Summary and Reviews of Willow Run by Patricia Reilly Giff

Willow Run by Patricia Reilly Giff

Willow Run

by Patricia Reilly Giff
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  • Critics' Consensus (6):
  • Readers' Rating (9):
  • First Published:
  • Sep 1, 2005, 160 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Feb 2007, 176 pages
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About This Book

Book Summary

The sequel to Lily's Crossing. When Meggie's father moves to Willow Run to take a job building planes, Meggie desperately misses her home; but then she meets Patches and Harlan, other kids like her whose parents have come here to do their part in the war. She faces questions about courage, and what it takes to go into battle and how to keep hope alive on the home front.

1944.

Meggie Dillon's life has been turned upside down by World War II. Her older brother Eddie enlisted and was shipped off to fight in Europe. And people say that anywhere else Grandpa would be turned in because he's German, and people might think he's a spy. Is it true? Could Grandpa be taken away?

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 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 how to keep hope alive on the home front.

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Reviews

BookBrowse Review

BookBrowse

Giff weaves a number of story threads together against a realistic 1940s backdrop that will have children aged 9-12 thinking hard about important issues such as the meaning of courage and cowardice and how war leaves no person unaffected...continued

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(Reviewed by BookBrowse Review Team).

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Beyond the Book



As a child, Patricia Reilly Giff's favorite books included Little Women, The Secret Garden, the Black Stallion books, the Sue Barton books, and the Nancy Drew series. She loved reading so much that while growing up, her sister had to grab books out of her hands to get her to pay attention to her; later; her three children often found themselves doing the same thing. As a reading teacher for 20 years, the educational consultant for Dell Yearling and Young Yearling books, an adviser and instructor to aspiring writers, and the author of more than 60 books for children, Patricia Reilly Giff has spent her entire life surrounded by books.

After earning a B.A. degree from Marymount College, she took the advice of the school's ...

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Read-Alikes

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