My Last Days as Roy Rogers

by Pat Cunningham Devoto

In an Alabama town in the early 1950s during the last polio summer before the Salk vaccine, ten-year-old Tabitha "Tab" Rutland is about to have the time of her life. Although movie theaters and pools have been closed to stem the epidemic, Tab, a tomboy with a passion for Roy Rogers, still seeks adventure with her best friend Maudie May, "the lightest brown colored person" she knows. Now as they meddle with the local bootlegger, Mr. Jake, row out on the Tennessee River to land the biggest catfish ever, and snoop into the town's darkest secrets, Tab sets out to be a hero...and comes of age in an unforgettable confrontation with human frailty, racial injustice, and the healing power of love.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Book Club

384 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a pretty decent book, although Roy Rogers doesn't put in an appearance. He gets mentioned, though, as do John Wayne and Gene Autry, as being the matinee idols of the day. The protagonist and I would be about the same age and the book took me back to my early years. I was in on the tag end of the polio scare, knew a couple of people who were affected by the disease. This brought back memories of collecting donations for the March of Dimes with their slotted cardboard dime holders, tree forts and fires.

While reading I couldn't shake the idea that this was toned down quite a bit, maybe so as to avoid offending a PC readership, maybe with an eye to having the book selected for distribution in schools. It hits all the politically correct high points: white female protagonist, black female sidekick who is really more capable than the protagonist, racist white people. The topic of interracial sexual relations is skirted but not dragged out into the open. Basically you have Huckleberry Finn 100 years on with a sex change, complete with river adventures. It was an entertaining read with a likeable protagonist. Love the girl on the cover, all decked out in her cowgirl gear.

[Rosemary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having grown up in the 1950s and 1960s in Tennessee, this book, set in Alabama, was particularly poignant for me. It is the story of a summer in the life of ten-year-old Tabitha "Tab" Rutland and of a world on the verge of change. I found it amusing that Tab's mother was considered a Northerner because she was from Knoxville, Tennessee. Themes of the book include fear of the polio epidemic, the dilemma of not quite fitting in, appearances not being what they seem, the uncertainties that come with growing up and with adulthood as well, and the inevitability of change. The book is funny, a bit adventurous, poignant, and even sad, but overall a delightful read. I would highly recommend it.

[Susan Bennett · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a highly readable book with endearing characters that will probably stay with you for a while. The setting is in Alabama during a summer where parents feared for their children and pools and gathering places stayed closed due to polio epidemics. Tab is a tomboy with undying loyalty to Roy Rogers until the summer ends with a climax that changes her life. This is a book that I would read again for the sheer enjoyment.

[Cindy Carpenter · Rating 5 out of 5]

remember catching fire flys in a mason jar, building forts, going inside while the city sprayed ddt all over town, polio ?...some yes.....some was before my time ( not by much though )...set in the 50's , ( think To Kill a Mockingbird )....this story is told from the perspective of a tomboy named Tab( think Scout) and covers a summer that she will never forget ( remember those?? )... and warning....have some tissue ready....i sure did cry at the end.

[Les · Rating 3 out of 5]

My Original Thoughts (2000):

Pretty good. A quick, light read. Didn't think it was as good as Wait 'Til Next Year (another book set in the 50s). In some ways, this book seemed too childish. Amateur writing? Deals with racial issues, polio, etc., but not in a lot of depth. Many of the characters lacked strong development.

My Current Thoughts:

It sounds like this might have been more suited to fans of YA novels.

[Suzanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tabitha "Tab" is 10 years old in early 1950's smalltown Alabama, and there is a killer on the loose ~ its name is POLIO.
No school that summer also meant no pool and no movies. Parents were desperately trying anything to keep their children safe. So. Tab relies on her imagination; builds a fort next to a bootlegger, swipes a boat to catch "the Big One", and finds a notebook hiding some Big Secrets.
Charming, poignant, and funny. I was thoroughly delighted with this, my first by Devoto.

[Massy · Rating 5 out of 5]

my languge isn't english but when I read it in 2000 I cry with it! I LOVE children in it.

[Lance · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful novel similar to Roy Rogers

[BC · Rating 2 out of 5]

A year and a half later, I finished it! Started it on the island, but left it there. Bought another copy at the lil' book store in AR. Then put it in storage, dug it out again.

I throughly enjoyed it. All throughout I loved reading about these characters. The fact it took me so long to read it wasn't a reflection on the book.

Only when I got to the end did I realize it was a book about nothing. It was a girls summer, and memories, but it ended with no resolution. Just a story that stops. I liked it--but I didn't care for the ending. This has been true to the two books I have read lately.

A good read, but not a book that changes your life.

**After reading other reviews, I do remember how much the book made me laugh in the earlier segments. It also seems to resound more with readers who experienced the polio epidemic. One reader said it didn't stick with her once she closed the back cover. I agree with that statement. However, I found out it is a trilogy, so I may have to read the others. Not because I am so enthralled, but because I am a curious person. Now that I know there are two more books, it seems incomplete. I don't like not finishing a book, and now it seems that way, with two more floating around.**

[Debbie E · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book, it’s like To Kill a Mockingbird, Huckleberry Finn & Fried Green Tomatoes good!
Set in the Deep South in the 1950’s Tabitha “Tab” Rutland begins quite an adventure when school lets out for summer with her new found friend Maudie May. Polio is the fear monster of the time.
Tab finds an unlikely new friend, a secret club hideout, a bootlegger, a high adventure on the Tennessee River & secrets uncovered in the town.
I identified with Tab at this age in this time period & the book brought back some great memories of simpler times. She nailed it on being a Tom Boy & not always fitting in. Tab finds out about family loyalty, friendships, racism, love, life and finding out that some things are not always what they seem. I couldn’t put it down. A great summer read.
I found this book quite by accident & was intrigued by the title. Serendipity!
I don’t know how I didn’t discover this book before now. Can’t wait to read more by this author.

[D. E. · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a child I was afforded the opportunity to see Roy Rogers making a film. As I was growing up the Saturday double feature western were an excellent place for kids to burn off steam. After the movies there were always groups of cowboys and those that chose to be Indians. I lived outside Escondido on a ranch. Then a moved back to Florida. Little did I know when I moved to California that I would live near my hero when growing up. I went back and forth from Lancaster, CA to 29 Palms, CA and would always stop at the museum in Victorville. My family stopped at a restaurant near th Rogers Ranch in .Apple Valley and in occasions you could see Roy,. Dale, and their family. I read this book to see how another person looked at the childhood hero of many children. This is an excellent synopsis of a true American hero. It is an excellent read if you are interested in the cowboys it the 1940 thru the deaths of our favorite Saturday afternoon heros.......DEHS

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this little book immensely. I found it as a donation in one of LFL and the title caught me as that was my generation of growing up stories. In the summer every parent was scared silly about polio this 10-year-old girl and her accidental friend Maudie - an early-teen black girl raising her mother's latest offspring instead of getting to go to school - have a summer of adventure and growing up. Like all kids, they hear adult conversations and some they don't understand but the learning curve is sharp that summer and they see first-hand disappointment, evil, death, and adventures, lots of adventures.
I must immediately learn if Pat Devoto continued to write other stories as I am sure I would enjoy them all.

[Olivia Reynolds · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting story about another panic that happened in the 1950's in America before a vaccine was developed for polio. Cinemas, pools, any kind of summer activities for children were closed down to try to prevent the spread. The story though also highlights the friendship of two young girls from very different backgrounds; one white and one black. They become fast friends throughout that last summer telling each other their best stories of Gene Autry and Roy Rogers. This little Alabama town has lots of secrets to reveal.

[Trudy Ackerblade · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved My Last Days as Roy Rogers. Mostly I think because of the time it is set in. I remember so many of the same things that Tab lives with even though I grew up in the Midwest. I remember Roy Rogers and Gene Autry, DDT fogging, the polio scare, Woolworths, lunch boxes with thermoses, playing hopscotch, and staying outside at night to play games like hide and go seek. The author was compared to Harper Lee, not just for the context of the story but also for her strength in creating real and believable children and neighbors in a believable town.

[Lora Poucher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set in the 50s when polio was still a great fear, this book reminds me of To Kill a Mockingbird because of the racial injustice seen through the eyes of a child. A twist at the end was a surprise. I liked the characters, especially the mom. I enjoyed envisioning the author's setting of small-town life with its food, neighbors, and town center which she said could be any small town of that decade.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a heart-warming book. I did not want summer to end! I loved it. Growing up in the late 50’s it took me back to a simpler life of roaming the neighborhood and the fun we had creating our own fun. I also remember the dangers we were warned about and told never to cross certain lines. Which we MOSTLY followed.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Now I want to read more on the polio epidemic in the 1940s and 50s. Nice book on southern life from days gone by. Good friendships and complex social norms between race as well as northern and southern.

[Ann Halligan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sweet book of a summer in the time of polio. The parrallels to our travails during the time of the Corona virus are interesting. The fear of the unseen germs...closing the pools and movie theaters....

[Christie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Magical, exciting, and heart breaking. I don't know when I've enjoyed a book so much. In a year or two I'm going to get my daughter to read it. If you love To Kill a Mockingbird you must read this!

[Mary Guell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked reading this book and the return to life in the 1950's and memories of those times. The main characters were enjoyable to follow.

[Mary Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful story of a bygone southern era...through the eyes of a precocious child.

[Deborah Griffin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this story of growing up during the summer of the Polio epidemic just very slow read

[Bookeater504 · Rating 3 out of 5]

No To Kill a Mockingbird but an enjoyable tale of childhood during the 1950 Polio epidemic in the South. Left me wanting more.

[Joyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was interesting. I enjoyed the thoughts of a child growing up in the south.

[Treasure Island Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

Prequel to The Summer We Got Saved.

[Phyllis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such an interesting story. Takes place in 1950 in Alabama in the last year of the polio outbreak. Wonderful characters and very readable. I recommend it.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

My sister suggested this as a book that her reading group enjoyed. I had a couple of other books on loan from the same time period and finally had to decide which would be my main one to read because I was getting the story lines all mixed up. Actually I should say to “listen to” which i have found makes some books much more enjoyable.

One of the characters in the book spent his summers in his basement because his mom felt that was a good way to protect him from getting polio. This was right about the time that the vaccine was developed and then became quickly available.
I remember polio vaccine being administered to us when we were in the second grade. We were all lined up and each child was given a drink in a small Dixie cup. My husband, who is my age but grew up in a different part of the state, got a Dixie cup with a sugar cube in it. My mom was in a group of parents observing us getting the vaccine. This was a big event and an important day. Parents worried about their child getting the dreaded disease of polio and did all kinds of things to protect their children. The vaccine was the first sure thing they could do.

The book is about a summer for a young girl and her friends when they still dreamed about Roy Rogers, Dale Evans and also Gene Autry. These kids got up to some awesome adventures.

There are a couple of other books by this author set in the years following this book and I have them on standby. This was a quick, easy book to listen to and I enjoyed taking a break from books with heavier or more intense plot lines.

[Kathy McC · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is laugh out loud entertaining. It is also thought provoking and endearing. The characters realistically portray life in the 1950s. It was a time of polio scares and discrimination. But it was also a time of discovery. It is the story of young Tab Rutland who is growing up in Alabama. This book is a quick, enjoyable read.

"Of course I blamed my lack of social skills on my mother. A person could not possibly get popular and sophisticated with a mother like mine."
"Having just graduated from Millsap College, Miss Blankenship had come back to Bainbridge to get married or teach school. Since she was on the plump side and hadn't even been asked to be a contestant in the Maid of Cotton contest, we were all certain she would teach school in the fall. The main requirements were that you be female, the right age, and breathing. But, alas, Miss Blankenship did not make the cut. I had great empathy for her, fearing I, too, would be in the same shoes a few years down the road."

[Linda Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll admit, what originally attracted me to this book was the title. As a kid, I was a huge Roy Rogers/Trigger fan! I think I may have even written a fan letter or two! In many ways the stories main character, Tabitha aka Tab, reminded me of myself, a tomboy who just didn't quite fit in.
My Last Days As Roy Rogers was a sweet coming of age story set in Alabama during the early 1950's Polio Epidemic. With the pool and movie theater closed for fear of contracting Polio, Tomboy Tab and her BFF Maudie are off on one hilarious adventure after another from building "Fort Polio" a little too close to Mr. Jake, the backwoods bootlegger, property to catching the biggest catfish.
The ending is quite sad as 2 completely different female characters leave town for very different reasons. Maudie has contracted Polio and Mrs. Grace Poovey, the town matriarch, leaves town suddenly surrounded by scandal and Tab's life will never be the same.

[Darla · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read this one in a solid day. I think the author was seeking for her inner "To Kill a Mockingbird," but instead turned out a book that felt like the written sequel to the movie "The Sandlot." It was based on a good idea, telling the story of fear that pervaded America in the pre-Polio vaccine era, and how that fear affected the lives of children and parents of the day. Unfortunately, the characters were never really developed in such a way that made the reader care about them. The tension that was to be felt, the town drama and society secrets, well...they just didn't pan out to be much. And where Harper Lee's classic set in Alabama was had me howling with laughter at times, I only managed a big smile once or twice in a book that had much potential for humor. Very disappointing.