How old is lily in lily crossing

She and her friend Margaret Dillon spend their time gossiping and going to the movies. But there are things that bother Lily about her ten-year-old life. The first thing is the matter of friends. Without Margaret, Lily would be completely without a confidante. Next on Lily's list of problems is lying.

Lily does not mind telling lies on a regular basis. This particular summer, though, there is something different happening in the world. Margaret's family is moving to Detroit, where her father will assemble airplanes. Eddie Dillon, Margaret's older brother and a soldier, goes missing on one of the most important days of the war and the small community begins to feel afraid. Meanwhile, Lily must accept the idea that she needs to find a friend to replace Margaret. With no possible friends on the horizon, Lily decides to follow Albert Orban.

Albert is a recent refugee from Hungary who has no interest in being friends with Lily Mollahan at all, much to Lily's surprise. When a kitten is thrown into the ocean and left to drown, Lily and Albert join forces and later become wary friends. When Poppy goes overseas, everything changes for Lily and Gram. Not knowing where Poppy is or when he will return gives Lily a new perspective on the war.

Lily also comes to appreciate Albert's overwhelming desire to learn to swim. When Albert talks about his life in Hungary, Lily can hear the wistfulness in his voice. She enlists Max and Gerta as couriers who sneak forged identification papers to Jews in hiding.

The fictional plotters—based on a mix of several real anti-Hitler resistance cells—are portrayed with a genuine humor, giving them the space to feel alive even in such a slim volume. The ugly brutality of the Jim Crow South is recounted in dulcet, poetic tones, creating a harsh and fascinating blend. Fact and fiction pair in the story of Rose Lee Carter, 13, as she copes with life in a racially divided world.

It splits wide open when a year-old boy from Chicago named Emmett Till goes missing. Jackson superbly blends the history into her narrative.

The suffocating heat, oppression, and despair African-Americans experienced in Mississippi resonate. And the author effectively creates a protagonist with plenty of suffering all her own. Practically abandoned by her mother, Rose Lee is reviled in her own home for the darkness of her brown skin. Where the book fails, however, is in its overuse of descriptors and dialect and the near-sociopathic zeal of Rose Lee's grandmother Ma Pearl and her lighter-skinned cousin Queen.

Ma Pearl is an emotionally remote tyrant who seems to derive glee from crushing Rose Lee's spirits. And Queen is so glib and self-centered she's almost a cartoon. Already have an account? Log in. Trouble signing in? Lily is a naturally curious girl with a vivid imagination.

At one point, it is revealed that Lily has written more than thirty books. Lily writes well, according to Sister Benedicta, Lily's sixth grade teacher. Along with Lily's talent, however, comes an inability to tell the truth at all times. Lily tells lies even though she knows it is Browse all BookRags Study Guides.

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