Customer Reviews

Blue Willow

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I began reading this book aloud to my daughters, ages 6 and 7. I was very impressed with the quality of writing, and the plot held the attention of all three of us. The best read-alouds are the ones in which the children beg for "one more chapter" and the adult reader enthusiastically complies. This book met both criteria.

The most impressive aspect of this book was its ability to be a very upbeat, positive story while not shrinking away from the sad details of poverty. The family was uncomfortable and sometimes sad in the midst of poor housing, a starvation diet, and ill health, while still enjoying the stability and joy of an intact family. It also has a wonderful (but slightly unbelievable) happy ending.

This is a nice story about a young girl who yearns for a home that she can call her own. Janey travels with her father and stepmother to wherever her father can find seasonal work.Her most valued possession is a Blue Willow plate that belonged to her mother, who died when she was young. Finally the family settles in a place where Janey makes friends, but it is inevitable that they will have to leave when there is no more work. When her mom falls ill, Janey departs with her precious plate. This story has a happy ending where good triumphs over bad, and there is a great focus on the love between family members. It's a little sappy, but we can all use that kind of ending now and then

I enjoyed reading this book with my 8 year old daughter. It is a very touching story about a family who lives on the move and does not have many of the things that families take for granted...like a real home, friends, the reassuring familiarity of school and daily routines. It is a thought provoking look at a very different sort of life. I think it made my daughter appreciate some of the things she just assumed that everyone has. It's an advanced read. More of a book to read together as the words are somewhat difficult and the storyline sometimes needs some explanation. But the characters are wonderful and good triumphs over evil in the end. We love a happy ending! I'm sure we will read it often over the years.

All 10-year-old Janey Larkin longs for is a real home -- which is the one thing the Larkins don't seem able to find. For as long as she can recall, her father has been a migrant worker, roaming the southern and western United States in search of temporary working, taking his wife and daughter with him. Already having natural shyness against her, Janey takes refuge in reading, rather than attempt to make friends with children she'll just have to leave in a short time.

Then the Larkins move into a shack near the Romeros, a happy family which includes Lupe, who is just Janey's age. The girls quickly become friends, and Janey is even able to attend a camp school with a wonderful teacher, making her feel things are too good to be true.

As luck would have it, that's precisely the case. Mom gets sick with pneumonia, and Dad can't work. The Larkins don't have the money to pay a doctor -- or rent -- although Mom is too weak to travel.

In desperation, Janey gives the landlord her beloved willow plate, her one luxury possession and the only thing she has to remember her birth mother by. As the family is about to leave, she decides to go say goodbye to the plate...which triggers a chain of events that changes the Larkin family's fate forever.

I grew up in the Central Valley in California, among the agricultural life described by Mrs. Gates in Blue Willow. Her descriptions of the heat, the landscape, the people, and the fair are so accurate I feel like I am living there again as a child. Her insights into the life of the itinerate farm worker are so touching and real. I highly recommend this book to anyone who want to see what life was like in the Central Valley.

The book Blue Willow is about a girl named Janey. She was sad and had a friend name Lupe. Janey had to move a lot and she had a plate that reminded her about her great-great grand father. When she moved she had to leave the plate behind. She saw a place that remind her of the plate.

I think that the book is trying to tell you about hard work. It's hard work moving to a different house. The author's purpose is to entertain you, so you could read more of it because it's a good book.

My opinion about the book is that other kids should read it, because it's a super good book to read. I like it because her teacher was kind and friendly. Janey couldn't see her friend Lupe so she has to meet new friends. My favorite part of the story is that Janey caught a horned toad.

Janey Larkin has grown up the daughter of migrant workers, with no roots and skimpy education. Her family occupies an empty shack while Dad works in the cotton fields, but she yearns to attend a real school (as opposed to a "camp" school) and live in a permanent home, so she can make friends.

Janey's prized possession (from her great grandmother) is a lovely plate with the blue and white Chinese pagoda willow pattern. Her unrealistic dream is to live in such a house by a lovely willow. Then her mother becomes ill and they can not pay the rent (extorted by the vicious, dishonest foreman who pockets the money). Janey contemplates making the biggest sacrifice of her life, to help her parents.

This stark tale blends agrarian poverty with a young girl's dreams of self- improvement, happiness and family unity. Despite the despair of the plot--stacked against the squatters--there is hope, as human kindness and rural justice struggle to take root and bloom, like the willow by the creek. Yet how can Janey bear to part with her beloved plate? A thoughtful book that will touch the reader's heart.

Blue Willow is one of the books that I keep in my bookcase and read on a monthly basis because the basic truths it reveals bring you back to real life. It describes clearly the depth of a child's emotions and reminds adults that very few children live in a child's world nowadays. The world is a lot greyer with much less black and white to make decisions easier. I read this and "The Little Princess" often to keep my perspective. It also sets an excellent example of personal integrity. I wish there had been a follow up book with more of Janey's personality explored.

I was touched deeply of the courage of Janey Larkin. She knew that one day she would live out her dream of finding a new home just like her prized "blue willow plate". Janey's father moved from one place to another to look for work. Each season ending, he moved. This story depicts courage as a strong and mighty force through the eyes of one little migrant girl, Janey.

Blue Willow was my favorite book when I was a child and thinking of it still brings tears to my eyes. Janey had a hard life, yet she loved people, learning, simple pleasures, and beauty. I always keep a Blue Willow plate to remind myself of that wonderful Janey, who has inspired me for fifty years.