Determined to prove his bravery, he decides to face his fear by confronting it directly.  His journey will take him to a remote and desolated island where he must use his skill to find his way home.  Will he return home not only a hero but also conquering the ocean itself?

Call it Courage is a survival story.  A story  of surviving on the ocean and alone on a deserted island using skill and a bit of luck to endure.  It’s ultimately a  story of Mafatu fighting against nature and also himself.  I enjoyed the culture of the story.  However, the book is very short and I’m afraid that if it was any longer I easily would have set it down.  Luckily, I was able to read it in a single sitting.  Younger readers may find themselves bored stiff but those who like more introspective stories may find it interesting.  Not one of my favorite Newbery books but I’m thrilled to cross another one off of my list in my ongoing project to read them all.

Do you like reading survivor stories?  Man vs. nature stories?  Any favorites?

I read Call it Courage as part of Banned Books Week (which ended Friday).  Although I found this book on more than one banned books list, my searches for exactly why came up empty.  If I were to guess it would be because during a storm, Mafatu loses all of his clothes and he arrives on the island naked and it’s not until much later that he finally  makes himself some new clothes.  Although the book mentions his nudity, not once does Mafatu ever think about his nudity.  It’s not even important except for the thought of what would it be like to try to survive without even a shirt on your back.

Links of interest:  Armstrong Sperry resource website, more book blogger reviews.
Genre:  Juvenile Fiction, approx ages 9-12.
Publisher: Simon Pulse.  January 2008.  (Originally published 1940 – the copy that I read published 1963 by Scholastic)
Paperback, 128 pages. ISBN 141695368X
Call It Courage is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.

Set in the 1930’s during the great depression in the dust bowl of Oklahoma, Out of the Dust is told as a diary in free verse form, a style of writing that I love more with every book I read.  Billie Jo is fourteen and loves to both write and play the piano.  She’s also eagerly anticipating the birth of her baby brother.

But that all changes when an accident leaves her hands wounded and her mother and brother die in childbirth.  Billie Jo’s father is emotionally unreachable:

I don’t know my father anymore.
He sits across from me,
he looks like my father,
he chews his food like my father,
he brushes his dusty hair back like my father,
but he is a stranger.

I am awkward with him,
and irritated,
and I want to be alone
but I am terrified of being alone.
We are both changing,
we are shifting to fill in the empty spaces left by Ma.
I keep my raw and stinging hands
behind my back when he comes near
because he
stares
when he seems them.

September 1934.

Dust is just as much of this story as anything else.  It’s everywhere and non-relenting.  It makes for a bleak and harsh environment.  Billie Jo wants to escape it all but when she does she comes to realize that the landscape is more a part of her than she realized.

Out of the Dust is a great historical fiction novel for young readers and I loved the free verse.  Recommended.

Genre:  Historical fiction, ages 9-12.
Publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks.  October 1, 1997
Paperback, 240 pages. ISBN:  0590371258
Out of the Dust is available from your local independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.

I was super excited when I realized that Ingrid Law was going to be at the LA Times Festival of Books!  I even brought two copies of the book to get signed.  So then I was super bummed when I missed her panel and couldn’t find her signing at any other time.  So, so sad.  I would have loved to chat with her for a moment & get a photo as well.  So many authors there and I didn’t get to see half that I wanted to.

BUT I’ve got the next best thing: a fantastic interview with Ingrid today!  I’m thrilled to present another author who can claim a Newbery under their belt.  So please welcome Ingrid Law to the Maw Books Blog!

Maw Books:  You wrote Savvy in a relatively short amount of time (five months, I believe).  Was this a story that you had been thinking about writing about for awhile before you sat down to write it or did it just hit you with a force that you just had to get it all out?

Ingrid Law: I think of Savvy as a gift.  It came into creation so quickly and with so much excitement and love.  I had been submitting a different manuscript to agents for about six months but kept getting the usual “Dear Author” responses.  However, a couple of the agents who read the whole thing told me in personal notes that they like my writing and to send them future projects.  That boosted my confidence so much and made me realize I needed to start a “future project.”  I sat down to write Savvy without knowing a thing about what I wanted to write.  I decided to write the craziest sentence I could think of without judging it too much.  That sentence became the first sentence of Savvy and stayed the first sentence forever.  After that, the words just rolled out. I think it was a story that just wanted to be here. I just feel fortunate that I got to be the one to tell it.

Maw Books: I’d thought I’d share that first sentence with our readers:  “When my brother Fish turned thirteen, we moved to the deepest part of inland because of the hurricane and, of course, the fact that he’d caused it.”

What surprised you the most as you were writing Savvy? Did anything turn out different than what you intended or did any of your characters/story evolve on their/its own?

Ingrid Law: There were connections in the book to things that were happening for me through the writing process, connections I didn’t consciously recognize until after the book was in print and I had to start talking about it publicly.  That may sound strange, but sometimes I think we know things, yet don’t truly understand their impact until we talk them out.  As feelings become words they alter into concrete meanings.  The biggest example of this in Savvy is, while writing the book, I very consciously told myself to ignore any voices that popped into my head that whispered to me that it might not be good enough, that an idea might be too strange or weird, that told me not to trust myself and tell the story my own way.  Of course, it’s this very same thing that Mibs has to learn as well.  But I can’t remember making a conscious connection between these two things at the time.

Maw Books:  That is a fantastic lesson in follwing your own heart!  As a debut author, did you have the confidence or premonition that Savvy would do so well with readers and critics or were you taken completely by surprise with its reception?

Ingrid Law: Completely surprised!  I thought of it as such a little story.  Cozy and fun.  I knew it was quirky and had some unusual elements.  My sense of humor is usually one that comes out in mostly in my writing, but being a bit of a shy person, I wasn’t sure how other people would respond to it.  I’ve been really amazed and so incredibly thankful for the reception it has received.

Maw Books:  You say that if you could pick your own savvy, you would probably want to fly or breathe underwater.  I’d like to know more about that.  What about flying or breathing underwater would be cool to you?

Ingrid Law: I’m such an escapist and I love solitude.  Flying or breathing under water would allow me the ultimate escapes in beautiful, serene ways, into places where there aren’t a lot of people.  And both would feel weightless, which would be nice, being a fairly weighty person myself!

Maw Books:  I think I’d rather fly than breathe underwater.  Large bodies of water terrify me!  Where were you and what were you doing when ALA called to tell you that you Savvy received a Newbery Honor?  How did you react and what did you do to celebrate?

Ingrid Law: I was sitting in bed hoping that they would call, but not wanting to hope too hard so that I wouldn’t be too disappoint if they didn’t.  They called at about 6:55am.  I was playing a game on my iPod–one that keeps my mind focused when I’m anxious.  After the call, I immediately woke up my daughter to tell her, then cried for fifteen minutes (you would have thought that someone had died), called my family, talked to my fabulous editor, agent, and publishers.   To celebrate, first my daughter and I went and filled a shopping cart for the local food bank–spreading the good, you know?  Later, we had fondue dinner with some wonderful friends from Walden Media who were in town for ALA.

Maw Books:  I love hearing those stories!  Brandon Dorman, Savvy’s illustrator, is a BYU graduate – my alma mater. I loved this cover as soon as I laid eyes on it. After reading the book, I loved the cover even more. What was your reaction when you first saw the book cover of Savvy?  And likewise, what do you think about the other covers for the other editions.

Ingrid Law: Brandon is a genius!  I just got to meet him recently, too, and he’s such a great guy with a really beautiful family.  He is doing the cover of my next book as well and even the sketches are amazing.  I was over the moon when I saw his cover for Savvy.  But I’ve also loved seeing what other art departments for the foreign editions come up with.  In Finland, they used Brandon’s cover.  But the German, Dutch, and UK covers are all so different and interesting!  I can’t wait to see what kinds of covers appear in Korea or Croatia or China (not to mention Indonesia, Italy… am I missing any?).

Maw Books:  Savvy has been optioned for a feature film.  If you could control everything about the movie (ha!) who do you think would be the perfect actors/actresses to be cast into your characters roles?  And if somebody else were to write the screenplay, what would you say they weren’t allowed to change at all and something that you feel has a bit more of a creative license?

Ingrid Law: Oh, such a hard question about actors!  And I almost hate to say who I can imagine in the roles, because I know that if Walden Media does decide to greenlight the film, they will do a great job.  But…. since you asked. bI think Madeline Carroll might make a great Mibs, Luke Benward could match her well as Fish.  Rocket?  A younger, dark haired version of Zac Efron, maybe (he’s got to have those awesome blue eyes)… or maybe Ben Barnes (probably still too old)… who else? Bobbi?  I’m not sure.  Maybe Anna Sophia Robb?  Now you’ve got me thinking and having too much fun.  Someone like Robin Wright Penn, perhaps for Momma–but not quite so thin.  I don’t know!  I love to know what other people think, though.

Enough about actors.  The folks at Walden Media love Savvy and are very protective of the book, so I feel like it’s in good hands.  The screenplay is already close to done and I actually get to meet the screenwriter, Karen Janszen, in LA (or will have just met her when this interview goes up).  So, I’m excited about that.  In regard to changes, I’m doing my best to hold onto a kind of flexible open-mindedness for now. Rigidity makes things more fragile, right?  I am open to seeing what other people’s talents bring to the story.  But I do want it to have heart.

Maw Books:  I would see this movie the day it comes out!  This is a question that I ask every single author I interview and that’s to share a recipe with us – either a family favorite or a food that is featured in the book.  Later, I try to make the recipe and then blog about it.   In Savvy, Mibs wants the perfect cake for her birthday – a cake with pink and yellow frosting, and perfect sugar roses – which isn’t really asking for much since her mothers savvy is being perfect.  Are you the type of mom who would make a cake from scratch, out of a box or buy it from the store?  Do you have either a cake recipe or a family favorite that you could share with our readers?

Ingrid Law: Right now, I can barely manage ordering take out, I’m so busy.  A cake from scratch would be like climbing Everest.  My daughter’s birthday is at the end of the month.  I’ll be sure to buy her something beautiful and delicious.  For years, a dear friend always made my daughter’s cakes because she had mad cake skills!  I’ll make one now and then from a great gluten-free mix (I have a family member who needs this concession).  Then I’ll have fun decorating it.  But that’s pretty easy.

But a favorite family recipe?  I’ll give you a favorite pie recipe from when I was growing up, since Momma’s all about the pies…

Close to Perfect Chocolate Pie

Crust:
1 1/2 cups Nilla Wafer crumbs
6 Tbsp melted butter

Mix well and pat into pie pan. Chill for one hour (more or less) OR bake it at 375 degrees for 15 minutes.

Filling:
Blend for a minute with a mixer or in a blender:
1 package INSTANT (don’t make the mistake and not get instant) vanilla pudding
1 package INSTANT chocolate pudding
1 1/2 cups milk

Now add one pint (2 cups) of softened vanilla ice cream and mix it into the pudding blend. Pour this into the crumb crust and chill for several hours. Top it with grated chocolate, mini chocolate chips, mini marshmallows, or whatever your heart desires! I tried whipped cream once, but it put it too far over the top!

Maw Books:  Whoa!  Sounds too easy and too delicious!  Now that you have a Newbery Honor under your belt, for your debut novel no less, do you feel the pressure when you sit down to write your second book?

Ingrid Law: Yes. I’m going bald.

But . . . since I probably should elaborate a bit (not about going bald, that’s not true–yet): I didn’t think about awards or accolades at all when I was writing Savvy. I just wrote it because I loved it.  With the next book, I’m not trying to out-do Savvy.  I think Savvy will always be the most special book to me, and maybe to everyone else as well, because it came first.  I’m happy to have the chance to write more about this crazy family tree.  But again, while writing, I’m just trying to tell a good story.  After the success of Savvy, I couldn’t ask for more.  I just hope that kids enjoy reading the new book.

Maw Books:  Tell us a bit about the new book that you are writing now, which is a companion novel to Savvy and when we can expect to see it hit bookstores?

Ingrid Law: My second book will come out next year–in summer, I think.  Savvy will be out in paperback next March.  I wish I could tell you the title of the next book, but it’s still being tossed around.  Anyway, yes, it is a companion to Savvy and is told from the perspective of an all new character–a cousin of the Beaumonts–Aunt Dinah’s oldest son, Ledge.  I felt that Mibs’s story had been well told for now, and didn’t want to simply plunk her down into a new adventure just because the book was popular.  Since the books are just as much about the inner journey as the outer, I was ready to explore a savvy birthday from the point of view of someone with different concerns–someone with different things to learn.  Plus, I liked the idea of switching to the POV of a boy character.  It’s been fun to create a new “savvy” voice.  For those people who may be going “Wait! What about all the characters I love?” do not fear.  There will be some familiar faces along the way… only they will be 8-9 years older!  Rocket will be there, as will Gypsy.  And Samson will–and won’t–be there as well. *Mwaa-ha-ha* More savvy-powered fun on the way…

Maw Books:  Argh!  Now you made me want to read it!  Thanks so much for joining us today!  It was fantastic!

Ingrid Law: Thank you, Natasha!

Ingrid Law’s website and blog.  Many thanks to Kidz Book Buzz for coordinating Ingrid’s blog tour!  Check out what other bloggers are saying about Savvy: A Christian Worldview of Fiction, All About Children’s Books, Becky’s Book Reviews, Booking Mama, Cafe of Dreams, Dolce Bellezza, Fireside Musings, Hyperbole, KidzBookBuzz.com, Looking Glass Reviews,  Never Jam Today, Olive Tree, Our Big Earth, The 160 Acrewoods, Through a Child’s Eyes.

Want your own copy of Savvy?  (And why wouldn’t you?!)  Check back tomorrow for a giveaway of Savvy.  Don’t miss it!  Now you must excuse me.  I have a pie that I must go bake . . .

After Hurricane Katrina, Kirby went to New Orleans to help with rebuilding.  She said, “As one of the men I met when I went to Houma, Louisiana, to help rebuild houses after Hurricane Katrina said: “That’s good eatin’!”

Kirby’s recipe for lemon linquine is really simple:   Cook 1 lb. linguine, toss with ½ cup extra virgin olive oil, the juice of 2 lemons, the zest of 1 lemon, a bunch of fresh chopped parsley, and a large handful of chopped green onions. Serve with tons of grated parmesan cheese (and salt and pepper to taste).

Let me tell you, this dish was delicious!  It’s one that I will definitely make again.

My ingredients ready to be tossed with the cooked linguine:

And below is the finished product!  How easy was that? I added artichoke hearts in, because seriously, who doesn’t love artichoke hearts? They went beautifully. I also added some shrimp as well. I actually hate shrimp, so it was just my husband’s serving.  But they do look good.

Is it kid friendly? Yes! My kids both had seconds. I actually think my oldest had thirds. They seriously were shoveling it in.

There were plenty of leftovers and we had it for lunch the next day as well.  Kirby is right.  This is “good eatin’!”

Visit Kirby Larson’s website, my author interview, and book reviews of Hattie Big Sky and  Two Bobbies:  A True Story of Hurricane Katrina, Friendship and Survival.  If you’d like more recipes submitted by authors and their books, check out the author recipes archives.

So who’s hungry?!

The publisher synopsis:

Marian Anderson loved to sing.  Her deep, rich voice thrilled audiences the world over.  By the mid-1930s she was a famed vocalist who had been applauded by European royalty, welcomed at the White House, and adored by appreciative listeners in concert halls across the United States.  But because of her race, she was denied the right to sing at Constitution Hall, Washington’s largest and finest auditorium.

Though Marian Anderson was not a crusader or a spokesperson by nature, her response to this injustice catapulted her into the center of the civil rights movement of the time.  She came to stand for all black artists   and for all Americans of color – when, with the help of prominent figures such as Eleanor Roosevelt, she gave a landmark performance on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial that broke racial barriers and hastened the end of segregation in the arts.

Drawing on Anderson’s own writings and other first-person accounts, Newbery medalist Russell Freedman shows readers a singer pursuing her art in the context of the social and political climate of the day.  Profusely illustrated with contemporary photographs, here is an inspiring account of the life of a talented, determined artist who left her mark on musical and social history.

Now, I know ZERO about music.  When I was in elementary school my dance teacher told me to lip synch the words to a song we were singing.  My confidence was thrown out the window at that very moment.  I seriously CAN NOT carry a tune.  I don’t understand notes, octaves, etc, etc, etc (because those are the only two words I can even think of!).  I really do sound awful.  I like to listen to music, I’m a fan, but because I don’t go out of my way to learn about music, I had never even heard of Marian Anderson before.  Reading The Voice That Challenged a Nation was learning something completely new to me.

And I learned a lot!  Although, I must admit, Marian Anderson is a contralto and I went the whole book wishing there was an explanation of what a contralto actually is.  According to Wikipedia, a contralto is “a type of classical female singing voice with a vocal range somewhere between a tenor and a mezzo-soprano.”  Still no clue what that’s supposed to mean but it goes on to say “the term is used to refer to the deepest female singing voice.”  Okay, that I can latch onto.

Marian Anderson was beautiful!  And she had a beautiful voice.  Her community was especially supportive in raising funds for her education and her career.  I was particularly struck with the fact that she literally traveled all over the world to many foreign countries and sung in prestigious halls and for heads of countries.  But it was in her own country, the United States, that she was denied the privileges that should have been afforded her.  Barred from music halls, singing in front of segregated audiences, and traveling through the deep south catapulted Anderson to a postion that she never thought she would be in and that was to make a difference in the civil rights movement.  By her example and actions, she led the way for all the artists who would come behind her.

The Voice That Challenged a Nation was well laid out,  had great photos, and great stories.   I enjoyed learning Marian’s story and was grateful that I took the time out to do so.  I only wished that the pages of the book would sing to me!  Highly recommended.

Marian Anderson singing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in response to being denied entrance at Constitution Hall:

A book well worth checking out.

Voice that Challenged a Nation: Marian Anderson and the Struggle for Equal Rights is part of my themed reading for the month of February which celebrates Black History Month.  Join me this month as I explore books that celebrate the history of African-Americans.  Also reviewed this month: Letters from a Slave Girl, The Story of Harriet Jacobs by Mary E. Lyons, The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles, The Slave Dancer by Paula Fox,  Barack Obama: Son of Promise, Child of Hope by Nikki Grime, The Well by Mildred D. Taylor,  Freedom Walkers, The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott by Russell Freedman, Through My Eyes by Ruby Bridges and  Show Way by Jacqueline Woodson.  Other reviews of interest:  A Thousand Never Evers by Shana Burg, Yankee Girl by Mary Ann Rodman, Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson, and Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis.

Links of interest:  Visit the Marian Anderson Historical Society.  More book blogger reviews.
Genre:  Juvenile Non-fiction, approx age 9-12 (although this adult loved it).
Publisher:  Clarion Books.  May 25, 2004.
Hardcover, 128 pages.  ISBN:  0618159762
The Voice that Challenged a Nation is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.

If you don’t know the premise by now, The Graveyard Book opens on a sinister note as we witness the murder of an entire family.  All but one.  A toddler avoids his own death by simply leaving his bedroom and walking out the door.  He ends up at a graveyard where he is adopted by ghosts and taken into protection by Silas, an individual who isn’t quite dead but not living either.  Nobody Owens, or Bod, as they call him grows up learning every nook and cranny of the graveyard and getting an ear full of history as his closest friends are the ghostly inhabitants of the graveyard.

The story is told in short episodes that could almost each stand on their own.  The story progresses as Bod copes with wanting to join the outside wold but remaining secure in the graveyard as his killer is still trying to finish what he started.

Did I like it?  Well, yes and no.  To be honest, I just don’t think this genre is the type of book that I enjoy in the first place.  The story just didn’t grab me.  I would often set the book down and leave it.  In fact, it took about a week to read which is unusual for me.  I also didn’t care for the illustrations by Dave McKean.  But all that said, I can totally see why The Graveyard Book is so popular.  It’s story premise is unusual and Gaiman is a natural born storyteller.  I enjoyed Bod’s adventures and the graveyard inhabitants.  Overall, I’m happy that I read it.  I’m always up for trying something new.  But, I just don’t think I’ll be runnning out to read his other books right away.  Maybe eventually, but not at the moment.

The Graveyard Book book trailer:

Neil Gaiman website and blog.  What’s your favorite Neil Gaiman book?

The Slave Dancer is not an easy read.  It’s very slow to start and I admit that I would often set the book down because it really dragged.  The story certainly picked up after arriving in Africa and acquiring its cargo.  By cargo, I mean men, women and children taken from their homeland and forced into conditions that no human should ever have to experience.  There are some difficult scenes to read about.  I heard somebody describe it as a “casual cruelty.”   That’s exactly what makes this book such an emotional read.  There is a scene where they just start throwing people overboard.  It’s just awful.

Jessie has a lot of guilt about the role that he plays in the slave trade.  He learns about prejudice, racism, trust, and eventually friendship.  The Slave Dancer is well worth reading and an excellent insight into the slave industry.

The Slave Dancer is part of my themed reading for the month of February which celebrates Black History Month.  Join me this month as I explore books that celebrate the history of African-Americans.  Also reviewed this month:  Barack Obama: Son of Promise, Child of Hope by Nikki Grime, The Well by Mildred D. Taylor,  Freedom Walkers, The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott by Russell Freedman, Through My Eyes by Ruby Bridges and  Show Way by Jacqueline Woodson.  Other reviews of interest:  A Thousand Never Evers by Shana Burg, Yankee Girl by Mary Ann Rodman, Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson, and Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis.

When Soonie’s great-grandma was seven
she was sold from the Virginia land to a plantation
in South Carolina without her ma or pa
but with some muslin her ma had given her.
And two needles she got
from the big house – a
and thread dyed bright red
with berries from the
chokecherry tree.

And so it was that on the plantation Soonie was taught to sew using that colored thread and made stars, moons, and roads.  It was these freedom quilts that would lead slaves through the night as a map to a better life.  With each passing generation, each woman had a baby girl and each learned how to sew and how to make their “Show Way.”

When Soonie
was seven, she was tall
and straight-boned like her mama,
took in wash with her mama.
Sewed stars on patch pieces.
Sewed stars and moons and roads;
sewed fields and rivers and trees.
Patched the pieces together for
her mama to sell come market day.
Called those quilts Trail to the North.
Called the quilts Show Way.
Didn’t much need that secret trail
to the North anymore,
but started living well off
the money those quilts
brought in.

Jacqueline Woodson takes us through the civil rights movement, to her own journey of telling the stories of people’s Show Ways through books, and to the birth of her own daughter.  The illustrations by Hudson Talbott are simply stunning and thread themselves through the book in a quilt motif.  They tell so much about the background, culture, trials and triumphs of a people.  Beautiful book, one that I will not soon forget.  I want to wrap myself up into this book.  Highly recommended.

Other books I’ve reviewed by Jacqueline Woodson:  Feathers, If You Come Softly,and Behind You. Jacqueline also just received a 2009 Newbery Honor for After Tupac and D Foster (which I need to track down).  Visit Jacqueline Woodson’s website.

Show Way is part of my themed reading for the month of February which celebrates Black History Month.  Join me this month as I explore books that celebrate the history of African-Americans.

After becoming bored with the castle, Prince Brat forces Jemmy to run away with him.  During their adventure they run into two highwaymen, who once they realize they have kidnapped the prince, decide to put a price on his head.  Jemmy and the prince have an adventure that changes how both boys feel for each other.

I liked how The Whipping Boy took up back to the 15th and 16th century to illustrate this very odd custom of having a whipping boy.  According to Wikepedia, no one but the king was allowed to touch the prince and since he’s rarely around it was hard for tutors to punish young princes.

Whipping boys were generally of high birth, and were educated with the prince since birth. Due to the fact that the prince and whipping boy grew up together since birth, they usually formed an emotional bond, especially since the prince usually did not have playmates like other children would have had. The strong bond that developed between a prince and his whipping boy dramatically increased the effectiveness of using a whipping boy as a form of punishment for a prince. The idea of the whipping boys was that seeing a friend being whipped or beaten for something that he had done wrong would be likely to ensure that the prince would not make the same mistake again.

I appreciated Sandy D.’s comments about the book over at The Newbery Project as she stated perfectly what I didn’t realize what I wanted to say until I read it:

. . . it reminded me of a weird combination of Mark Twain (both Huck Finn and The Prince and the Pauper) and The Tale of Despereaux (though it should be noted that The Whipping Boy preceded Despereaux by over a decade). I guess it’s the medieval folk tale style. Except in The Whipping Boy, Jemmy says “Gaw” a lot instead of “Gor,” which was peppered throughout The Tale of Despereaux.

So there you go.  Definitely worth checking out.

In a teachers guide, Patricia Reilly Giff says the following:

Lily’s Crossing was about my childhood. I was inspired to write that because for years, I thought about my childhood during the Second World War, in Rockaway, New York, which I loved. We didn’t sleep in Rockaway, we didn’t have a cabin there, but we went there almost every day in the summertime. I loved the water. I was clumsy out of the water, but in the water, I could swim. I was good around boats, so I always felt good about it. So I thought one day that I would write Lily, and it took me about four years to finally do it.

The book is fiction, but it’s based on so much that I did do. I am Lily; I am the grandmother. The bakery really existed, but it was in St. Albans, where I grew up. And Albert is a composite of many boys in my life when I was growing up.

Certainly, we went to the bakery alone–and during the war, when the baker couldn’t get eggs or sugar, the offerings were pretty slim in the bakery. There were signs up, like “loose lips sink ships.” It was wartime and when I went to bed at night, I’d look out the window and see the search lights and always worry that the German planes were coming. I was afraid a lot, and so the time period is real, the story is fiction, but the setting, the background, is true.

When my sister, Anne, was born, my mother put stars up on her bedroom ceiling, over the windows, and they were beautiful. Eventually, they dried a little in the back and once in a while, a star would float down from my sister’s ceiling onto the bed or onto the floor and we called them “falling stars,” we thought they were magic. So, putting the stars on the ceiling reminded me of my childhood, my sister’s childhood of that time, during the Second World War.

As you can see, it’s a great book for younger readers to go back into the past and learn of a time that was difficult for many.  I love books that connect with the author’s background.  Lily was a great character with a great voice.  Having read a couple of other books this year about young girls with family members going to war (Shooting the Moon and Jimmy’s Stars), I’d have to admit that this was not my favorite among them but it’s still not one to be missed.