Lilys Crossing
By. Patricia Relly

This book really brought you into war scared Rockaway, New York. The story tells how Lily goes to her summer home in rock away only to discover how much war has changed it. Only to discover how much the war really changed it.
Lily is a "last seat last row kid" in school, and she "every second. And she can't wait to go to Rockaway to get away from school, and the piano and cant wait to start sneaking into movies with her best friend Margaret. But then things go from good to bad, when her dad announces that they are taking the piano to Rockaway Lily smiles and pretends that she is ecstatic. But things go from bad to worse when Margaret tells Lily she's going to move till the end of the war (WW II.) Will Lilys summer improve read the book to find out!
This author also wrote more than 30 books, including Pictures of Hollis Woods, Nory Ryons song, and the Kinds of Polk Street School Series. Out did her self with this beautifully crafted realistically, historical book. Telling of the theme, friends consist of love, kindness and caring. If you want to find out about this theme or want to know how lily spends the summer you have to read Lilys Crossing

Lily's Crossing is agood book about WW2.The book takes placein 1944.Lily is a 5th grader going into 6th grade.She is an only child.Her mom died of a over sized heart when she was 6.So she is very close toher dad.Lily her grandma and her dad go to Rockaway,New York.Then the war goes very bad and her dad has to go and be a engineer for the war!Then Lilys best friend Margret has to go to Detroit,MI so her dad can go build bombers.I like this book because it's about a kid with problems.I think kids should read it because they might enjoy it too.

Laura Conroy
May 27, 2003
LA 02

Lily's Crossing

The book that I read was called Lily's Crossing. It was 1944, and World War 2 has brought chaos to a family who lives in Rockaway New York. Lily, the main character, father is going to the war and everyone is very anxious for him to come back. Will father come back? The author Patricia Reilly Giff gives the reader suspense with lots of questions. Will father get back okay? Read the book and find out.
In this book, the theme maybe be " Friends consist of love, care, and kindness" My evidence to this theme is Lily met a friend Albert which she thought she would hate but she really met him and he was one of the best friends she ever had.
Put aside all the suspense and post-its your going to have. The one thing I noticed when I looked at the book was the "Newberry Honor Award" This award was given to these books in 1921 and has come to represent the beset in children's literature. So there's no way this can be a good book for the soul.
Giffs well writing and imagination makes these characters have had. Personally, I had so many connections with this book that it made me feel like Lily was my very own sister. For example, Lily has a hard time meeting friends and so do I. This book teaches you a good lesson how to get to know people in their own special ways.
Patricia Reilly Giff, started out wanting to write stories by just picking up a book for the first time. She says, " I thought it must be a marvelous thing to just print the pages." You can tell she had a dream from the very start. Patricia's education includes a B.A degree from Marymount Collect, an MA from St.Johns University, and a Diploma in Reading and Doctorate of Humane Letters from Hofstra. All of Patricia writing comes from her experiences or stories she has heard. When Patricia was young her favorite books included Little Women, The Secret Garden, the Black Sue Barton books, and finally the Nancy Drew Books. Hopefully Patricia books will b
e one of your favorite series. In order it to be you have to read it first!

This and the other books about Abby and her friend used to be some of my favorite books when I was little. I reccomend it if you are 9 or 10 and like to read.

The Abby Jones mysteries are invariably fast-paced, exciting, and funny. This one, the first, has the most surprisingly adventuresome action, what with jumping onto subways and chasing people around in bare feet, breaking into apartment buildings, and climbing down onto a fire escape from a tall building's roof. All in all a huge amount of fun.

I had just bought this book for my daughter. She has often read it over and over,, and enjoys all the characters, plots, and settings. Definetly two thumbs up

I kind of enjoyed this book, although there were parts that were slow, it still kept my attention. This book is about a young girl named Hollis Woods. Her mother left her as a child, and she has lived in foster homes ever since. She stayed at many foster homes throughout her life, but there was one that stuck in her mind, the Regan's house. She left that house and ended up with Josie. Josie was an older lady who was very caring and really loved art. Hollis also really had a passion for drawing. When Hollis would look at something that was important to her, she would remember that picture in her mind, and then she would draw that picture on paper. As the days went on Josie and Hollis became closer although Josie was loosing her mind slowly. The foster home acengy was aware that Josie was loosing her mind, so they were looking for another home for Hollis. Will Hollis continue to live with Josie or will she find another home?

Hollis Woods is a very touching book. It's about a 12-year-old girl who was abandoned in the forest of Hollis Woods, which is how she got her name. Hollis searches from place to place looking for a home that suits her needs, dreams, and wants. Will she ever find her wonderful humble home'?
We really enjoyed reading Pictures of Hollis Woods. It is one of the best and most touching books we have ever read. We really liked this book because it kept us guessing, thinking, and predicting throughout the whole time. We think this book fits all of the needs for a great book. We recommend this book to everyone!!!!!

Pictures of Hollis Woods was an excellent book about a troublesome foster child named Hollis. In the beginning Hollis talked about her old life, and throughout the book she refers back to it, and this was sometimes confusing to the reader. Hollis has traveled from home to home but never finds one that suits her best. Finally, she finds her soulmate, Josie, who is currently her guardian. They go through good times, but have trouble because Josie is getting old and tends to forget things. But soon Hollis begins a new life and is very happy to have a real family. We liked this book because it had realistic characters that you could relate to. We recommend it for everyone who likes a good adventure.

I really liked this book. It is about a girl who tries to be really popular, but it is hard to be well liked when her older sister has the best reputation in the whole school. I mean come on, you and I both know it is annoying to always be compared to a perfect older sibling. The teachers always call her Van, her sister's name, and yell at her because she isn't perfect like her sister. Ya, I know that doesn't sound realistic, nobody's perfect. She wants for people to know her as herself. I found one problem with this book: there were no illustrations. Read the book to find out all the great details.

I read this book when I was 10. My mom got it for me as a birthday present and I loved it. I felt like Casey was a lot like me in that I wanted to make a name for myself. When I started fourth grade my popularity was decreased and I felt like nobody recognized me. Unlike Casey, I did not get the opportunity to run for class pres, or anything. But Casey was someone I looked up to and could identify with. She gets herself into all sorts of jams in this book and has such an imagination!

This book is one of my favorites of the Casey Valentine series because it has alot of Casey, who's my favorite, and also because Walter's insane scheme to fake a broken arm actually works, and insane schemes never work in kid's books!

This is a really cool book. Walter is a neat guy who isn't the sports type; he's more of the intellectual type who's into his science experiments. There are a lot of funny parts that cracked me into fits of giggles. You will really enjoy it!

i read this book when i was much younger, but recently came across it again. the story is amusing and the characters are endearing. it's a wonderful read for kids, and big kids too!

This story is about a girl named Emily and her teacher Mrs.Rooney. Her class is playing in the snow. There are two characters named Emily and Sherri that don't like each other.The day Mrs.Rooney wasn't there is because she took a couple days off.Then Mrs.Rooney found a subsitute, her name was Mrs.Vincent ,and Emily really wants to meet her , and she wants to dress nice for that day so that she will like her and Sherri copied Emily with the idea she had.Then Emily got mad,then Emily was in charge because Mrs.Vincent put her in charge while shes going to get something.So Emily caught Sherri playing around with Richard and Emily put Sherrie's name on the board , and Sherri just ignored and didn't listen and just kept talking then when Mrs.Vincent returned and she looked at whose name was on the board . Mrs.Vincent said ''Thank you Emily for keeping an eye on the class''.The next day after school Emily, Sherri and Mrs.Vincent were making a card for Mrs.Rooney, but they ran out of paper so Mrs.Vincent went to get some more paper ,as she left Emily and Sherri , Then they started to talk to each other ,and they decided to be friends again.When Mrs.Vincent came back with paper she was happy Emily and Sherri became friends again . The next day Mrs.Rooney returned and she got Emily's valentina card and she was pleased to get a card from Emily. When it was Valentines day it was time to get all the cards, and pass them out to everyone and Emily made a card a special card for Sherri Dent .I enjoyed reading this book because it talks about Valentines Day

We read this as a read aloud in our homeschool. The book kept my son's attention fairly well. This was the first Polk street school book that we have read. We might look into reading more of the series.

This was one of the first chapter books I've read. The beginning of the story was a bit confusing because Richard, the main character, says "the beast is home!" He says the beast is home because people call him the beast! So the beast in the story is a little boy.

In the story, it's almost Richard's birthday. He thinks that Holly, his big sister, and her friend Joanne, are making a party for him. [...]

Richard and his best friend Matthew have to help bring a rabbit to the kindergarten spring play.

It was a fun book to read.

This book is well written and enjoyable; about 2 friends who always seem to get in trouble. You can learn a lot from this book. Beast and Matthew think they're in deep deep trouble when the school's rabbit-on-wheels (for the Easter play) "runs amuck" and loses it's head!! Parts of this book, like all of Giff's delightful books, made me giggle. She is a wonderful author...Beast thinks if he's quiet about the rabbit, the problem will go away but one thing leads to another and he accidentally mooshes his sister's jewelry box and feels terrible. Besides that he has suspicions that she is planning a party for him. Normally reading these books I saw his sister Holly as being like an obnoxious, bossy old cow, but in this book you see her becoming a good sister and he confides in her about the "Monster Rabbit running amuck". Wonderful book and character devlopment, however I think Holly still should've had a party for Richard since he was so depressed that the party she was planning was really for her class!

Nory Ryan and her family including Celia, Patch, Granda, Maggie, and Dad live in Ireland. Soon the English take over Ireland making the people have to pay rent. Later the potatoes become black and during this time Maggie moves away to America with her husband and Dad goes away on a fishing boat to make money for rent. After a few weeks their neighbor, Anna, helps out and watches Patch and Nory while Celia and Granda work at a job.

Nory finished the shawl and sold it. While Nory was buying goods a man snuck up behind her and stole everything she had. While Nory was worrying about her family, Celia and Granda were already on their way to America. Later Dad goes there too and sends two tickets for Nory and Patch so they would all be free together in America.

Nory Ryan's Song

Nory Ryan's Song is a book about how some families survived with little food and no money. These people still have to pay rent for their homes. If they did not pay rent then they were sent away and their homes were destroyed. In that part of the city no one even had a coin but Anna Donnely. One of the families named the Ryan's had two daughters and a boy. The oldest girl got married in her mother's wedding dress and after the wedding she went to America. The father of the Ryan's was fishing to get money to pay rent. Because he was gone this left Patch and Nory by themselves. Nory and Patch had a very hard life. They had to find food for a long time. Sean Red, a friend of Nory's, had an extra ticket to go to America because his grandmother died. He gave the ticket to Patch and Patch left for America. Later when the Ryan's father finally came home, he brought a ticket for Nory to go to America as well. So Patch and Nory got to live in America and have a better life.

Let me tell you now that when you read Nory Ryan's Song you will think your really lucky.This book is a about a little girl named Nory who lived in Ireland.Her dad was far away on a ship fishing so he could pay the rent.Every month a lady named Devil would come to Nory's house to collect the rent , and if they coudn't pay she would take things from them like food and animals.While her dad was on the ship Nory's sister moved to Brookln , New York.Nory now was very hungry and desprate to do just about anything to pay the rent, so she went the only person who had a coin in the village.That only person was Anna , who Nory was afraid of.Anna gave her the coin and soon enough they were friends.All of Nory's family was starving to death so Nory made shawl to buy some food and to pay for the package from her sister.In the package there where some tickets to Brookln.So Nory and her family decided to live in Brookln.

My son is in the first grade and reading at the top of his class. This book was sent home to him and he was told to read 2 chapters per day. I thought the first 4 chapters were fine until I got to chp. 5. I was appalled that you had the one of the characters in the story named Emily calling the teacher names(page33). Also in the chapter she was calling her teacher Mrs. Miller the Killer, Mrs Miller the killer gorilla. She called a girl ugly too. I am 33 years old and back in my time these books would have been fine. Seeing all of the violence today, we should be encouraging our kids not to call names etc. By reading this book you are encouraging students to disrespect adults and their peers, by calling them names which could eventually envoke violence. Most parents try hard to teach their children to respect everyone. Not call them names and disresepct adults or their peers. This story did neither. I would hope that you will relook at what you are writing and help encourage positive thinking in our children. We all know that children say alot of things but you are encouraging negative thoughts into them by printing things like this. I spoke with my son's teacher and explained that I know the teachers can't read every book but that I will continue to help ensure that my child or any other child not read things that are published like this, by making them aware of it. My sons teacher will not be reading the books published by Patricia Reilly Giff to her students and was glad I brought it to her attention. I will also be talking to the principal about these books. If you can I would like a response to my review.

The beauty about this series is that it breaks down people's prejudices. Each child featured has something odd about them that a reader can identify with. None of the characters are perfect...like real life. As the reader gets to know each character, he or she grows to love them...as do the other characters within the book. The story reflects life, it's sadness and its joys, and keeps you interested. There is always a lesson to be learned in each book in the Polk Street School Series. I do wish they credited the cover artist, as I worked so hard to do the book justice. My name is Joanne Scribner, and so far I've redone the covers for: December Secrets, Candy Corn Contest, The Beast In Ms. Rooney's Room, and Fish Face. I've also done new covers for: Snaggle Doodles, The Valentine Star, and The Dinosaur's Paw...coming out soon. As the cover artist is never named, (only the interior artist).....please look carefully, and you can tell who did the covers. Hope you enjoy this series. I'll keep working on the rest of the covers in the series for you...So please let me know what you think.

When I became an elementary teacher, the very first author a librarian recommended to me was Patricia Reilly Giff! And years later I am still reading her books with my students and enjoying them immensely. If you didn't like Fish Face, fine, but don't expunge all of Giff's great body of work. We're reading The Gift of the Pirate Queen right now and it's great. Patricia Reilly Giff, keep up the good work!

Reilly has a well-formed beginning and middle, but the end feels rushed and incomplete. So many different characters are introduced that there is little time to see them develop. The illustrations nicely complement the story and may help those with struggling imaginations or who read so slowly that they forget the story. The illustrations are spread through the text very well - it is never more than two or three pages before the next one. This means young readers will be turning pages more often and feel they are making progress. The story deals with some children who are sent out of the classroom for remedial reading. This may encourage readers older than my suggested late first to early third grade level.

Why 3 stars?:
The story is completely plot-driven. Even at this beginning stage of reading children are still capable of meaningful discussion of what they are reading, but this book doesn't provide much material for it. If kids don't associate the higher thinking that comes from reading, it will be viewed as a chore and they will no longer enjoy it. This book does not encourage students to get excited about reading, or share it with others.

Giff set this series off to a good start with this book 1. I read it when I was 9. It came in the mail from Weekly Reader Books (my dad sent away for those for me!) Every month I got books in the mail and this was one of them. At the time I didn't know it was a series, though.

A year after reading this book I could feel for Richard "Beast" when I, too, was left back (it was for circumstances beyond my control, but still!) In this book, Beast struggles to survive and fit in, suffers losing his friends, who advanced to the next grade and reject him. This book is so good!