lily's crossing written by patricia reilly giff

Reilly Giff, Patricia. Lily's Crossing. New York: Random House Children's Books, 1999. ISBN: 9780440414537

Plot Summary:

     Lily Mollahan is a ten-year girl living in St. Albans, Queens in the midst of WWII. Lily looks forward to summer vacation until she is faced with the unexpected circumstances of her best friend moving and her father being deployed overseas. Lily's summer seems to take a turn for the better through her uncanny coping mechanism of her father's absence and through a shared compassion for a drowning kitten arises a friendship between Lily and a Hungarian refugee. Lily is faced with a summer full of understanding of not only how she is affected by the war, but also how it has affected other people.

Critical Analysis:

     The story of Lily Mollahan is told through the point of view of a narrator, but includes detailing descriptions of characters, plot, and theme that takes readers away to the setting of 1944. Through the many allusions to Germany, Nazis, France, and Hungary, the author has painted a vivid setting of the life that Lily Mollahan lives during the summer of 1944.  The author, Patricia Giff, describes in great detail of the struggles that Lily overcomes from the moving of her best friend. Through these struggles, Lily encounters an unlikely friendship with the other protagonist of this story, Albert Orban. Giff describes Albert Orban as a Hungarian refugee who's in search of his sister whom he was separated from during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. 

     Not only does the narrator build the storyline of Albert's search for his sister, but the narrator also shares insight on Lily's continuation of lies. With further examination, Lily's lies can be attributed to the need to mask and cope with her best friend moving away, as well as her father being deployed overseas to fight in WWII. The details included through narration, enhance the growing plot of this work of historical fiction by identifying the underlying themes that correlate with the effects of WWII. 

Awards Won:

John Newbery Medal (1998)

Review Excerpts:

"Details...are woven with great effect into a realistic story." - The Horn Book Magazine

"Exceptional characterizations and a robust story line...this has all the ingredients that best reward readers." - Publishers Weekly

"With wry comedy and intense feeling...Giff gets across a strong sense of what it was like on the home front during World War II...The friendship story is beautifully drawn." - Booklist

" In 1944, Lily's eagerly awaited summer vacation becomes a time of anxiety when her widower father, Poppy, announces that he's off to Europe with the US Army Corps of Engineers. Lily's lonely in Rockaway with both her father and her summer friend, Margaret, gone, until she meets an orphan from Budapest living temporarily with her grandmother's neighbor. At first she responds coldly to Albert, but is soon drawn to him by his awkward dignity and his tragic tale of dead parents and ill sister, Ruth, left behind in France. As they care for an abandoned kitten together and wistfully watch ships passing on the horizon, a solid friendship develops, and by the time they part, Lily and Albert have helped each other through difficult times. Much of the plot, characters, and premise is conventional, but Giff (Shark in School, 1994, etc.) really pulls readers' heartstrings with Albert's memories of his family, the loss of Margaret's well-liked brother in the war, and Lily's joyful reunion with Poppy. Pull out the hankies for the final scene, in which Lily returns to Rockaway the following summer to find Albert—and Ruth—waiting for her. It's a strong ending to a deftly told story." - Kirkus Reviews

"Brilliantly told." - The New York Times Book Review 

Connections:

Customers who bought this also bought Nory Ryan's Song, Maggie's Door, and Penny from Heaven.

Interactivity:

• Ask children have they ever told a lie. If so, why?
• Describe to children the key elements of WWII and the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 as to how it relates to WWII.
• Ask children if they have a best friend; what about a back up best friend just in case they move away?
• What would you do if your best friend moved away?