Customer Reviews

Lyddie

5 star:		(48)
4 star:		(31)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I am a fifth grader in Massachusets and I read the book Lyddieby Katherine Paterson. I thought that it was a good book. This bookis about a girl naned Lyddie whose dad goes West to look for wealth. Her mom sends her and her brother off to be indentured. A little while later, Lyddie is dismissed because she went on a vacation. Then, she goes off to work at a mill in Lowell. Lyddie tries to make enough money to bring family back together but while she works at the mill a series of events change her life forever. I would recommend this book for anyone ten or older who is studing the Industrial Revloution.

When I first read Lyddie, I just thought it was a good story about a teenaged girl who was determined to have money to own the family farm and reunite her family. However, after some reflection, I realize that this book was more than that. It focuses upon working conditions, women's rights, sexual harrassment, illiteracy...important issues for today as well as the 1840 world of Lyddie. Lyddie is a young girl who is forced to grow up in order to support herself and one day have enough money for her family. She must go to the mill jobs in Lowell, Massachusetts to make the money. The working conditions are horrible, but Lyddie becomes the most productive worker there because she is driven to make money. She is, in today's terms, sexually harrassed by the overseer, but she still presses on. At one point, her need for money and security is so great that she won't even sign a petition for better working conditions, even though some of her friends are getting sick. Also, an issue in this book is an out-of-wedlock pregnancy, which caused a lot of humiliation for women in the world of 1840. One of Lyddie's acquaintances is pregnant, but luckily finds someone to take her in as a servant.
Another important issue in this book is the need to be able to read. When Lyddie first arrives in Lowell, she can't read. But she listens to her roommates read Oliver Twist, and she is fascinated by the story and wants to learn how to read. It is "strategy" on the part of Patterson that they are reading this particular novel. Oliver Twist is about an orphan who must work, which is similar to Lyddie's predicament. In fact, I have heard Lyddie been called an "Oliver Twist for girls."
I highly recommend this book for young adults. It would work well for social science classes that are studying the 1800s or the working conditions throughout history. It is interesting to read, but it also contains issues that are relevant to today's world...and to today's teenagers. Most importantly, I think this book stresses the importance of determination, perseverance, and the need to take a stand for what is right. I believe these are qualities all people need to read about!

I loved this book. It's about a 13 year old girl who is the true knot of the family, keeping everything tied together. But when a bear comes into their harsh cabin in the Vermont hills, Lyddie's mother thinks its a sign of the devil and takes the little children to her sister's farm. Lyddie and her brother try to keep the farm together, but then they are hired out by their unstable mother to pay the debts against their father before he left. When Lyddie is fired from her job her mother sent her too, she goes to Lowell to find work. She then sees her account start to grow and thinks she can keep the family together. If you'll read this book, you'll find the ending.

Lyddie was one of the best books I have read in a long time! Katherine Patterson really did a great job writting it. She made the book come alive. The way she wrote and explaned everything made it easy to understand. Also, you felt like you could have been Lyddie and experienced the same kind of stuff she did.

I think the best part of the book was while Lyddie worked in the factory. It ws almost as if you were a factory girl yourself. The factory is where Lyddie basically grew up. You find out alot about her and her life.

One of the most vivid elements was the setting. Even though there were alot of settings, I can see each one so well. One of the best things she does is to compare things to real life, like "The machines were like big monsters!" Another thing Katherine Paterson does well is describing her characters. I can see a picture of each one in my head so clearly. If I had to pick them out of a line up, I could. I will definatley read more books by Katherine Patterson!

Hi. I'm in the sixth grade. Our teacher gave us a list of books we could use for our book reports, and I chose Lyddie because it looked good. I was not mistaken even though I judged just from the cover. It was a terrific book. It takes place in the Industrail Revolution. It's about a bright, hardworking farm girl who is forced to leave her farm because her mother made it so she had to work. But she is fired from her job, because she went to see her farm. She heard that they get high pay in factories, so she goes south to one and is hired. She becomes the best worker there, working hard with dreams to get her family back together with the money she earns. Eventually she learns to read, annd books become very special to her. She copies Oliver Twist out page by page and pastes it on her work area and reads little snatches of it in her little spare time untile she practically knows it by heart. In this way she learns how to read well. But then her mother dies and her father gives permission to sell their farm. Lyddie can no longer hope to rebuy the farm. The man who tells her that brings her little sister Rachel. Rachel isn't allowed on the premises, but a kind lady makes an exception and Lyddie takes care of Rachel until her brother can take her back. When a neighbor of hers, Mr. Luke STevens, asks to marry her so she'll have someone to get support from, she refuses. Then mr. Marson, the dirty overseer there, tries to rape a girl and she puts a pan over his head. He finds an excuse to fire her, saying she's influencing the other girls in a bad way. She leaves and decides to go to college. While I skipped a lot of important stuff in this review, I hope it makes you want to read the book for yourself. It's great.

I do like the book but there is one part that makes me mad; it was the way Lyddie reacted to something. In chapter 6 a man breaks into her house and when she goes to check on it, she finds him there. She was going to run but then she came back and he apologized for being there. She reacted too calmly in my opinion. Perhaps people were more trusting then in the 1840s but being a reader today, there is no way that anyone would be that calm with a stranger in their house.

Text to Text Connection and Passage: In another part of the book, Lyddie says "Truth be told, mama had gone somewhat queer in the head after their father had left....her eyes blank and still as though her spirit had gone away and left the body there rocking on and on." To say this she seems very grown up for a 12 year old-and taking care of her brother, moving to find a better job, working so hard to pay off her father's debt. This type of character is rare, but could be realistic.
With the way Lyddie describes her, the mother in this book also reminds me of Molly Morgan; they both seemed out of it when their husbands left in search of a job or "vain riches." The daughters seem to have more authority than the mothers. (Yet the passage also interested me because it has a horror story type quality and sounds "deep," very descriptive, poetic.)

Critical Reaction:

The way she tackles her problems is like the bear in the beginning of the novel. She stares it down. She left the inn job that was treating her like a slave and she faced the horrible conditions of the mill. She also had no real family to confide in or give her support. The mistress breathed down her neck and expected her to be perfect. The author made the bear a metaphor for all of these problems.

The tone of the story is plaintive--a girl is sent off to work to pay off the dept that her father has left behind with a querulous boss who is constantly checking up on her. The mother also didn't tell the children to their face that she was going to "rent them out" but wrote them a letter. The author explains the situation to make the reader feel sorry for Lyddie.

The author gives many details to show how that time period of the Industrialization is similar and different to this time period. Like today, people are judged by the way they are dressed. People give tithing to the church. There are problems with the working conditions, but today we have unions to fight for the workers. Girls are trained to be wives and mothers, to do the work and take care of children but today women have more choices. So even though it is a fictional novel, the reader still learns about another time period.

Recommendation: This book is for patient readers; those that don't abandoned books after the first chapter. Don't expect any explosions but the action picks up in chapter 6. Chapters 1-5 show how the characters were living, how they were uneducated, and the time period. Yet if you enjoy history and how women or children were treated, this book is for you. This book can actually teach you something.

Lyddie lives on a small farm with her siblings and her mother. They barely make a living and are quickly falling into debt. Lyddie's mother is a little on the crazy side, so Lyddie has to take care of all her siblings and the farm. After a bear breaks into their cottage, Lyddie's mother insists that it's a sign and leaves Lyddie and her brother Charlie on the farm while she goes to live with their Aunt Clarrisa. Lyddie and Charlie live on the farm together through the winter. A letter arrives from their mother saying she has hired Lyddie out to the local inn and Charlie to the mill. After working at the inn for free to pay off debts, Lyddie finally makes the decision to go to work in Massachusetts as a factory girl to earn enough money to pay off the farm debts.

Lyddie character is what makes this book. She survives against all odds. First she practically raises her siblings and takes care of her mother, and then she must go work far from home to pay off debts. Her fierce determination is heartwarming, and I cheered her on every step of the way. This is a fantastic book with a strong female heroine. I first read this book in the seventh grade. Three years later when I saw it on a shelf, I just had to buy it because I still remembered how much I liked Lyddie and this book. Check it out, it's a superb story.

Mid 1800s. Your father left three years ago, your mother has basically given you a job, and done the same for your family. You feel alone and scarred and you wonder how your family will ever be together again. Only one thing can make enough money for that to happen: to be a factory girl in Lowell, Massachusetts.

That's basically the first few chapters. Lyddie's life isn't easy, but she won't stand for it. She travels to Lowell, and she does get a job. With the job, she learns to read, to write, and to stand up for herself. But what of her friends? What happens when her dreams of money spoil? What happened to her family?

When my old tutor assigned it to me, a long while ago, I hated it. But a few days ago, I saw this book in Borders, and since I had time to kill, I decided to try it again to see if it was as bad as I thought it was.

As soon as I opened the book, all of those memories evaporated. Patterson created such a strong character. One with faults, with ideals, and one with morals. This book is a great way to kill time, learn some history, and have some fun.

This book is about Lyddie, a farm girl, her father has a debt on the farm, and she must work at a factory to earn money for the debt. Her father disapeared and her mother went insane. Lyddie works at the factory and meets new people like, Bridget, Diana, Betsy, and others. Her friend Diana has helped her alot and she wants to repay her back. Lyddie finds out later that Diana is pregnant with a baby and the man is already married. Diana leaves the factory and tries to work everything with the baby and the man. Lyddie says her good-bye and Diana is off. Mr. Mardsen tries to rape her, but she puts a pan on his head. He makes up an excuse that she was a bad influence to the girls, and he fired her. She decided to go to college after that.
I liked this book because it tells a story about a girl that works at a factory with all girls. It tells a story that the girl must be able to work off a debt on the farm where she lived. She is left alone to take care of her siblings. Her mother has gone insane, and thinks that the world was going to come to an end everyday. It is both emotional and tough, the way Katherine Paterson writes the tone of voice Lyddie uses. The way Lyddie talks, is very interesting.
My favorite part in the story was when Lyddie receives the letter from Luke Stevens to marry him. Lyddie is suprised and is so mad that he would ask that kind of question at this period of her life. She tears the letter apart into pieces and burned it in the stove. The nerve that Luke Stevens had to ask her to marry him. He knew that Lyddie had all kinds of problems with the farm and her family. He just had to ask her, he didn't even understand what she was going through.

While I knew about the mills in Lowell in the 1800s, I'd never read a book about them. Katherine Paterson's wonderful novel tells all the details you'd want to know, from the broken warp threads on the mechanical looms to the crowded boarding houses where girls normally slept four or even six to a room. The book also touches on other issues like abolitionism, labor reform, women's rights and sexual harassment in the workplace.

Thirteen-year-old Lyddie was essentially sold into slavery in 1843. Her father, who had disappeared years before, had debts and Lyddie and her younger brother Charles had to work to pay them off. Meanwhile their mother had fled to her sister's house with her two youngest children. For a year Lyddie worked as a kitchen girl for an inn. It was dreadful work, sixteen hours a day or longer. The inn's owner sent fifty cents a week to Lyddie's mother when she could remember to do so.

Lyddie met a girl staying at the inn who wore a silk dress and seemed very rich. The girl worked at the weaving factories in Lowell, she told Lyddie, and got paid two dollars a week. Fascinated by the sum, Lyddie left the inn to work at the factories and hopefully fulfill her dream of paying off the debts and getting her family farm back. That's where the story really began.

The working conditions, by modern standards, were horrible. The machines made such a terrible noise you could hardly hear yourself think. You were on your feet most of time, tending three or four looms at once, for thirteen hours a day starting at 5:30. There were only half-hour breaks for breakfast and lunch. The lint that floated thickly in the air of the factories affected the workers' health, giving many of them potentially fatal lung problems from inhalation. Also, there was always the danger of a shuttle flying off the loom and hitting a worker on the head. Girls also got their long hair caught in the looms. It could pull the scalp clean off.

Nevertheless, the pay was good. Lyddie was essentially a slave to her wages, saving every penny that she could. She made friends with Diana Goss, who was a labor reformer, but refused to have anything to do with the movement. "If we worked ten-hour days we'd be paid less," she said plaintively. "Don't you see? We'd be paid much less." Lyddie lived and breathed her dream of getting her farm back, but that dream was shattered when her mother died in an insane asylum and her aunt and uncle sold the farm and kept the money. Lyddie was entrusted with the care of her young sister Rachel, and put her to work in the factory as well, but when Rachel started coughing she had to be sent away. Lyddie did the work and her bank account grew, but she was a machine as much as the looms were. She thought nothing and took no enjoyment in anything.

Meanwhile, Lyddie was having increasing problems with the overseer, Mr. Marsden. He was making sexual advances to her and other girls. When Lyddie finally caught him attempting to molest a friend of hers, she threw a bucket at him and was fired for "moral turpitude". Only then was she finally free, no longer a wage slave, and realized how much money could buy. Her hard life had strengthened her character and she decided to pass up the safety of marriage and go off to get an education. The story ends there.

I really enjoyed it. The detail was excellent and the characterizations good. It's a nice change to read a book about labor reform that's not written from the point of view of a reformer. Most people were like Lyddie, keeping their heads down and just doing their job. Kathering Paterson wrote an excellent book!