Willow Run [Paperback]

Patricia Reilly Giff (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 9 and up | Grade Level: 4 and up

Meggie Dillon's life has been turned upside down by World War II. Meggie's father has announced that they must help the war effort and
move to Willow Run, Michigan, where he'll work nights in a factory building important war planes that will help fight the enemy in Europe. Willow Run will be the greatest adventure ever, Meggie thinks. There she meets Patches and Harlan, other kids like her from far-off places whose parents have come here to do their part in the war. And there she faces questions about courage, and what it takes to go into battle, like Eddie, and to keep hope alive on the home front.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 4-7–Meggie Dillon, 11, candidly shares her perspective on the sacrifices and fears experienced on the homefront during World War II. The girl's family moves from Rockaway, NY, to Willow Run, MI, so that her father can work in a plant constructing B-24 bombers. Meggie is a likable, realistic, fleshed-out character, introduced in Lily's Crossing (Delacorte, 1997). In this current offering, she deals with moving away from all that is familiar to her to live in far less comfortable conditions. Her brother, Eddie, is in the army. Her grandfather is a German American, and when older boys paint a swastika on his window, she bravely tries to chase them away. Though she has found her grandpa annoying in many ways, once the Dillons move to Willow Run, Meggie misses him terribly and realizes that despite his many quirks, she loves him dearly. With the news that Eddie is missing after the invasion at Normandy, she springs into action to bolster her family's hope for his safe return. She and her friends become convinced that the ice-cream man must be a spy because he isn't fighting in the army. They use their suspicions to steal from him, an act that leaves Meggie feeling extremely guilty. Giff's engrossing, heartwarming story will help readers understand how personally war affects people.–Renee Steinberg, formerly at Fieldstone Middle School, Montvale, NJ
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Gr. 4-6. Introduced as Lily's friend in the Newbery Honor Book Lily's Crossing (1997), Margaret "Meggie" Dillon now experiences World War II on her own. "For the duration" is how the adults talk about the war's deprivations, whether they are referring to eating Spam or to the Dillons' makeshift housing in Michigan, where Meggie's father has moved the family in order to take a job building planes. Meggie desperately misses her home in Rockaway, and German-born Grandpa, who was left behind. Still, sometimes she's glad he stayed home: it was Meggie who wiped the swastika from his window and heard the culprits say that anywhere else he would be jailed. Giff artfully carves the sentiments so prevalent in times of war--anxiety, inspiration, boredom--into sharp relief while creating a cast of finely drawn characters (the kind of people Meggie would never have met had she stayed home), each with his or her own worries, fears, and hopes. Many story lines are threaded neatly together here, but what has happened to Meggie's brother, Eddie, who is fighting overseas, remains unknotted at the end. Tough and tender, this is an excellent addition to World War II shelves. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Yearling (February 13, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0440238013
• ISBN-13: 978-0440238010
• Product Dimensions: 5.3 x 0.4 x 7.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #573,856 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Patricia Reilly Giff is the author of many beloved books for children, including the Newbery Honor books, Lily's Crossing and Pictures of Hollis Woods. She lives in Trumbull, Connecticut.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A story about the power of friendship and hope, September 23, 2005

By 

A Customer (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Willow Run (Hardcover)

The year is 1944 when Margaret "Meggie" Dillon leaves her grandfather and her best friend Lily behind in Rockaway, New York and moves to Willow Run, Michigan, so her father can work at a factory building airplanes. Her older brother Eddie is fighting the war in Europe and Meggie misses him terribly. To make matters worse, her new house looks like a long box with few windows and no grass or trees in the yard. Her home in Rockaway had been near the sea; she used to hear the call of seagulls and breathe in the fresh, salty air. All she has to remind her of home are a few seeds from her grandfather's vegetable garden.

Slowly Meggie begins to make friends and rebuild her life. She meets Patches and Harlan, along with other kids who are in a similar situation. Their parents brought them to Willow Run so they could find better work in a factory building war planes. Meggie knows that this arrangement is not permanent because everyone keeps telling her that it is just for the duration.

Patricia Reilly Giff fills the book with vivid details that keep the reader anchored in time. Meggie is always entering wartime jingle writing contests and watching war newsreels at the movie theater.

Giff, a former reading teacher, is the author of many books for children, and several of her novels for young adults were named ALA Notable Books and ALA Best Books, including THE GIFT OF THE PIRATE KING, ALL THE WAY HOME, and NORY RYAN'S SONG.

Meggie Dillon lived during uncertain times, just like many young people today. Readers will learn about the power of friendship and hope to pull us through difficult times when they pick up a copy of WILLOW RUN.

--- Reviewed by Renee Kirchner [...]

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Willow Run, February 28, 2006

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Willow Run (Hardcover)

Willow Run
Patricia Reilly Giff
Wendy Lamp Books

What would you do if you had to leave your whole life behind you and move away because of war? This great book Willow Run is the story of Meggie Dillon, who has to move because her family needs money. Because Meggie's brother has gone to war. The family moves to a place called Willow Run. Here Meggie faces many obstacles when she finds out her brother is missing in action, then realizes she doesn't remember his face. Meggie also steals some icecreame from the icecream truck and then feels guilty, and wants to pay for the the icecream she had stolen, that means she has to face Arnold, the icecram man, who she and her friends think is a spy. This book is filled with friends, icecreme, letters, war, and truth. You will discover all of this and more in Willow Run.

Meggie (Margaret) Dillon is an eleven year old girl from Rockaway New York, who has to move to Willow Run Missouri, because her brother is fighting in war, so there family doesn't have as much money as they used to. Meggies dad has to work in a factory that makes B-42 Bombers for the war. Meggie is very emotional and she is very brave. Meggie has to face many obstacles in this book. Meggie is very truthful and is always writing to home and writing down her thoughts. She handles her situation very well and she acts very strong.

I definitely recommend this book and its companion, Lilly's Crossing. to kids ages nine to twelve. This book is definitely a page turner. Every time I put it down it was like I was stopping the story and the characters were just waiting for me to pick the book up again so they could continue their story. This book will also interest people who like history. It gave me a good impression of what it was like in that time during World War Two. I felt like I was in the story with Meggie. Does Eddie ever come back? Does Meggie remember his face? You find out what happens....

4.0 out of 5 stars Hope in the time of War, March 20, 2011

By 

Louise Jolly "Bookaholic" (Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Willow Run (Paperback)

Margaret "Meggie" Dillion lives in Rockaway, New York with her mother, father and grandfather. Her old brother, Eddie, has enlisted to fight in the war and everyone is having a difficult time coping with Eddie's absence.

Meggie's Grampa is German and she's heard rumours around town that anyone German will be arrested and Meggie worries constantly about him. The fact that he has a German accent isn't helping her feel any better nor is the fact that two older boys came and painted a red swastika on his kitchen window which Meggie removed herself with turpentine before her Grampa could see it and get upset.

Suddenly, Meggie's father announces that the family needs to help the war effort, packs everyone up and moves to Willow Run, Michigan. Grampa decides to stay home and Meggie is very sad to be leaving him behind. Once they arrive in Willow Run, Meggie is shocked to see the horrible housing they'll have to live in while her father works at the factory building bombs piece-by-piece.

Meggie meets Lily, Patches, Harlan and a couple of other kids who slowly form a bond during the time they're in Willow Run. All of the kids have some family member who is fighting in the war and Meggie finds herself faced with questions about courage, and what it takes to go into battle like her brother Eddie, and to keep hope alive on the home front.

This was a really cute story for kids aged nine to twelve years of age. I had originally thought it was a novel and didn't notice when I ordered it that it said: "...for ages nine through twelve". It was still a really good read and rather relaxing!