Willow Run (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Willow Run Elizabeth Bush Giff, Patricia Reilly Willow Run. Lamb, 2005149p Library ed. ISBN 0-385-90096-1$17.99 Trade ed. ISBN 0-385-73067-5$15.95 R Gr. 4-7 Meggie Dillon from Lily's Crossing (BCCB 4/97) steps into her own spotlight here, as her father takes a job in the Ford plant at Willow Run, Michigan, manufacturing bombers for the war effort. Older brother Eddie is serving in Europe, and Grandpa stays behind in Rockaway where he is relatively protected by neighbors who respect him despite his German surname and accent; Mom, Dad, and Meggie struggle to adapt to the lack of privacy in the hastily cobbled-together apartment building that houses the short-term work force. Despite the hardships of rationing and cramped quarters, Meggie expands her view of the world as she make the acquaintance of Patches, an independent mountain girl who regards a steady income and a wartime shoe allowance as rare luxuries, and of the ice-cream vendor Arnold "the Spy," who turns out to be no more than a scared teen avoiding the draft. The Dillons' sacrifices soon pale in comparison to the news that Eddie is missing in action, and although the novel ends without word of Eddie's fate, Grandpa rejoins the family at Willow Run to offer the support they desperately need. Giff pays equally respectful attention to the grating annoyances, comical childhood obsessions, and heartbreaking uncertainty that fill Meggie's stay at Willow Run, and readers can be confident that the Dillons are strong enough to weather whatever the War sends them. Copyright © 2005 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois