But it is the sights, sounds, and events. A National Book Award nominee in 1975, Ludell is the first book in a groundbreaking trilogy about a young African American girl growing up during the 1950s in a. share Up Next Most Important Works of Literature You Should Read. Your Results Click the SHOW MY RESULTS button above to calculate your results. In all, a valid successor, if not a stimulating companion, to the vibrant Ludell. It is the latest of three novels chronicling the life of Ludell Wilson, whose story begins in the 1950s in 'Ludell,' Brenda Wilkinson's first novel. Buy a cheap copy of Ludell book by Brenda Wilkinson. Ludell's New York time Hardcover Januby Brenda Scott Wilkinson (Author) 7 ratings See all formats and editions Hardcover 250.75 5 Used from 245.55 Ludell moves from Georgia to New York City during spring of her senior year and struggles to adjust to life in Harlem. Ludell (Brenda Wilkinson) of 1 Previous Next Page. And young readers will sympathize when Ludell's strict grandmother (''Mama'') keeps her home from games and dances, then when the old woman begins to fail and require Ludell's full-time care, and at last when Mama dies and Ludell's hypocritical, indifferent mother fetches her off to New York just five weeks short of high school graduation. But Waycross, Georgia's, black and white inhabitants are as pertly assessed as ever, and the kids as sassy-Ruthie Mae next door is now the fast-behind despair of her virtuous older brother, our Willie. What's more, however veracious their dialogue, Ludell and Willie-with never a cross word or thought between them-are almost too loyal, considerate, and mutually supportive to be real. Though Ludell still writes poetry, for example, that announcement seems to have little to do with the girl we now hear ringing changes on two basic lines: gee-honey-ain't-we-lucky and oh-Willie-you-crazy.

Wilkinson's eye and idiom are as on-target here as in Ludell (1975), but alas, a sixteen-year-old Ludell preoccupied with her boyfriend and their eventual marriage is just not as interesting as she was at eleven.

Ludell by Brenda Wilkinson