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Lily's Crossing--title
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From: Robin L. Gibson <gibsonro>
Date: Tue, 14 Oct 1997 12:16:54 -0400 (EDT)
In thinking about the title, and about Lily, I started thinking about how Lily grows and changes during the book. To me, she really begins to cross from childhood to adulthood (not that she is an adult by any means at the end of the book . . . but the tense is active -- she is in the process of crossing, it is ongoing). The biggest change is that Lily begins to think of others, and to even see things from another person's point of view, instead of only seeing from her perspective, as children do. Examples of this: she can picture Eddie's face and remembers his teasing and humor, so she first feels empathy for Margaret; later she is jolted (just for a moment) out of her own perspective by the letter from her father, telling her to "hug Gram, because she loves you more than you know", and when she receives the letter from Margaret telling her to thank Gram for the pictures and stories, she is again surprised by a different glimpse of her grandmother. As the book progresses, she also becomes friends with Albert and begins to understand how desperate he is to find is sister . . . so much so that Lily has to tell the truth. I see a huge shift from the self?ntered Lily of the beginning (Margaret is leaving and who am I going to play with) and the Lily of the end, who realizes that things will never again be the same, an understanding she shares with her grandmother, but not her father. In the beginning she is haunted/fascinated by her mother's death (saving the stars, wanting to play the piano because her mother did), but by the end she is able to share her feelings with others
. . . she shares a star with Albert, who has also lost a parent, and is growing closer to her grandmother. So I think the "crossing" has to do with Lily's own personal journey . . .
Robin
************************************************* Robin L. Gibson Children's Librarian Muskingum Co. Library System Zanesville, OH gibsonro at mail.oplin.lib.oh.us
Received on Tue 14 Oct 1997 11:16:54 AM CDT
Date: Tue, 14 Oct 1997 12:16:54 -0400 (EDT)
In thinking about the title, and about Lily, I started thinking about how Lily grows and changes during the book. To me, she really begins to cross from childhood to adulthood (not that she is an adult by any means at the end of the book . . . but the tense is active -- she is in the process of crossing, it is ongoing). The biggest change is that Lily begins to think of others, and to even see things from another person's point of view, instead of only seeing from her perspective, as children do. Examples of this: she can picture Eddie's face and remembers his teasing and humor, so she first feels empathy for Margaret; later she is jolted (just for a moment) out of her own perspective by the letter from her father, telling her to "hug Gram, because she loves you more than you know", and when she receives the letter from Margaret telling her to thank Gram for the pictures and stories, she is again surprised by a different glimpse of her grandmother. As the book progresses, she also becomes friends with Albert and begins to understand how desperate he is to find is sister . . . so much so that Lily has to tell the truth. I see a huge shift from the self?ntered Lily of the beginning (Margaret is leaving and who am I going to play with) and the Lily of the end, who realizes that things will never again be the same, an understanding she shares with her grandmother, but not her father. In the beginning she is haunted/fascinated by her mother's death (saving the stars, wanting to play the piano because her mother did), but by the end she is able to share her feelings with others
. . . she shares a star with Albert, who has also lost a parent, and is growing closer to her grandmother. So I think the "crossing" has to do with Lily's own personal journey . . .
Robin
************************************************* Robin L. Gibson Children's Librarian Muskingum Co. Library System Zanesville, OH gibsonro at mail.oplin.lib.oh.us
Received on Tue 14 Oct 1997 11:16:54 AM CDT
