Lily's Crossing

Giff, Patricia Reilly. 1999. Lily's Crossing. New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell Book for Young Readers. ISBN-13: 978-0440414537

Plot Summary:

Lily is an 11 year old girl living with her grandmother in America during World War II. In 1944, that fateful summer, Lily and her grandmother go, as they do every summer, to Rockaway, where Lily meets Albert, a Hungarian refugee her age with a secret. That's okay because Lily has a secret, too.

Critical Analysis:

Using the beach as a backdrop, Giff immerses the reader in the world of Rockaway, New York in 1944 and World War II. Rationing is alive and well and the war affects nearly everyone Lily knows. Margaret's, Lily's best friend, brother is missing at Normandy and her family moves so that Margaret's father can help the war effort in America, and Lily's own beloved Poppy joins the army to assist with the war effort in Europe.

While in Rockaway, alone with her grandmother, Lily meets Albert, the nephew of one of her neighbors. Seemingly very different and off to a rocky start, Lily and Albert forge a bond that begins with a drowning kitten that they save. As they care for the kitten and are forced together by their families, Lily and Albert tell each other about their lives, eventually becoming best friends.

Throughout the novel, Lily struggles with a problem she recognizes: She lies constantly and her lies put Albert at risk. She tells him that she's going to take her boat and swim to the military boats constantly leaving the ports of New York and go to her father in Europe. Albert immediately seizes on the idea of returning to Europe because of guilt. He left his younger sister behind in France. Lily teaches Albert to swim, but she makes him promises not to try to get to the boats. She confesses to him her problem with lying. Still, Albert takes the boat out during a horrible storm nearly costing him, Lily, and the kitten they saved their lives.

Giff immerses the reader so skillfully into Lily's life that it is easy to identify with her and to see her, and Albert. While the problems Lily and Albert deal with are definitely adult situations, they deal with them like kids who aren't quite children but aren't yet teenagers. They experience the fear of children, but they manage to work through their problems with the problem solving skills of older children. The emotions that the characters experience are real and so true to children...Albert's longing for his family and the heart-wrenching tale he tells Lily of his parents and grandmother, Lily bringing a star off her ceiling at home to Rockaway every summer as a way of remembering her mother, who is dead, no matter where she is.

The backdrop of the beach and of the war make this book engrossing and engaging, and the ending of the book is enough to bring tears (truly!). It is the perfect, happy ending to this wonderful book.

Review Excerpts:

"Set during World War II, this tenderly written story tells of the war's impact on two children, one an American and one a Hungarian refugee. Lily Mollahan, a spirited, sensitive youngster being raised by her grandmother and Poppy, her widower father, has a comfortable routine that includes the family's annual summer migration to Gram's beach house in Rockaway, NY. Lily looks forward to summer's freedom and fishing outings with Poppy. She meets Albert, a Hungarian boy who is staying at a neighbor's house. At first, her fertile imagination convinces her that perhaps Albert is a Nazi spy, but eventually the two become good friends. The war interferes directly with Lily's life when Poppy, an engineer, is sent to Europe to help with clean-up operations. History is brought to life through Giff's well chosen details and descriptions. Both children suffer from the separation from loved ones, and both live with guilt for not having said proper good-byes. Albert even feels that he in some ways betrayed his sister Ruth, who was too ill to make the transatlantic journey. The developing friendship between Lily and Albert, and Albert's plan to swim to Europe to find Ruth, will grab readers' attention and sustain it to book's end. Despite convenient plot twists to reach a happy ending, Giff's well-drawn, believable characters and vivid prose style make this an excellent choice." Renee Steinberg, Fieldstone Middle School, School Library Journal

"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." Kirkus Reviews

Awards:

1998 Newbery Honor Book
1998 Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards
1998 ALA Notable Books for Children Award

Connections:

Lily's Crossing could be used at the beginning of the school year (or the end) to explore summer vacation.

An interesting lesson for fourth graders has them working in teams to produce a newspaper for Rockaway that involves researching the time period.

Lily's Crossing can supplement and enhance social studies lessons about World War II for older elementary school students.