Reading Through History: A Single Shard by Linda S.

Book Review: The Secret Language by Ursula Nordstr.

Reading Through History: The Kite Rider by Geraldi.

Reading Through History: Catherine, Called Birdy b.

Reading with Little Miss Muffet: March 2015.

The way everything comes together might feel a little too easy to a jaded adult reader, but for a child, the hope presented by the story's resolution will be very pleasing and comforting. Janey's poverty makes her truly appreciate the notion of free access to books in a way that can't be read as anything but sincere.Īt the start, this book seems like just another depressing historical fiction story, but it turns out to be something much different, and the ending does not take any of the tragic turns I might have expected when I first started reading.

This is one of the only children's books I've read where a child's love for the library feels authentic. Particularly memorable are the moment where Janey first discovers the home of the man who owns her family's shack, and the visit to the fair, where Janey encounters her very first library. The writing in this book is not difficult to read, but it is filled with evocative images that bring the story to life.

Janey's desires to be normal, to fit in, and to feel secure and stable are relevant to every child, regardless of time period, a fact which helps the story continue to hold up 65 years later. Through the character of Janey, young readers are given a very personal glimpse into the experience of a poor migrant family which helps drive home the hardships real people were up against during that time. Published in 1940 and set in the 1930s, Blue Willow is a story about the difficulties faced by many people during the years of the Great Depression. Janey thinks she may have found that perfect place, but does she dare believe that this time her family might stay? Someday, her stepmother promises, they will have a proper home in which to display the plate. The last remaining reminder of her late biological mother, the plate represents for Janey a sense of normalcy and stability. What she does have, though, is a blue willow plate.

Janey has never attended a real school, and she doesn't have any friends. They live in a shack that belongs to someone else, and they move from place to place as opportunities for work arise and disappear. Janey Larkin's migrant family doesn't have much.

Doris gates books