Fiction - Miscellaneous People, Places & Cultures, Fiction - People with Special Needs, Fiction - Family Life

Willowood

Name: Willowood
Author: Cecilia Galante
ISBN: 9781416980223

by Cecilia Galante

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Overview

There's nothing ten-year-old Lily Sinclair likes about her new life in the city with her single mom. She misses her best friend, who seems to have forgotten her and their secret place, Willowood. She never sees her mom, who's working long hours at her new job. She's managed to make an enemy of the class bully. Mrs. Hiller from across the hall, who takes care of Lily after school, keeps preparing yucky healthy snacks for her. And she can't get her mother to tell her anything about her absent father. Her only source of comfort is her beloved pet gecko, Weemis. Everything changes when Mrs. Hiller introduces Lily to the owner of the Pet Palace, a nearly pet store, and his adult Down's syndrome son, Nate. Lily finds herself with an unofficial after school job—and forges a tentative friendship with Nate that's threatened by a dark secret about Nate that Lily knows nothing about.

Synopsis

Now in paperback, Willowood is a powerful novel from the natinally-acclaimed author of The Patron Saint of Butterflies, Cecilia Galante.

Publishers Weekly

Galante (The Patron Saint of Butterflies) writes a heartfelt story of friendship and change. When Lily's single-parent mother gets a new job, the fifth-grader isn't happy about moving to a bigger city (“Their lives had been so perfect back home in Glenview, where everything was quiet and green”). Lily sorely misses her best friend, Bailey, and their secret place under a willow tree. With her mother working long hours and Bailey too busy to talk on the phone, Lily's closest confidante might be Weemis, her pet gecko. Although some people—her babysitter, Mrs. Hiller; Gina, the class nerd; and a pet shop owner who offers Lily a part-time job—make kind overtures, Lily doesn't recognize the value of their friendships until actions she takes result in hurt feelings and misunderstandings. Galante has a knack for small details (like Lily contemplating that neither she nor her mother know how to braid hair) and fully formed characters that make the story inviting and authentic. Lily emerges as a likable, realistically flawed heroine; her courage and integrity, illustrated in her determination to make things right, will win readers' respect. Ages 9-13. (Mar.)

About the Author, Cecilia Galante

Cecilia Galante grew up in a religious commune in upstate New York until the age of 15. She is currently a high school English teacher, and lives with her husband and three children in Kingston, PA.

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly

School Library Journal

Gr 4–6—Eleven-year-old Lily is not happy when her single mother decides to move them from a small town to a city. Her mother's long hours at her new job and a class bully don't help. But Lily has a gecko that she loves, and her neighbor and sitter, Mrs. Hiller, introduces her to the owner of a pet store, Bernard, and his adult son, Nate, who has Down syndrome. The characters, including Lily's new friend, Gina, the class nerd, are fully realized individuals. Nate is especially well drawn, and he becomes a true friend to Lily. As the story develops, she begins to understand that life is not always fair. With its finely tuned plot and poetic language, this novel compares well with Kate DiCamillo's Because of Winn-Dixie (Candlewick, 2000) in character development and plot. Children will enjoy the story of Lily's first few months in the big city.—Wendy Smith-D'Arezzo, Loyola College, Baltimore, MD

Kirkus Reviews

Although less tightly woven than Frances O'Roark Dowell's tween stories, Galante's third novel tenderly explores the impact of friendship, family and bullying on preteen girls. The biggest adjustment for Lily Sinclair when she is forced to move to the city after her single mother loses her job is leaving behind her best friend and Willowood, their secret tree-canopy hangout. The beginning of fifth grade holds little promise, as her essays receive poor grades, she becomes the brunt of snooty Amanda's class pranks and her mother refuses to provide details about her missing father. The year takes a turn for the better when the lizard-loving girl befriends a pet-store owner, his grown son, Nate, with Down syndrome, and the class nerd, who shares Amanda's wrath, and she finds a new place to call her own in an abandoned apartment. Adding more details to her essays and life, Lily discovers that her nontraditional family is what makes her unique. While Nate's speech is inconsistent, Lily's growing maturity will strike a chord with young readers experiencing their own changes. (Fiction. 9-12)