Lily's Crossing

It is the summer of 1944, and Lily Mollahan, who is finishing fifth grade, lives in St. Albans, a middle class community in the New York City borough of Queens, with her Poppy, an engineer, and her Gram. Her mother is dead. The three make the usual plans to spend their vacation at Gram’s summer home in Rockaway where her best friend Margaret Dillon and her family also have a summer home. However, with the war going on, her father is drafted into the military, and the Dillons move to Willow Run, MI, near Detroit, so that Margaret’s father can work in a wartime factory. Lily is lonely. Then she meets Albert, a refugee her own age from Hungary, who is staying with his aunt and uncle, Mr. and Mrs. Orban, who are neighbors in Rockaway, and the two begin a special friendship. Albert’s parents operated a newspaper opposing the Nazis in Hungary, and he doesn’t know what has happened to them, but his grandmother sent him and his little sister Ruth to France in hopes of their escaping to America. Albert makes it, but Ruth becomes ill and is kept in France by some nuns, and he is worried about her. Also, Lily learns that Margaret’s brother Eddie is missing in action following the Normandy invasion. Lily and Albert both tell lies to each other, but Lily tells one that may cost Albert his life. What will happen to him? Will he ever see Ruth again? For that matter, will Lily’s father return home? This novel does a really good job of conveying what life was like on the home front during World War II, especially for those who were waiting to hear about loved ones in Europe. The biggest complaints which I saw about the book are that there is little development of the story line and that it is boring due to lack of action and excitement. Since it is written for youngsters, it obviously won’t have the same degree of development that an adult novel would have. Also, not every story must have a bang-bang, shoot-‘em-up plot to be good. It is true that Lily does some lying and engages in other forms of deception, but she learns an important lesson and changes her behavior. I enjoyed reading Lily's Crossing, which was a 1998 Newbery Honor Book, and would have given it five stars, except that author Patricia Reilly Giff evidently felt compelled to have Lily herself use the “d” word a couple of times to describe her piano. There is a “companion” novel, Willow Run, about Margaret and her family.

Amazing simply amazing I feel as if I were with them living every moment and it made me feel hope for our situation now with the corona virus going aroundI imagine if someone read this when the corona virus is gone 😂I wanna know how much it took

My wife loved reading the book with our son. Our son however did not enjoy the book. Still giving a five star rating because well if the book was not about blowing stuff up our son is not gonna like it.

my 5th grader had to read for class , figured I would read too ... great find , glimpse at history and the innocents of the child’s mind ... born and raised in NY very interesting to read of places that still exist ... ex playland!!!

Love this author. Good book for young adults or junior high age. Nice historical fiction.

I loved this heartwarming book that tells kids in2015 what it was like to be in that time zone and to be a kid alive for a war in general and how hard it was for the kids with family member leaving to go help it also show a true friendship and I recommend any one ages 9-100 would love the book

As you say, this is a young adult book. It had a lot of info for adults, however. It was quick, and interesting.

I just love this book. I loved the story. I read it myself when I was in about 5th or 6th grade. I had to order it for my 10 year old. She is enjoying reading it. I plan on ordering her more from this author

Very good book. Didn’t want to put it down

Not to expectation....

ノルマンディー上陸作戦直前のアメリカLilyはお父さんとおばあさんの３人暮らし、お母さんはLilyが生まれてすぐに亡くなっています。夏休みに、海辺の家に滞在するため、おばあさんとお父さんとやってきます。楽しく過ごしていたこところ、親友のMargaret仲良しの女の子の父親が、軍需工場で働くため引っ越していき、お父さんも徴兵されおばあさんと二人暮らしになったとき、ヨーロッパから戦禍を逃れてきた少年と知り合います。二人は、次第に仲良くなっていきますが、二人とも心に傷をもち正直になれず、ウソをついてしまいます。しかし、あることをきっかけに二人は正直に告白し、傷も癒されていきます。。。。