116. The Ambassador of Nowhere Texas

The Ambassador of Nowhere Texas. Kimberly Willis Holt. 2021. 320 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: My grandmother told me she once watched an abandoned house fold inside itself. The roof had caved in, leaving a hollow shell. “A house needs people, Rylee,” she claimed, “or it will die.” Every time I passed Miss Myrtie Mae’s home, I watched for signs of the roof giving way or the walls collapsing. But even though ivory paint flakes covered the ground like snow and the roof had shed a few shingles, the old house looked as if it were holding its breath, waiting for someone to claim it.

Premise/plot: The Ambassador of Nowhere Texas is set thirty years after the events of When Zachary Beaver Came To Town. It opens in late summer of 2001. Rylee Wilson, Toby's daughter, is the main character. Her best friend, Twig, may or may not be still her best friend. The two just don't seem to be on the same track anymore. No matter how much Rylee still wants things to be the same. A new family will soon be heading to Nowhere...and life for Rylee may never be the same...

When Zachary Beaver Came To Town opens with Miss Myrtie Mae taking pictures, pictures, and more pictures. The Ambassador of Nowhere Texas opens with her estate being settled. (She's recently died.) Who inherits her house--and will they stay and settle down in Antler, Texas??? or will they sell the house??? who will buy it if they do???--makes up a bit of the story. But mainly the focus is on FRIENDSHIP.

My thoughts: I am super thankful that this book exists. The publication of this sequel/companion book motivated me to read When Zachary Beaver Came To Town. I wasn't expecting to love it as much as I did. But I did LOVE it. Primarily because it was so character-driven and the world-building was great. It gave a real sense of time and place. I fell in love with a whole town. Though you may hear that this one can be read as a standalone, I disagree. I mean technically, yes, it could be I suppose. But you'd be missing out on so many squeal-worthy moments of pure glee. (Like when you find out WHO Toby married!!!) Because what we get are snippets here and there that update you on EVERYONE.

The books I love the most seem to be the ones I struggle with the most in the writing of the review. (Even that sentence was a bit awkward). I want to gush enough that you want to read the book--or both books--but I don't want to spoil either book!

Quotes:

“Looking forward to seventh grade?” “Well, I wish Twig was going to be there.” “Rylee, Twig may not be here every day of your life. People come and go even when we don’t want them to.” I wondered who he was talking about, because he’d seen his best friend practically every day of his life. “Seventh grade is going to be great,” he said. “Because you are.” I only wished everyone saw me the same way my dad did.

 

Saying “sorry” was easy for me even if something wasn’t my fault. If someone dropped a pencil or spilled juice, I apologized as if I’d done it myself. Twig would catch me every time, and ask, “Why are you sorry?” One day she said, “Don’t say sorry, say squim.” Twig rarely, if ever, used squim, but it was the first of three words she’d invented.

 

That’s what we’d been since September—tumbleweeds—Joe, Twig, and me. Thinking we were so strong and independent, but we’d learned that we were fragile, too. Maybe we weren’t made of sticks and debris, powered by the wind, but like tumbleweeds, we couldn’t make it alone. We needed each other. Twig was moving at a leisurely pace. She hadn’t even made it halfway down the street. Joe looked over at me, and it was as if we could read each other’s thoughts. He hurried toward his porch and went after his bike while I hopped on mine. We pedaled fast, trying to catch up. Twig didn’t seem to know we were behind her, until I yelled, “Wait up!” She slowed to a stop and glanced over her shoulder. The forced smile from a moment before was missing. In its place was the big one I knew by heart.

© 2021 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews