Patricia Reilly Giff is one of my favorite middle grade authors. She is able to bring the past alive with engaging characters and fascinating stories. I find her very engaging and I thoroughly enjoy all her books. ( )

Companion book to Lily's Crossing. Warm story of a family on the homefront during WWII / brother missing in action. Excellent reflection on children's thoughts/feelings, and ability to deal with them.
Excellent character-builder.

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 2005 Reed Business Information.

In the summer of 1944, Meggie and her parents move from their home in New England to Willow Run, Michigan so her father can build planes for the war effort. Throughout the summer – in which she loses her home, friends, and grandfather to moving and her brother to war – Meggie learns about the importance of human connection, compassion, and not jumping to conclusions about people. Patricia Reilly Giff’s writing style accurately reflect the mentality of the time period, Meggie’s internal narrative lacking a great deal of the loquaciousness and angst of more modern narratives. Instead, Meggie’s character is defined by what she does and what she stops herself from thinking. Giff manages despite these self-imposed restrictions to make Meggie a completely sympathetic character. Willow Run provides a realistic glimpse into life in the United States during World War II. Though not particularly gripping, it is a well-constructed and sensitive book, it would hold special significance for collections in the Willow Run area. This would be a good addition for a young adult collection in both public libraries and middle school media centers. ( )

maggie (margret) has a brother, eddie in the war. she misses him and wishes their were know war and eddie could be home. thats when