, and now people think he's her younger brother. Unfortunately, the Great Depression has hit the Malone family hard and they don’t have the money to take Jimmie to a special doctor to find out what’s going on. Mr. Malone has been out of work and Mrs. Malone works as a housekeeper, but this barely keeps a roof over their heads and a small amount of food on the table. After a tragic accident, Father seems different, until the big fight between Joe Louis and Max Schmeling is about to take place. Deza doesn’t understand it, but there’s hope everywhere. She thinks the fight is stupid until her father explains it to her and how important it is that there is an arena in which the color of skin doesn’t matter. Everyone is certain they know how the fight will end, and after it is over Mr. Malone decides he needs to leave Gary and look for a job in Flint, Michigan. It isn’t long after when their landlord kicks the rest of the Malones out of their house. Leaving behind her school, her best friend, and the only life she has ever known is painful for Deza. Still, she moves with her mother to a Hooverville in Flint hoping to find her father and be united as a family again. Will they ever find Deza’s father? Is it possible to survive without money for food or shelter? Does Deza have enough hope and perseverance to continue on? Don’t miss this trip back in history, because you won’t be able to put it down!

      I read Bud, Not Buddy, by Christopher Paul Curtis and fell in love with it. I couldn’t wait to read The Mighty Miss Malone and I was not disappointed. Deza is an inspirational character because she keeps trying and does her best to stay positive no matter what. Whenever I read about the Great Depression I am amazed that people survived, especially with so many struggles. My heart went out to Deza and her family and all that they went though. Reading about the Malones was so much fun because of their relationship with each other. Seeing how hard life was for Deza made me think about all the things I take for granted and how lucky I am to have food, shelter, clothes, and even frivolous items. Sadly, there were people in the book who were prejudiced against Deza and her family because of their skin color, and when they said things to her like, “You are a credit to your race” they didn’t realize they were letting Deza know they were someone judgmental who couldn’t be trusted. I especially like how the author showed us that we often misjudge people or situations because we think we know what's going on, but really we bring our own bias with us. Reading the “Afterward” I was surprised at the information I learned and how I had misjudged a situation in the book. It’s awesome when you can read a book, fall into another time and place, and learn an important lesson. I would recommend this book to people in grades four and up who like historical fiction and characters with heart. I will certainly read anything by this author!
    • 4/5
      Deza Malone is a verbose and intelligent young lady who dreams of writing and is part of a close-knit black family living in Gary, Indiana. But the Depression has her father, along with most black men in their town, out of work, and the family soon finds themselves making huge sacrifices to make ends meet.Blending humor and a strong heroine with serious topics of poverty and racism, The Mighty Miss Malone covers a lot of ground for such a short book. I liked Deza, and her growth over the year or so that the events take place. I was a little confused about her brother, Jimmie, as he's a few years older than her, yet she often seemed to treat him as a younger brother - I couldn't tell if he had some mental challenges or was just somewhat naive at times. There were a couple of plot elements I found less believable, but allowed the story to end on a hopeful note.
    • 4/5
      Similar to Bud Not Buddy but with many more mature themes. I'd say probably middle school read, not elementary school.
    • 5/5
      I am so sorry that it took me years to discover this book! If you enjoy reading historical fiction for kids, The Mighty Miss Malone will not disappoint. It has everything that exceptional children's literature should have: an engaging narrator, humor, and characters you care about, along with universal truths that will linger in your mind long after you close the book. Set in Indiana and Michigan during the Great Depression, young Deza relates the series of events that cause the Malone family to lose their home, their jobs, and finally, their ability to stay together. Throughout it all, Deza's irrepressible optimism in the face of poverty and racism keeps the tone light, and readers will be inspired by the Malones enduring love for each other.
    • 2/5
      I did not like this book about Miss Malone only for the fact that it was boring. Learning about her family was very interesting, but I have read some better Biographies. There are no illustrations so it could be difficult for a child to understand the plot. The message of the story is to learn about how some survived during the Great Depression era like Deza and her family did.
    • 5/5
      Although THE WATSON'S GO TO BIRMINGHAM remains my favorite Christopher Paul Curtis novel, this one is right up there. He takes me into a world I know nothing about. This time of the 1930's Michigan black neighborhood as seen through the eyes of 12 year old Deza Malone. Her mom cleans houses. Her father is unemployed. If you want kids to empathize with children from history this is a book to have them read. It is terrible not to have money for clothes, have teeth with cavities that smell, eat cereal with worms in it. And it only gets worse. Dad leaves to find a job. Mom, Deza and her brother Jimmy are homeless and end up in a hobos camp. Yet, Deza never loses hope. She tells about her family's woes powerfully but with hope and exuberance at times. Her father disappears, her brother goes to sing in a speak-easy. But the family remains strong and there's powerful hope at the end of the book. The author's afterword about the Joe Louis and his boxing nemesis, the German Schmeling is a must read. I shared it with a fifth grade class and they clapped. I had no idea that Schmeling and Louis remained friends for life, or how important those boxing matches were to Americans and Germans.
    • 4/5
      Cute historical fiction. I learned something and was entertained by Deza's verbosity -- wonderful.
    • 5/5
      The Mighty Miss Malone is one of those books you know the end is coming but don't want the story to end. I felt like I knew each of the Malones. Jimmie, 15 years old, is a good kid, not great kid, but that boy can sing. Deza is 12 and the smartest kid in and loves her teacher. A sad set of circumstances force Mother and Deza to move to Flint, Michigan. Here she is in school with black and white students. All the teachers are white and they will not give a grade better than a C to a black child, no matter how good the work is. Roscoe Malone, the dad, is desperately trying to find a job. It is after all The Great Depression of the 1930's and no jobs for Black men. Mother works for the bank presidents family the Carsdale's, cleaning their home. Mrs. Carsdale says that she is a pretty good worker and never caught her stealing, but "you know how those people are."
      This is a page turner from start to finish as you follow the plights and perils of a poverty stricken Black Family,of the depression...eviction, riding the rails, predujice, no money for doctor's care so Desza soaks cotton in camphor to place in her cavities to ease the pain a bit, living in shanty towns, family separation...
      Christopher Paul Curtis has done extensive research with this work of historical fiction. Be sure to read the afterward about the Joe Louis and Max Smellinbg fight that took place in Yankee Stadium.
    • 4/5
      I give this four ****, although I gave Bud, Not Buddy four-and-a-half even though I much prefer "strong girl" stories. I think my problem with The Mighty Miss Malone is that, although I easily fell in love with Deza Malone, I found her just a little bit too adorable to be true. Still, I strongly recommend it.And note that, although Deza Malone appeared as a character in Bud, Not Buddy, she was only a "one-page character" in the earlier book and the link between the books is thin practically to the point of nonexistence. I say that in a good sense, meaning that you can read either or both of these books, as you choose; and if you want to read them both, you can read them in either order.And for academic use, note that the book contains a reference to the first Louis-Schmeling fight. Also for academic use, be aware that Deza is an extremely bright child who particularly loves to write, and she sometimes uses her dictionary to find "big" words but not always successfully. There's a bit of cuteness when on several occasions Deza confuses "geological" with "geographical" and would say something to the effect that "that city's twenty-five miles away geologically." It's a good teaching opportunity to show children the difference between these two words, and generally to caution them against excessive precocity where dictionaries are concerned, but teachers might want to be sure their kids don't run around telling everyone that Philadelphia's a hundred miles away from New York geologically!