Tender

by Valerie Hobbs

Book Overview

After her beloved grandmother dies, Olivia "Liv" Trager must leave Manhattan city life behind to join her neglectful abalone diver father in California and become his tender. A near tragedy makes them... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0374373973
• ISBN13: 9780374373979
• Release Date: September 2001
• Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux
• Length: 245 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.7" x 8.7"
• Age Range: 13 to 17 years
• Grade Range: Grades 8 to 12

Customer Reviews

Tender

The book I just read was Tender. I would recommend this book to anyone because it is one of my favorite books. It's about this girl Olivia who dresses in all black and judges everybody. She was living with her grandma because her dad had abandoned Liv her entire life since her mom had died. As soon as her grandma dies of a heart attack she has to live with her dad. Eventually living with her dad means that her whole life will have to change.

Is this REAL???? Has 2 be! "VERY Realistic "

I <3ed reading this story since Liv kinda reminds me of myself & my friend....our personalities. I was sad at the end, about their realtionship...Do please read this book, if u don't it'll be your own damn fault. Hey i'll even get to say "I told you so!" ENJOY!!!!!! Thanks again Mrs. Hobbs, please do write more books like TENDER.

A PLAY on WORDS and EMOTIONS

Valerie Hobbs is a master of her craft. Her greatest gift, perhaps, is the creation of vivid, memorable characters. This talent is clearly displayed in TENDER. Liv is a struggling, often impulsive teenager with rough, believable edges. Her beloved grandmother has just died, and she is forced to live with the father who deserted her at birth. She doesn't know him. She doesn't want to know him and certainly doesn't want to love him. But she becomes his "tender" on the fishing boat--he's an abalone diver. TENDER is the moving story of a relationship; it's also a powerful story about change, growth, and the power of love. Hobbs is unflinching writer -- she tells her truth and her characters breathe real air. TENDER is for teenagers, but adults will revel in it too.

Strong in characterization and plot

Valerie Hobbs' Tender creates a realistic story in the form of Liv, who has lived with her beloved grandmother all her life. When her grandmother dies and she's turned over to a gruff, unknown father, she finds an overwhelming number of changes affects her life - and new friendships are formed. Strong in characterization and plot.

Tender yet powerful

When 15-year-old Liv must go to live with the father who deserted her at birth, she feels an anger bordering on apathy toward him. Yet, over time, as she works for him as his "tender" on his abalone boat, the bruise that is their love for one another - - deeply sore and oh-so-tender still after all these years - - begins to heal, and a tender relationship is born. Hobbs has written a powerful, poignant novel about a love lost, rediscovered and reclaimed. The voice of Liv, and her initial actings out of rebellion, are right on target for young adults. The writing is vivid, the climax exciting, the characters' changes are believable, and the last line will bring tears to your eyes: a description of a patient, painstaking, tender act that reveals the father's love to be as beautiful as the pearly insides of an abalone shell.