Giff, Patricia Riley. Lily's
Crossing. New York: Bantam Doubleday
Dell Books, 1997. ISBN: 0-385-32142-2.
PLOT SUMMARY
Lily
Mollahan's vacations had always been carefree and fun at her grandmother's
summer home in Rockaway, New York. She and her friend Margaret would spend hours playing
together along the shores of the bay. This summer, though, World War II rages
in Europe, and their world is turned upside down after the Invasion of Normandy
on D-Day that June. Margaret's family must move to Detroit where her father
will work in a factory that builds B-54 bombers, and Lily's father will be
going to France with the US Army Corps of Engineers to help the war effort. Lily,
whose mother died when she was a baby, has always managed to create a world of
fantasy about people in her life by creating elaborate stories about them.
Now, however, she is forced to face reality as she realizes she
may lose her father, and it is a reality that terrifies her. The summer resort,
though, brings to her an unexpected friend: Albert, a Hungarian refugee whose grandmother's
sacrifice helped him and his sister, Ruth, escape from the Nazis. Lily learns
that he and his sister were separated in France, and he lives with his fear
that he may never see her again. The two lonely children, confused in the
events over which they have no control, find themselves reaching out to help
each other accept the pain of loss and to restore hope in a world living on the
edge of the war.
CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Patricia Reilly Giff's historical fiction novel Lily's Crossing accurately portrays the
day-to-day living of Americans on the home front whose lives are shattered by a
war taking place across the Atlantic Ocean. No one can avoid the repercussions from
the war. Although it is an ocean away, its effects invade the Americans at home.
Daily lifestyles change: light must be hidden at night in case of air raid
attacks, signs remind Americans that spies could be in their midst, food is rationed so the soldiers overseas can have
food supplies, newsreels in theaters show the latest coverage from the war. More significant than the day-to-day changes in their lifestyles, though, are the sacrifices of loved
ones leaving home to fight a powerful enemy who threatens the world, and the
heart wrenching wait to learn if they have survived the latest battle.
Giff's use of World War II as the setting is subtle enough
where it does not overwhelm the story. Instead, its presence helps the modern
day reader who lives in a world of instant communication feel empathy for those
who lived in a time where news was only available in bits and pieces. Letters
from family members overseas took weeks to arrive and were censored so the
troops' lives would not be in jeopardy. What a contrast to our world where
journalists broadcast live from the positions of our soldiers, and soldiers can
talk to their families back home through social networking or webcams. The reality of their world of timeless waiting for news impacts the reader as it emphasizes the growing fears of young Lily Mollahan.
Lily brings the story together through the eyes of a child who has her own inner conflicts to resolve.
Lily shows a tough exterior to the world to hide her fears and doubts. To the
people who know her, she portrays an independent, fiery, slightly defiant
spirit. She creates incredible stories of spies in their midst and of her
nonexistent aunt who is an American spy overseas. These stories work to deflect
others from finding out too much about her true feelings of a deep longing for
her mother who died when she was a baby and the fear that her father may have
to go to war. Lily and her father have a strong bond, and she comforts herself
to believe that because he is an engineer, he will never be called to fight in Europe. The
dreaded day comes, though, when he gently tells her he must go to France with the American troops. She
becomes angry with him, the world, the war, and with everyone around her. She refuses
to say goodbye to him the morning he leaves to join the American forces in Europe,
an action that feeds her grief and guilt.
As the summer progresses, Lily befriends a young boy,
Albert, a Hungarian refugee whose life has also been shattered by the war; he does not know what
has happened to his family in Europe. His grandmother's sacrifice to save him
and his sister by smuggling them out of Hungary turns for the worse when they are
separated after she becomes ill in France. He fears he may never see her again. Lily's guilt about not seeing
her father the day he leaves for the war and Albert's guilt about pretending to sleep the day the
hospital nurse takes his sister weigh heavily on them. As their
friendship grows, they finally confess their guilt to each other, and through
the confession are able to begin to heal and have hope for the future.
Lily Mollahan's thoughts and feelings continue to stir the
reader long after closing the last page to the book. Lily reflects the American
spirit: Independent, yet loyal to those she befriends; private, yet
compassionate to those who suffer. Patricia Reilly Giff's story reaches into the hearts
of its readers and teaches them that even in the worst of times human love and
compassion lend the strength and hope needed to survive and overcome.
AWARDS AND REVIEWS
Best Books - 11 Lists, to include:
Best
Children's Books of the Year, 1998
Children's
Catalog, Eighteenth Edition, 2001
Children's
Catalog, Nineteenth Edition, 2006
Notable
Children's Books, 1998
Teacher's
Choices, 1998
Awards, Honors, Prizes - Recipient or nominee of awards to include:
Boston
Globe-Horn Book Award for Excellence in Children's Literature, 1997 - Honor
Book Fiction and Poetry
Jefferson
Cup Award, 1998 - Honor Book
John Newbery
Medal, 1998 - Honor Book
M. Jerry
Weiss Book Award, 2000 - Winner Grades 4-6
Nominee for 18 State reading lists
Reviews
"With
wry comedy and intense feeling, and without intrusive historical detail, Giff
gets across a strong sense of what it was like on the home front during World
War II." Hazel Rochman, Booklist,
February, 1997.
"This
is a fine piece of historical fiction that evokes a time and place without
sacrificing or taking advantage of its characters' emotional lives."
Janice M. Del Negro, The Bulletin of the
Center for Children's Books, April, 1997.
CONNECTIONS
Historical Fiction, Suggested grade levels
4 - 7
Related
Books
Number
the Stars, by Lois Lowry
The
1940s: Secrets, by Dorothy Hoobler
The
Coastwatcher, by Elise Weston
Alice at the Home
Front, by Mardiyah A. Tarantino
Enrichment
Activities
PERSONAL RESPONSE
After reading Lily's Crossing, I felt a little sad. I know the story ends in a
positive note, but the events reminded me of my mother who lived in Washington
D.C. during World War II. She was a senior in high school and the War
Department offered high school seniors diplomas to students who would leave
school to work for the department. My mother left school and became a censor of
letters from soldiers to their families. She had to black-out parts of the
letters that revealed too much information. When she told me about this, she
looked sad as she recalled some of the letters were heartbreaking. Censoring
letters was mentioned in the book, and I realized how important it is to keep
these seemingly trivial historical facts alivee - even in historical fiction - so that the world
cannot forget how life was for people who lived in times that we can only read
about now.
Lily's Crossing. Cover
illustration. Internet on-line. Accessed
November 10, 2012 from http://www.booklistonline.com/Lily-s-Crossing-Patricia-Reilly-Giff/pid=1011316.
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