| Booktalk
#1
Lily has mixed feelings about
summer vacation. She and her grandmother will go to Rockaway as usual.
Her father cannot spend the summer there so it's just Lily and her grandmother.
When they arrive at Rockaway, Lily finds out her friend Margaret is moving
away. Margaret's father has gotten a job in a factory helping with the
war effort. To make matters worse, Lily's father informs her that he has
enlisted and will be leaving to join the war. Lily meets a young man who
is staying with neighbors and immediately decides that he is a Nazi spy.
As she gets to know Albert, she learns what a terrible price war takes
on children from Europe. Spend time with Lily and Albert as they attempt
to make sense of war.
Booktalk #2
Have you ever told a lie?
I know you! Sure you have! But, have you ever told a lie that
might cost someone his life? Well, Lily told a lie about Albert,
and it just might cost Albert's life. It is summer of 1944,
and Lily is doing her usual thing, spending it with her grandmother in
Rockaway. But this year, it's different. Her country is at
war; her dad is overseas helping the war effort; her best friend, Margaret,
and her family have moved to a war-time factory town. Lily is lonely.
Then Albert, a refugee from Hungary, moves to town. He has lost most
of his family in the war, and he is very secretive. As Lily and Albert
become friends, she knows he's hiding something -- but what? Can
a lie really be such a bad thing? Read LILY'S CROSSING. (New
Hampshire Great Stone Face Committee)
Booktalk #3
Lily certainly could benefit
from a good friend. Well, she did have Margaret. They saw each
other every summer at Rockaway Beach on the Atlantic Ocean. That's
where Lily and her father, Poppy, and her grandmother went that summer
of 1944. Just like they did every summer. But Margaret’s family
abruptly moved away, and Poppy suddenly went off to war, and Lily needed
help with her problem list: First: telling lies, second: daydreaming,
third: needing friends, and fourth: Gram. That was the summer
that she would meet Albert. And no, contrary to her active imagination,
he was not a spy. He was a little boy, a war refugee from Hungary.
He had legs like a sea gull and a mop of curly hair, and parents lost to
the war, and a sister left in another country, and a secret sown in his
coat, and a heavy heart. Will Albert be able to help Lily with her
problem list? Will Lily be able to help him get the one thing he
really wants; if so, at what cost? (Gail A. King, grking@bellsouth.net,
University of South Carolina)
Booktalk #4
In the summer of 1944, World War II has affected everyone's life.
Mothers are worried about their sons, wives are concerned for their husbands,
and daughters miss their daddies. This is especially true for Lily.
She is so excited about spending the summer at the beach with her friend
Margaret but when she arrives, Lily learns that Margaret’s family must
move because of the war. She also learns that her father must go
overseas to the war. The summer that Lily had looked so forward to
is turning out to be a lonely time stuck with her grandmother who makes
her practice the piano all the time.
Just when Lily thinks her summer is doomed, Albert shows up to live in
the house next door. Albert is Lily’s age, but he has experienced
much more pain and devastation than the typical fifth grader. As
a refugee from Hungary, he has seen his parents die and has been separated
from his sister. Together, Albert and Lily work on a plan to reunite
him with his sister, but the plan could be deadly for both of them.
Read the Newbery Honor book, Lily’s Crossing to find out how Lily and Albert
become best friends who would do anything for each other. (Allison
L. Powell, powellal@pickens.k12.sc.us,
Pickens Elementary School, Pickens, South Carolina) |
