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Dear America
Like the Willow Tree
The heartfelt and moving story of a young girl living through the Spanish Influenza pandemic of 1918, now with a brand new introduction from Lois Lowry.
In 1918, as the Great War rages in Europe, the Spanish influenza tears a brutal path across the United States, leaving devastation in its wake. Ordinary life is turned upside down as schools are closed, and all spheres of public life are shut down.
Suddenly, eleven-year-old Lydia Pierce and her older brother, Daniel, find themselves orphans of the flu, and are taken by their grieving uncle to be raised in the Shaker community at Sabbathday Lake. Thrust into the Shaker's unfamiliar way of life, Lydia, a fiercely independent girl, must grapple with a new world that is nothing like the one she used to know.
Lydia must work hard, and all the while she worries about her headstrong brother, who has run away. In time, and with her courageous spirit, Lydia learns to overcome the devastation wrought by the Spanish flu pandemic and find the joy in living with the Shakers -- yet she cannot stop wondering, will Daniel ever return?
Newbery medalist Lois Lowry's poignant story of a girl living through the Spanish Influenza pandemic sadly seems more resonant than ever before. In the face of COVID-19, readers are sure to draw comfort from Lydia's sense of hopefulness. Now, with a brand new introduction from the author!
In 1918, as the Great War rages in Europe, the Spanish influenza tears a brutal path across the United States, leaving devastation in its wake. Ordinary life is turned upside down as schools are closed, and all spheres of public life are shut down.
Suddenly, eleven-year-old Lydia Pierce and her older brother, Daniel, find themselves orphans of the flu, and are taken by their grieving uncle to be raised in the Shaker community at Sabbathday Lake. Thrust into the Shaker's unfamiliar way of life, Lydia, a fiercely independent girl, must grapple with a new world that is nothing like the one she used to know.
Lydia must work hard, and all the while she worries about her headstrong brother, who has run away. In time, and with her courageous spirit, Lydia learns to overcome the devastation wrought by the Spanish flu pandemic and find the joy in living with the Shakers -- yet she cannot stop wondering, will Daniel ever return?
Newbery medalist Lois Lowry's poignant story of a girl living through the Spanish Influenza pandemic sadly seems more resonant than ever before. In the face of COVID-19, readers are sure to draw comfort from Lydia's sense of hopefulness. Now, with a brand new introduction from the author!
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2011
117 people are currently reading
2542 people want to read
About the author
Lois Lowry
143 books22.9k followersTaken from Lowry's website:
"I’ve always felt that I was fortunate to have been born the middle child of three. My older sister, Helen, was very much like our mother: gentle, family-oriented, eager to please. Little brother Jon was the only boy and had interests that he shared with Dad; together they were always working on electric trains and erector sets; and later, when Jon was older, they always seemed to have their heads under the raised hood of a car. That left me in-between, and exactly where I wanted most to be: on my own. I was a solitary child who lived in the world of books and my own vivid imagination.
Because my father was a career military officer - an Army dentist - I lived all over the world. I was born in Hawaii, moved from there to New York, spent the years of World War II in my mother’s hometown: Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and from there went to Tokyo when I was eleven. High school was back in New York City, but by the time I went to college (Brown University in Rhode Island), my family was living in Washington, D.C.
I married young. I had just turned nineteen - just finished my sophomore year in college - when I married a Naval officer and continued the odyssey that military life requires. California. Connecticut (a daughter born there). Florida (a son). South Carolina. Finally Cambridge, Massachusetts, when my husband left the service and entered Harvard Law School (another daughter; another son) and then to Maine - by now with four children under the age of five in tow. My children grew up in Maine. So did I. I returned to college at the University of Southern Maine, got my degree, went to graduate school, and finally began to write professionally, the thing I had dreamed of doing since those childhood years when I had endlessly scribbled stories and poems in notebooks.
After my marriage ended in 1977, when I was forty, I settled into the life I have lived ever since. Today I am back in Cambridge, Massachusetts, living and writing in a house dominated by a very shaggy Tibetan Terrier named Bandit. For a change of scenery Martin and I spend time in Maine, where we have an old (it was built in 1768!) farmhouse on top of a hill. In Maine I garden, feed birds, entertain friends, and read...
My books have varied in content and style. Yet it seems that all of them deal, essentially, with the same general theme: the importance of human connections. A Summer to Die, my first book, was a highly fictionalized retelling of the early death of my sister, and of the effect of such a loss on a family. Number the Stars, set in a different culture and era, tells the same story: that of the role that we humans play in the lives of our fellow beings.
The Giver - and Gathering Blue, and the newest in the trilogy: Messenger - take place against the background of very different cultures and times. Though all three are broader in scope than my earlier books, they nonetheless speak to the same concern: the vital need of people to be aware of their interdependence, not only with each other, but with the world and its environment.
My older son was a fighter pilot in the United States Air Force. His death in the cockpit of a warplane tore away a piece of my world. But it left me, too, with a wish to honor him by joining the many others trying to find a way to end conflict on this very fragile earth.
I am a grandmother now. For my own grandchildren - and for all those of their generation - I try, through writing, to convey my passionate awareness that we live intertwined on this planet and that our future depends upon our caring more, and doing more, for one another."
"I’ve always felt that I was fortunate to have been born the middle child of three. My older sister, Helen, was very much like our mother: gentle, family-oriented, eager to please. Little brother Jon was the only boy and had interests that he shared with Dad; together they were always working on electric trains and erector sets; and later, when Jon was older, they always seemed to have their heads under the raised hood of a car. That left me in-between, and exactly where I wanted most to be: on my own. I was a solitary child who lived in the world of books and my own vivid imagination.
Because my father was a career military officer - an Army dentist - I lived all over the world. I was born in Hawaii, moved from there to New York, spent the years of World War II in my mother’s hometown: Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and from there went to Tokyo when I was eleven. High school was back in New York City, but by the time I went to college (Brown University in Rhode Island), my family was living in Washington, D.C.
I married young. I had just turned nineteen - just finished my sophomore year in college - when I married a Naval officer and continued the odyssey that military life requires. California. Connecticut (a daughter born there). Florida (a son). South Carolina. Finally Cambridge, Massachusetts, when my husband left the service and entered Harvard Law School (another daughter; another son) and then to Maine - by now with four children under the age of five in tow. My children grew up in Maine. So did I. I returned to college at the University of Southern Maine, got my degree, went to graduate school, and finally began to write professionally, the thing I had dreamed of doing since those childhood years when I had endlessly scribbled stories and poems in notebooks.
After my marriage ended in 1977, when I was forty, I settled into the life I have lived ever since. Today I am back in Cambridge, Massachusetts, living and writing in a house dominated by a very shaggy Tibetan Terrier named Bandit. For a change of scenery Martin and I spend time in Maine, where we have an old (it was built in 1768!) farmhouse on top of a hill. In Maine I garden, feed birds, entertain friends, and read...
My books have varied in content and style. Yet it seems that all of them deal, essentially, with the same general theme: the importance of human connections. A Summer to Die, my first book, was a highly fictionalized retelling of the early death of my sister, and of the effect of such a loss on a family. Number the Stars, set in a different culture and era, tells the same story: that of the role that we humans play in the lives of our fellow beings.
The Giver - and Gathering Blue, and the newest in the trilogy: Messenger - take place against the background of very different cultures and times. Though all three are broader in scope than my earlier books, they nonetheless speak to the same concern: the vital need of people to be aware of their interdependence, not only with each other, but with the world and its environment.
My older son was a fighter pilot in the United States Air Force. His death in the cockpit of a warplane tore away a piece of my world. But it left me, too, with a wish to honor him by joining the many others trying to find a way to end conflict on this very fragile earth.
I am a grandmother now. For my own grandchildren - and for all those of their generation - I try, through writing, to convey my passionate awareness that we live intertwined on this planet and that our future depends upon our caring more, and doing more, for one another."
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 348 reviews
October 28, 2024
I DNFed at page 98, because of an anti-Biblical, blasphemous statement on God’s gender: “But the Shakers pray not to Our Father, but the Father-Mother God. It is always that—Father-Mother—never Father alone. They believe in a God that is male and female both.”
In Matthew 6:9, Jesus instructed us to pray to “Our Father in heaven.” That makes it clear God is only male.
Even besides that, there was something creepy and evil about the scenes at the Shaker camp. It was way too controlling and cult-like.
The one thing I enjoyed was the rich emotions Lydia experienced and shared with the reader.
Content: blasphemy
In Matthew 6:9, Jesus instructed us to pray to “Our Father in heaven.” That makes it clear God is only male.
Even besides that, there was something creepy and evil about the scenes at the Shaker camp. It was way too controlling and cult-like.
The one thing I enjoyed was the rich emotions Lydia experienced and shared with the reader.
Content: blasphemy
September 30, 2015
A highly unrealistic and insensitive book about an 11 year old girl who abruptly loses both of her parents, her baby sister, her home, her urban lifestyle, her religion, her school, and all of her support network (e.g., friends, classmates, neighbors, teachers, as well as, all of her relatives, apart from her older brother whom she is permanently forbidden to speak to or interact with, despite living in the same setting and attending the same school and church with him). Everything about this book screams out just how ignorant the author is both regarding the mourning processes of children, along with what it is genuinely like to live within a strict, controlling, fundamentalist religious sect/cult. Having been raised inside of one and having known hundreds of other children who did similarly (along with becoming child orphans), I find the author's romantization of this Shaker community to be appalling.
Like most isolationist, radical cults/sects (such as the Mennonites, Quakers, Amish, Mormons, Christian Scientists, Jehovah's Witnesses, Scientology, etc.), the Shakers presume their way of life to be inherently superior to that of every other group on the planet. This is why they isolate themselves and their children from as much contact with others as is possible, as they don't want any "contamination" in thinking or actions from the "outside world" (mental/cognitive rigidity always results in the formation of these types of cult groups). They displayed their arrogance by forcing their value system onto the innocent children whose life circumstances left them without parents. There's nothing loving or kind about forcing one's value system down the throats of others, including children, especially when you know those individuals have their own previously established thoughts, beliefs, belongings, and rituals they value.
Stealing the few belongings that an orphaned child may have is theft, plain and simple. If one intends to place them into safe keeping until the child reaches adulthood and can preserve that/those valuable(s) from that point forward, then that information should have been provided to the child at the time the object(s) were taken. Deliberately forcing the child to surrender her own possessions into the collective "pot" is a vicious thing to do. In essence, they told her that her past life was trash and irrelevant (no longer hers to treasure) and only her present and future life experiences mattered now.
That level of disrespect for her family of origin, including prohibiting her from interacting with her brother - her sole remaining family member - is about as psychologically cruel and inhumane an act as they could have engaged in. They stripped Lydia of every single part of her identity, attempting to nullify everything she'd ever known or loved. There's no kindness in that action, nor in expecting her to perpetually show no emotions apart from solemnity, contentment, gratitude, and satisfaction.
There are useful, beneficial, and healthy reasons that humans were provided with the full range of human emotions, including grief, anger, and dislike. If all human emotions were not needed or beneficial to human survival, they would not exist. The craziness of attempting to force imperfect humans (especially children who have no control or say over where they are living) to live, on earth, as though they were perfect beings living in "heaven on earth", is to live in a perpetual state of ongoing denial of reality. Perfectionism - including the Shaker's version of it - is a guaranteed path to mental illness, as has been researched and documented thoroughly by mental health professionals, all over the world.
Eventually, that denial of earthly realities led to the sect's demise which is a genuine blessing, from my perspective. Any commune that denies the importance and inherent value of both sexuality and procreation is a group that is setting itself up to die from the start. Since its cult leader appears to have been a severely mentally ill woman, it's not surprising that she didn't anticipate this ending, from the start.
Like every other fundamentalist, religious group in history, the Shakers were obviously filled with rampant hypocrisy. They demanded of their children and themselves to live "plain and simple lives", all while they are making enormous sums of money off of creating elaborate, decorative, and expensive treasures for others to buy (not a "heavenly action", by anyone's definition). While their own clothes were faded rags, they created designer-ware items for the wealthiest families in the nation. They had to care for their own hair with basic combs, while spending countless hours creating horsehair brushes to be sold for the hair care of wealthy others. This kind of double standard is found within every similar type of isolationist sect/cult.
The worst part about books like this, which romanticize the lives of orphans who became slaves to whatever adults took/take them in, is that it never explicitly states to child readers that these orphans are, in fact, slaves - unpaid laborers which have to do whatever their "masters" (elders) tell them to do, including never date, marry, nor discuss/role-play any plans for a future career/life outside of the commune. These Shaker children were explicitly taught that loyalty to or love of a specific individual or biological/marital family is essentially evil/ungodly - that the only way to be "holy" is to never marry, date, give birth to children, or live apart from the commune. That's NOT a successful way for all to live as human beings on planet earth (which is where both they and we are living, not in heaven)!
There is no freedom of thought nor valuing of personal choices and decisions, within such a commune setting. All are expected to think, act, and behave as a single entity which is impossible and inhumane. The profound disrespect the author displayed in trying to convince the reader that any child or human of any age could and can completely resolve the HUGE range of losses that Lydia underwent, all within a span of roughly seven months, is revolting.
It's not possible, realistic, nor reasonable to try to shove any character through such a brief period of mourning, because it's entirely outside the realm of reality and I believe the author is old enough to know better! I would strongly recommend that she refrain from writing any further books about topics she clearly knows nothing about on a personal level. Her ignorance on topics that are both meaningful and crucial for child readers to learn about is profound.
I'm only giving this book 2 stars, rather than 1 (which it really deserves in most ways), because she did a reasonably good job of researching what the Shaker lifestyle was like. However, none of her research involved looking at such groups from a CHILD'S perspective, and most especially, a child ORPHAN'S perspective. That portion of the book felt more like what a Martian's (an unreal being's) experience would be like, living within a Shaker community.
Like most isolationist, radical cults/sects (such as the Mennonites, Quakers, Amish, Mormons, Christian Scientists, Jehovah's Witnesses, Scientology, etc.), the Shakers presume their way of life to be inherently superior to that of every other group on the planet. This is why they isolate themselves and their children from as much contact with others as is possible, as they don't want any "contamination" in thinking or actions from the "outside world" (mental/cognitive rigidity always results in the formation of these types of cult groups). They displayed their arrogance by forcing their value system onto the innocent children whose life circumstances left them without parents. There's nothing loving or kind about forcing one's value system down the throats of others, including children, especially when you know those individuals have their own previously established thoughts, beliefs, belongings, and rituals they value.
Stealing the few belongings that an orphaned child may have is theft, plain and simple. If one intends to place them into safe keeping until the child reaches adulthood and can preserve that/those valuable(s) from that point forward, then that information should have been provided to the child at the time the object(s) were taken. Deliberately forcing the child to surrender her own possessions into the collective "pot" is a vicious thing to do. In essence, they told her that her past life was trash and irrelevant (no longer hers to treasure) and only her present and future life experiences mattered now.
That level of disrespect for her family of origin, including prohibiting her from interacting with her brother - her sole remaining family member - is about as psychologically cruel and inhumane an act as they could have engaged in. They stripped Lydia of every single part of her identity, attempting to nullify everything she'd ever known or loved. There's no kindness in that action, nor in expecting her to perpetually show no emotions apart from solemnity, contentment, gratitude, and satisfaction.
There are useful, beneficial, and healthy reasons that humans were provided with the full range of human emotions, including grief, anger, and dislike. If all human emotions were not needed or beneficial to human survival, they would not exist. The craziness of attempting to force imperfect humans (especially children who have no control or say over where they are living) to live, on earth, as though they were perfect beings living in "heaven on earth", is to live in a perpetual state of ongoing denial of reality. Perfectionism - including the Shaker's version of it - is a guaranteed path to mental illness, as has been researched and documented thoroughly by mental health professionals, all over the world.
Eventually, that denial of earthly realities led to the sect's demise which is a genuine blessing, from my perspective. Any commune that denies the importance and inherent value of both sexuality and procreation is a group that is setting itself up to die from the start. Since its cult leader appears to have been a severely mentally ill woman, it's not surprising that she didn't anticipate this ending, from the start.
Like every other fundamentalist, religious group in history, the Shakers were obviously filled with rampant hypocrisy. They demanded of their children and themselves to live "plain and simple lives", all while they are making enormous sums of money off of creating elaborate, decorative, and expensive treasures for others to buy (not a "heavenly action", by anyone's definition). While their own clothes were faded rags, they created designer-ware items for the wealthiest families in the nation. They had to care for their own hair with basic combs, while spending countless hours creating horsehair brushes to be sold for the hair care of wealthy others. This kind of double standard is found within every similar type of isolationist sect/cult.
The worst part about books like this, which romanticize the lives of orphans who became slaves to whatever adults took/take them in, is that it never explicitly states to child readers that these orphans are, in fact, slaves - unpaid laborers which have to do whatever their "masters" (elders) tell them to do, including never date, marry, nor discuss/role-play any plans for a future career/life outside of the commune. These Shaker children were explicitly taught that loyalty to or love of a specific individual or biological/marital family is essentially evil/ungodly - that the only way to be "holy" is to never marry, date, give birth to children, or live apart from the commune. That's NOT a successful way for all to live as human beings on planet earth (which is where both they and we are living, not in heaven)!
There is no freedom of thought nor valuing of personal choices and decisions, within such a commune setting. All are expected to think, act, and behave as a single entity which is impossible and inhumane. The profound disrespect the author displayed in trying to convince the reader that any child or human of any age could and can completely resolve the HUGE range of losses that Lydia underwent, all within a span of roughly seven months, is revolting.
It's not possible, realistic, nor reasonable to try to shove any character through such a brief period of mourning, because it's entirely outside the realm of reality and I believe the author is old enough to know better! I would strongly recommend that she refrain from writing any further books about topics she clearly knows nothing about on a personal level. Her ignorance on topics that are both meaningful and crucial for child readers to learn about is profound.
I'm only giving this book 2 stars, rather than 1 (which it really deserves in most ways), because she did a reasonably good job of researching what the Shaker lifestyle was like. However, none of her research involved looking at such groups from a CHILD'S perspective, and most especially, a child ORPHAN'S perspective. That portion of the book felt more like what a Martian's (an unreal being's) experience would be like, living within a Shaker community.
February 2, 2018
Clear writing that gives a very vivid picture of what it was like for Lydia. This is also one of the newer Dear Americas that is actually a diary, and not overly plotted.
May 18, 2021
This book has made me incredibly angry - which is not an emotion I've experienced with any of the other 30+ Dear America/Royal Diaries/Dear Canada books I've read. I am furious. And I'm trying to unpack why.
I started this book without reading the summary, and with no knowledge of its plot, or background knowledge of the Shakers. (I knew that they were a religious group that practiced celibacy, but that was about it.) I don't have an axe to grind with the Shaker community, or with organized religion in general. But what happened to the main character of this book was deeply disturbing, and painful to watch, as she is torn from her only remaining family member, has her one physical family keepsake stolen from her, is segregated from outside society and indoctrinated into the Shaker faith.
I believe that the author does an extreme disservice to her readership (and their parents!) by romanticising life in a strict, socially isolating, extremely gender-segregated community and having her main character, Lydia, smoothly integrate into the community with barely a trace of resistance to the loss of everything she has previously known.
I understand that, at the time this book is set, there were no safety nets for orphaned children, and the alternative life Lydia and her brother would have had if they had not been taken in by the Shakers would likely have been bleak. I don't doubt that the Shakers believed they were doing good deeds by taking in orphaned and abandoned children and raising them as full members of the community. I understand that they were free to leave (when they reached legal majority?) and were provided with some funds to start their life "in the world". None of that erases the fact that emotionally traumatized children were being isolated from their extended relatives, differently-gendered siblings, former communities, and any external sources of influence. They did not have the opportunity to take in information about the outside world and form their own opinions about life outside the community. All of this adds up to brainwashing and indoctrination, regardless of the good intentions of the Shakers.
The research the author has done on the Shaker community and their lifeways seems well done. I believe it is an accurate portrayal of community life, norms, and values. So it does serve a somewhat educational purpose. However, I would not in good conscience recommend this book to anyone, child or adult. It was traumatizing.
I started this book without reading the summary, and with no knowledge of its plot, or background knowledge of the Shakers. (I knew that they were a religious group that practiced celibacy, but that was about it.) I don't have an axe to grind with the Shaker community, or with organized religion in general. But what happened to the main character of this book was deeply disturbing, and painful to watch, as she is torn from her only remaining family member, has her one physical family keepsake stolen from her, is segregated from outside society and indoctrinated into the Shaker faith.
I believe that the author does an extreme disservice to her readership (and their parents!) by romanticising life in a strict, socially isolating, extremely gender-segregated community and having her main character, Lydia, smoothly integrate into the community with barely a trace of resistance to the loss of everything she has previously known.
I understand that, at the time this book is set, there were no safety nets for orphaned children, and the alternative life Lydia and her brother would have had if they had not been taken in by the Shakers would likely have been bleak. I don't doubt that the Shakers believed they were doing good deeds by taking in orphaned and abandoned children and raising them as full members of the community. I understand that they were free to leave (when they reached legal majority?) and were provided with some funds to start their life "in the world". None of that erases the fact that emotionally traumatized children were being isolated from their extended relatives, differently-gendered siblings, former communities, and any external sources of influence. They did not have the opportunity to take in information about the outside world and form their own opinions about life outside the community. All of this adds up to brainwashing and indoctrination, regardless of the good intentions of the Shakers.
The research the author has done on the Shaker community and their lifeways seems well done. I believe it is an accurate portrayal of community life, norms, and values. So it does serve a somewhat educational purpose. However, I would not in good conscience recommend this book to anyone, child or adult. It was traumatizing.
April 2, 2022
Note: I listened to the audiobook version of this book.
This was an interesting addition to the Dear America series. I appreciated the historical insight into the Shakers and their way of living. Lydia's point of view was also interesting and unique. However, I did find some parts of this one to be rather unrealistic, such as how Lydia moved on so quickly from , a clearly traumatizing event. The Shakers didn't do anything to help her and her brother cope and find closure, either. I understand that Lydia was always energetic and had a quite bright spirit might have thus been able to heal from her grief on her own, but if she was bright, then her brother was the polar opposite. And yet nothing was done address either of their wounds. In the end, seemed little more than a plot point in the story because Lydia needed to and come to live with the Shakers for story to begin.
This review by J.D. Staton provides further insight into a few other problems with the story. While reading, I didn't think Like the Willow Tree was a bad story. However, after further thought, I've lowered my rating from 4 stars to 3 stars. Some caution should be taken if one is giving this story to a young reader (see Staton's review), and of course, discernment should always be used for any book that you read anyway.
This was an interesting addition to the Dear America series. I appreciated the historical insight into the Shakers and their way of living. Lydia's point of view was also interesting and unique. However, I did find some parts of this one to be rather unrealistic, such as how Lydia moved on so quickly from , a clearly traumatizing event. The Shakers didn't do anything to help her and her brother cope and find closure, either. I understand that Lydia was always energetic and had a quite bright spirit might have thus been able to heal from her grief on her own, but if she was bright, then her brother was the polar opposite. And yet nothing was done address either of their wounds. In the end, seemed little more than a plot point in the story because Lydia needed to and come to live with the Shakers for story to begin.
This review by J.D. Staton provides further insight into a few other problems with the story. While reading, I didn't think Like the Willow Tree was a bad story. However, after further thought, I've lowered my rating from 4 stars to 3 stars. Some caution should be taken if one is giving this story to a young reader (see Staton's review), and of course, discernment should always be used for any book that you read anyway.
July 14, 2015
I hated it because: Lydia's family all died, except for her brother. Even her baby sister died. And then she was sent to the Shakers, and I did not like her anti-Catholicism, even though the Shakers weren't Catholics. She was probably Protestant. Then she had her favorite possession taken away, and that was not fair because all her family was dead, and she hardly brought any belongings with her. The only book she brought was taken as well, she was separated from her brother and was only allowed to see him during meetings.Then he ran away. So, needless to say, that book was sad, but it ended well.
August 23, 2024
THE Lois Lowry wrote a Dear America?? About the Spanish Flu in Maine?? It was funny reading a girl complaining that the pandemic ruined her birthday plans because the city was shut down. Same, girl. We’ve all been there.
I met Lois Lowry in high school but I guess I didn’t realize how familiar she is with the area. It’s funny to read a book that takes place in 1919 and read about places like Melbys (RIP).
I met Lois Lowry in high school but I guess I didn’t realize how familiar she is with the area. It’s funny to read a book that takes place in 1919 and read about places like Melbys (RIP).
February 8, 2014
In 1919 Portland, Maine, Lydia lives a comfortable life with her parents, older brother and baby sister. Sometimes her big brother Daniel teases too much but he also helps Lydia with her geography homework. Lydia looks forward to her 11th birthday when her parents will take her to the movies as a special treat, but the Spanish Influenza comes to town and ruins Lydia's plans. Her mother gives her a journal and and an heirloom antique ring to make up for the disappointment. Lydia's concerns quickly seem petty and childish once her parents and baby sister die from the Spanish Influenza. Lydia and Daniel are first taken to stay with their uncle on his farm, but their aunt is overworked and overburdened with too many children and demands they leave. Lydia and Daniel are taken to Sabbath Day Lake to the Shaker settlement there to live among the Shakers. At first, Lydia finds life among the Shakers confusing with their separation of the sexes, hard work ethic, lack of worldly goods and belief in confession. Daniel, too, has difficulty adjusting to his new life and longs to escape. Lydia begins to see the good points of Shaker life and care for her new family. Still, she sometimes finds it hard not to be selfish and whiny and learns that she must bend like the willow tree in order to be truly content. As usual, Lois Lowry, who has been one of my favorite writers since childhood, delivers an excellent story of a realistic little girl coping with difficult changes. The dialogue sounds like it's coming from the mouth of an eleven-year-old. I like the way Lydia sometimes talks in questions ("My house? I mean my house in the world.") like real children do. Her world is very vivid and described in enough detail to interest and teach the reader. Though I have read books about the Spanish Influenza and Shakers before, I especially like how Lowry makes her heroine innocently ignorant about who the Shakers are so that Lowry can explain about the Shakers and their life through Lydia's eyes as Lydia learns about Shaker life.The Author's Note section includes information on the Spanish Influenza and Shakers, including photos taken by one of the Shakers featured in the story. I highly recommend this book to children 8+ and to their sisters, mothers, aunts and anyone who likes a good, simple story. My only complaint is the computer-generated portrait on the front cover which lacks the charm of the historic paintings used in the original Dear America series.
December 6, 2012
I was hoping to get some insights into the Shaker life and beliefs, so I'm not sure this book was truly successful for me. Perhapys it isn't possible to truly understand another person's beliefs and, as an adult, I was looking for more than what most children reading this book would be. Personally, the Shakers seem cruel to orpahned children, not allowing them any interaction with their siblings if they are of the opposite sex, taking away all personal possessions and focusing on work, work, work. I'm not sure how any group that believes in total segregation of the sexes can expect to continue over the long term. It almost feels as if they are indocrinating innocent chidlren who have no choice in the matter in order to keep their religion afloat. Not sure I think that is a positive thing. That is just my take on it and I mean no disrespect to anyone.
As an adult, what I did like was knowing what life was like before we had social programs and protections, child labor laws and how parentless children were just left at the mercy of their circumstances. One could say that Lydia and Daniel were luckier than most that they had relatives to take them it, at least temporarilty, but they also didn't end up in a loving family home.
Enough of my personal commentary. The story is told well, the voice of Lydia is very authentic. I would have enjoyed more of her thoughs, actions, emotions, and less about the weather and the clouds and what the place looks like. The ending is abrupt and I didn't truly see any change in Lydia from being of the world to becoming a Shaker girl. Maybe the time frame was just too quick, but she seemed the same, more calm perhaps, but she has adjusted to what life has handed her. I didn't really perceive that she adjusted her thinking or feelings, just that she had soldiered on with what she had to do. I didn't feel that she had beome happy at the Sabbathday Lake, but that she was content or resigned to it. Her brother's story needed to be told, that was a big miss for me. Why did he make the decisions he made? What happened to him? This left too many unanswered questions.
I think for the audience it is written toward, it would be enjoyed.
As an adult, what I did like was knowing what life was like before we had social programs and protections, child labor laws and how parentless children were just left at the mercy of their circumstances. One could say that Lydia and Daniel were luckier than most that they had relatives to take them it, at least temporarilty, but they also didn't end up in a loving family home.
Enough of my personal commentary. The story is told well, the voice of Lydia is very authentic. I would have enjoyed more of her thoughs, actions, emotions, and less about the weather and the clouds and what the place looks like. The ending is abrupt and I didn't truly see any change in Lydia from being of the world to becoming a Shaker girl. Maybe the time frame was just too quick, but she seemed the same, more calm perhaps, but she has adjusted to what life has handed her. I didn't really perceive that she adjusted her thinking or feelings, just that she had soldiered on with what she had to do. I didn't feel that she had beome happy at the Sabbathday Lake, but that she was content or resigned to it. Her brother's story needed to be told, that was a big miss for me. Why did he make the decisions he made? What happened to him? This left too many unanswered questions.
I think for the audience it is written toward, it would be enjoyed.
June 13, 2022
I have decided that I am 11 years old again, and it necessary for me to re-read all the Dear America books. I only realized after picking this one up, it had been written well after my middle school years, so I’d never actually read it.
Fast forward to today, I thought this would be a timely read — it takes place in 1918 as the Spanish Influenza rips across the world. But instead, I found a really hard time staying interested in Like The Willow Tree. I thought the death of Lydia’s family members was way more abrupt than it could have been, and she didn’t really seem to grieve, at all. The rest of the book was focused on the Shaker lifestyle.
Ultimately, I think this book not having any nostalgia was one of the biggest reasons I didn’t enjoy it. As always, I enjoyed all the historical information and photos in the conclusion of the book. Finally, reprint these books and bring back the ribbon bookmark!
Fast forward to today, I thought this would be a timely read — it takes place in 1918 as the Spanish Influenza rips across the world. But instead, I found a really hard time staying interested in Like The Willow Tree. I thought the death of Lydia’s family members was way more abrupt than it could have been, and she didn’t really seem to grieve, at all. The rest of the book was focused on the Shaker lifestyle.
Ultimately, I think this book not having any nostalgia was one of the biggest reasons I didn’t enjoy it. As always, I enjoyed all the historical information and photos in the conclusion of the book. Finally, reprint these books and bring back the ribbon bookmark!
January 17, 2024
This book was so good! My grandmother was born in December of 1918 and there were stories of how her parents went to the locked door of her mother’s sister to tell them little Emily had been born. They couldn’t open the door to each other for fear of getting influenza. It was fascinating to read what it was like back then!
April 9, 2023
you can tell this was written a while ago bc it refers to the Spanish Flu as the worst epidemic the United States has seen
February 26, 2011
A young girl and her brother, orphaned by the 1918 Spanish influenza pandemic, are sent to live in a Shaker community and learn a very different way of life.
I have not read any of the other books in the Dear America series, and picked this one up because it was written by Lois Lowry. I was not disappointed! The voice of the narrator was believeable, and her description of the Shakers was informative and enjoyable as she learned about their activities and beliefs through experience with various characters, both Shaker and "from the world".
There was only one point where I could not suspend disbelief, as it seemed like just an attempt to include cameos from the time period.
One interesting thing I realized is how much I actually learned (and remembered!) about the Shakers in elementary school, perhaps from living so near to a (dissolved) Shaker community, and taking periodic field trips there. My husband had a similar experience with the local history in Keeper.
I have not read any of the other books in the Dear America series, and picked this one up because it was written by Lois Lowry. I was not disappointed! The voice of the narrator was believeable, and her description of the Shakers was informative and enjoyable as she learned about their activities and beliefs through experience with various characters, both Shaker and "from the world".
There was only one point where I could not suspend disbelief, as it seemed like just an attempt to include cameos from the time period.
One interesting thing I realized is how much I actually learned (and remembered!) about the Shakers in elementary school, perhaps from living so near to a (dissolved) Shaker community, and taking periodic field trips there. My husband had a similar experience with the local history in Keeper.
January 14, 2011
Lowry writes a new entry in the freshly re-launched Dear America series of historical fiction written in diary format. Lydia Pierce is an eleven year old schoolgirl in Portland, Maine when her world is suddenly shaken by the influenza epidemic. Within a matter of days, her parents and baby sister have died, leaving Lydia and her older brother orphans. Their uncle briefly takes them in, but soon realizes that he cannot afford to keep the pair. With some sadness, this uncle takes Lydia and her brother to the Shaker community at Sabbathday Lake in southern Maine. Lydia is in shock, still grieving, and knows next to nothing about the Shaker community. She is stunned when Sister Jennie asks her to give up her favorite book and grandmother’s ring. Little by little, however, Lydia learns about the Shaker ways and beliefs, and she gradually adapts to her new home. Lowry writes with genuine affection for the Shakers, as she helps readers discover their simple ways, devotion and communal way of life. While this quiet style fits the Shaker theme, some young readers will find Lydia’s story too contemplative and slow. The back matter includes historical notes and photographs on the influenza of 1918 and the Shaker community of Sabbathday Lake, Maine.
November 17, 2012
I enjoyed this Dear America book. I haven't read many in the series (so far), but what I have read I have enjoyed for the most part. Like the Willow Tree is set in Maine in the fall of 1918. The heroine, Lydia Amelia Pierce, endures many losses as she loses both parents and a baby sister to the Spanish influenza. Lydia and her older brother, Daniel, survive but are placed with a local Shaker community. The diary chronicles her time with the Shakers and provides an interesting look at faith and culture. Lydia and her brother, Daniel, react very differently to their new life, their new community. And yet, this community changes them both forever, both for the better. I would recommend this one.
January 19, 2024
This book is about a girl whose whole family dies in the Spanish influenza epidemic during the Great War. Everyone except her and her brother. Her uncle takes her to an orphan house owned by some nuns. I LOVED this book. I absolutely, positively, without a doubt recommend this book.
July 12, 2021
I loved this book - recommended to me by my 12 year old daughter. Lydia's heartbreaking story has an unexpectedly warm ending.
April 28, 2022
Well written but a very depressing story she loses her parents her uncle doesn’t want her then she gets brain washed by a cult. Ugh
August 24, 2022
I feel honored that Maine appeared in one of the Dear America books. More honored that my university came up. Well, sort of. Before it was the University of Southern Maine (Gorham campus), it was -the- school for teachers. I have to say, it was weird for street names in Portland to come up that I was familiar with. And it was very, very ironic that this book begins with the Spanish Influenza. Ironic in that there were literal lines that I heard repeatedly during COVID. But with that said, this book is actually about the Shaker community. I really enjoyed learning more about the Shaker faith and culture. I've seen many Shakers in passing so it was nice to know about some of their history and their contributions to our world.
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January 4, 2024Pandemic books are always interesting to read in these times. But also, I've just been fascinated by Shakers since I've read this book, and the fact that there were three Shakers left when I first read this book years ago, and there are three Shakers left now. Will there be three Shakers left in another ten years?
August 22, 2021
A good introduction to Shaker life.
January 12, 2025
I hadn’t read a Dear America book in a long time. Couldn’t resist one about the Shakers and written by Lois Lowry. I also absolutely love that they sing the hymns on the audiobook.
August 4, 2025
I enjoyed this book, I do think that Sister Jennie should have let Lydia keep her ring.
September 6, 2025
IT'S A CULT IT'S A CULT IT'S A CULT IT'S A CUUUUUUUUUUUUULLLLTTTTTT!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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April 15, 2021This book is extremely sad and depressing, I feel very bad for the main character.
June 7, 2021
An interesting account of a young girl’s perspective of a worldwide pandemic. A timely and quick read from one of my childhood favorites.
May 27, 2025
In spite of the things I don’t agree with especially the religion, I really do believe this was well written. I related to the character Lydia in some ways like the fact that she loved fiction and to write.
February 25, 2019
It was a beautiful book. Sad, buy beautiful.
April 19, 2020
The book is set in Portland, Maine in 1918 during the Spanish influenza. Written in 2011, the similarities between the flu spreading in our world a century ago and the coronavirus pandemic today (April, 2020) are worth noting. Lydia, an eleven year old, and her brother, Daniel, almost fifteen, are staying home with their family because their school is closed to help stop the spread of the disease. Since they could not fall back on remote instruction, teachers were put to work in hospitals, doing whatever needed to be done. Like today, people wore face masks when venturing out in public, hospitals were overwhelmed and health care workers risked their lives to care for the sick and dying. The story begins in a very lighthearted way, with the children playing and the family enjoying meals together during this time of quarantine. Lydia's dad worked in a store and was somewhat unconvinced that shutting down many businesses, public spaces, and churches was necessary. That is, until he comes home from work for lunch one day and doesn't feel well. By the next day, he, his wife and baby are all infected with the flu. The day after that, they all died, leaving Lydia and Daniel orphaned. The doctors would not come to the home of a victim because this flu was so contagious, so many people all over the country and the world were dying. According to Lowry, in her historical notes, "there had been 675,000 deaths in the United States, much larger numbers than those who died in World War I. The actual worldwide mortality statistics are not known, but estimates range from 50 to 100 million deaths." The children stay with their aunt, uncle and cousins for a short time at their farm in Gray, but are soon taken in by the Shakers of Sabbathday Lake. Unfamiliar with the Shakers' religious philosophy and ways of life, the children have a difficult time learning to adapt. Although Daniel has a much more difficult time, both children eventually learn the Shakers' ways and feel loved, cared for, and included. I would highly recommend "Like the Willow Tree," a very timely, heartwarming book with a rich historical backdrop, well-researched by the author.
December 13, 2020
A colleague gave me several copies of this book that his students were not interested in reading. When one of our teachers told me she was looking for a book for a book club for her third grade students, I thought I should better read it, see if it might interest them, and check if the reading level would be adequate for advanced third readers.
I was so surprised at what I read in the book! (Also very surprised I was not aware of it when it came out!) Published in 2011 & written by Lois Lowry, it begins in the city of Portland, Maine when orders were being passed to close gatherings at most public places and close schools. (Sounds familiar?) The closings were due to this sickness called the Spanish Influenza, which was indeed a Pandemic, pretty much as we are living these days. Some people wore masks and some refused to do so, just as is happening these days.
The plot goes on away from the Pandemic to other things that were happening that involved the main characters. I should say about one fourth or less of the plot covers the Pandemic's effects on one family, and the rest I won't mention here because I want people to read this well-researched book and of course, I don't to give away how the plot develops.
It is odd that I haven't heard of other teachers reading the book with their students. I would suggest they do, even though there are sad moments, and as I mentioned previously, it dedicates a big chunk of the plot to provide a very good description of a well known Protestant Sect in Maine. Considering I had never read about this Protestant group, I appreciated the way it was portrayed. In other words, I realized I never really knew who they were. My bad.
I gave this book four stars instead of five because I wanted some more story out of some characters, but then, that's me. I think it should be read by many students and compare what happened in 1918 to what is happening in 2020, the differences, the similarities, the development of the story. I wonder what are all the present authors thinking of what is happening these days, considering how to develop it in a story that won't break our hearts. I just don't know.
I was so surprised at what I read in the book! (Also very surprised I was not aware of it when it came out!) Published in 2011 & written by Lois Lowry, it begins in the city of Portland, Maine when orders were being passed to close gatherings at most public places and close schools. (Sounds familiar?) The closings were due to this sickness called the Spanish Influenza, which was indeed a Pandemic, pretty much as we are living these days. Some people wore masks and some refused to do so, just as is happening these days.
The plot goes on away from the Pandemic to other things that were happening that involved the main characters. I should say about one fourth or less of the plot covers the Pandemic's effects on one family, and the rest I won't mention here because I want people to read this well-researched book and of course, I don't to give away how the plot develops.
It is odd that I haven't heard of other teachers reading the book with their students. I would suggest they do, even though there are sad moments, and as I mentioned previously, it dedicates a big chunk of the plot to provide a very good description of a well known Protestant Sect in Maine. Considering I had never read about this Protestant group, I appreciated the way it was portrayed. In other words, I realized I never really knew who they were. My bad.
I gave this book four stars instead of five because I wanted some more story out of some characters, but then, that's me. I think it should be read by many students and compare what happened in 1918 to what is happening in 2020, the differences, the similarities, the development of the story. I wonder what are all the present authors thinking of what is happening these days, considering how to develop it in a story that won't break our hearts. I just don't know.
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