A Blue-Eyed Daisy

by Cynthia Rylant

an amazing year
Ellie Farley's father, Okey, drinks too much, mostly because he hasn't been able to work since he was injured in a mining accident. He hasn't been able to hunt, either, so it's strange when he brings home a hunting dog, a beagle named Bullet.
But Bullet is only the first odd thing that happens to Ellie the year she's eleven. She sees a favorite uncle go off to war; a boy in her class has a fit in the middle of geography and another is accidentally killed while target shooting; and Okey drives his Chevy pickup off the mountain, with near-tragic consequences. But still Ellie manages the ordinary pleasures of making a best friend and getting kissed for the first time -- it's no wonder she confides to Bullet on her twelfth birthday, "Some year."

Genres: Fiction, Childrens, Juvenile, Young Adult, Middle Grade

112 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

An author of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry for children and young adults as well as an author and author/illustrator of picture books for children, Cynthia Rylant is recognized as a gifted writer who has contributed memorably to several genres of juvenile literature. A prolific author who often bases her works on her own background, especially on her childhood in the West Virginia mountains, she is the creator of contemporary novels and historical fiction for young adults, middle-grade fiction and fantasy, lyrical prose poems, beginning readers, collections of short stories, volumes of poetry and verse, books of prayers and blessings, two autobiographies, and a biography of three well-known children's writers; several volumes of the author's fiction and picture books are published in series, including the popular "Henry and Mudge" easy readers about a small boy and his very large dog.

Rylant is perhaps most well known as a novelist. Characteristically, she portrays introspective, compassionate young people who live in rural settings or in small towns and who tend to be set apart from their peers.

from bookrags.com

Reviews

[Fatma Al Zahraa Yehia · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's strange how families are alike. Their very intimate moments of joy, disappointment, boredom, table talks, and disputes could travel place and time to be exactly the same with another family.

Cynthia Rylant "my dearest author" succeeds as usual in deeply yet simply portraying a chapter-one year-of a very ordinary family.

The story mainly revolves around the relationship between the girl-who is on the verge of adolescence-with her father who has a drinking problem. That could have been loud-As it is usually the way with that kind of stories-with a lot of drama that includes a lot of hitting, and abuse that naturally results in a bitter resentful feeling to that parent who didn't give his kids an easy life.

The author choose to show the father's drinking issue as a problem that didn't affect the kids loving feelings for him. I wouldn't say that is an easy thing for you as a daughter/son to forgive your parent for a dysfunctional childhood, but some parents might have given their kids the Good that outweighed the Bad.

The story also explores the changes that occur to the main character "Ellie" while passing from childhood to her first teenage years. That also happens smoothly while Ellie has her first experiences as a preteen in exploring herself and the life that quietly happens in her distant small town.

As usual "Cynthia Rylant" doesn't disappoint me. As usual her stories leave my heart warmed.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quiet, lovely, concise. Some would say slow. I say, worth savoring. It would make a fantastic family read-aloud with time allotted for conversation, as the kids will be given an opportunity to imagine themselves as part of Ellie's family or community, and thus to learn empathy and compassion.

There's more to say about it, but you'll have to read other reviews, or better yet the book itself. I don't want to spoil the memory of it for myself by analyzing it to bits.

[Orinoco Womble (tidy bag and all) · Rating 3 out of 5]

One reviewer states that there is "no central conflict" in this book. I disagree: the central conflict is the family's poverty, both economic and relational. Mama goes around tight-lipped, for reasons good, and there's no conversation at the table any more because in a closed, poverty-stricken dynamic, nobody goes outside much. Mama stopped hugging and expressing love to her five daughters about time Daddy stopped being able to work and started serious drinking.

Another "central conflict" is the main character's attempt to parent her father to some degree, to stop him drinking all day every day. She does everything she can to help distract his attention from the bottle, from taking up hunting to helping him cover the doghouse roof with tar paper. The advent of the dog helps a good deal, giving them something to talk about at the supper table, and something for the main character to love.

True, each chapter is more of a vignette than a developed story, but that is often how children of 8-11 see life; each important moment is complete in itself, with long periods of just going through life in between. Look at any child's attempt to keep a diary; after a few days, they don't keep it up because...well, it's just life, unless something really big happens.

Not sure what period this book was meant to be set in, but if 50 cents is the maximum allowed for Christmas presents, it must have been in the 1950s or so.

[Melody · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pellucid prose and an approachable narrator combine to make this a warm story with flashes of pain. A slice of West Virginia coal-mining town life from the point of view of 11 year old Ellie.

[Eugene Goode · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eugene Goode

Always in memory, A blue-eyed daisy. By Rylant. The book is an Aladdin Fiction. The theme or central idea is inspirational. I believe if anyone would read this book will feel encourage. You have the ability to do anything you want. I know think I can save a life.
It's about this girl that try to live a normal life. Her father have a real problem, and she is just lonely. Nobody to talk to, or chill with. No boyfriend or friend. She turns things around, and slowly dad starts getting better.
I find this book really interesting. Ellie tried helping her father. She made him bring her hunting on a daily basics, so he could stop thinking about drinking all the time. And it worked. The book was also very descriptive. I can see Ellie sitting by herself at lunch at school, because she doesn't have anyone to talk to. One question that I have is why didn't okey tried to find himself another job? I felt like the book was almost similar to my life, because I also didn't have friends until I reached middle school. something happened to Ellie that I thought was wrong. "It was around Valentines the boys would sneak around and slide their Valentine under some girl's desk top. And Ellie would clean out her desk at the end of the day and come up empty-handed."
I would recommend this for kids mostly teenagers. It's not a good read-aloud for young ones. I think for mostly mature readers. Another book that I've read called Cage. You might like it to, because it is inspirational. And it give people a different vision on life, and make people want to change their ways.
If this seems like the book you would read, then read it. I enjoyed every second of it. I wouldn't let you down. Boy, or girl you would have fun reading A Blue-Eyed Daisy. Go out, and get yourself a copy. Guarantee you would get your moneys worth.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cynthia Rylant is rapidly becoming one of my favorite authors. As an adult who enjoys reading juvenile literature I sometimes find it hard to accept that there is not a specified plot or story to a book. Often I am suprised at the end of a novel when I discover a hidden truth that was plainly there all along. Blue Eyed Daisy is just such a book. When we read juvenile literature we have to imagine ourselves as a kid again, that way we can sympathize not only with the characters, but the intended audience as well. Perhaps that is the magic in reading what a child would! :-)

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

A hard-drinking, soft-hearted father, long-suffering mother, and the hardscrabble West Virginia hill country, as seen through the eyes of the sensitive youngest daughter of five

gr. 4-8

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Cynthia Rylant! Writes from the heart!

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Glad I read this 1985 story - a standard bearer for exemplary children's fiction. My recommendation?Read A Blue-Eyed Daisy and then read some current J Fiction.

[Kristen · Rating 2 out of 5]

There's no central conflict or arc and the characters aren't clearly defined enough to sustain a book as a character study.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Blue-Eyed Daisy by Cynthia Rylant was first published in 1985. It's not really a novel in the true sense of the word, but more of a string of vignettes or episodes in one year of a girl Ellie's life. It's just a series of highlights throughout the four seasons.

Ellie is the youngest of five girls. Her father is a drunk, but still shows signs of love in his own way. The family lives in the mountains the stories tell of near-death experiences, first kisses, best friends, death, epilepsy, etc.

As always Rylant incorporates her religious beliefs in God but doesn't force them on the reader like another inexperienced author would shove it down your throat. Rylant is, to me, more skilled about it. So this book would still appeal to those who do and do not agree with religious views.

All in all, this was a good book. Sure, it doesn't really possess the classic story arch or character development that most novels have, but I don't think that breaks the beauty of simplicity Rylant's style, and the complexity of what the book is trying to be, which, to me, is just certain things that happen over the course of a year that could have happened to you or to me.

To me, it's that randomness that makes the book stand out. Its sparseness to what happens to us as humans in the course of one year. A Blue-Eyed Daisy by Cynthia Rylant. My rating - 4/5

[📚Linda Blake · Rating 3 out of 5]

In Blue-Eyed Daisy, Rylant tells about the life of Ellie and her family with particular attention to her relationship with her father, Oakey. The first sentence of the book is “Ellie’s father was a drinking man.” But Rylant is a sympathetic narrator as she tells us about Ellie and Oakey. For example, “A lot of miners drink on the weekend to scare away the week.”

This is not Rylant’s best book but it is still a good one. As always she captures West Virginia life, and in this case a girl’s life, with gentleness and lyrical writing.

[Jamie Cannon · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted to enjoy this book as I’ve enjoyed other Rylant books very much, however, I was very disturbed by the kiss story. Essentially, the main character says no to a kiss and her arms are held down by a boy making her unable to push him away and afterwards she realizes she liked it! Outrageous! Sadly, I allowed my 8 year old to read this book without me. I wrongly trusted my other experiences with this author. Never again. Thankfully, my daughter alerted me to the heavier topics in this book and I decided to read it for myself. Do not recommend.

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Cynthia Rylant and her description is spot on but.....No rising action which disappointed me. If it had been any longer of a book I would have been sorely disappointed but since it was a quick read it’s fine. However, the things in the book such as excessive drinking, tongue swallowing, etc are not elements I would introduce to a young reader.

[Jennsie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this in the mid 1980s when it came out and when I was in school. I found it difficult to relate to the characters and didn’t think it had much of a story. Looking at the synopsis, it was probably a lot of things I didn’t understand when I was younger.

[Megan Nicolls · Rating 2 out of 5]

My 9 year old picked this out from her school library. For a book about a year in the life of a girl and her new dog, there’s not much about the dog. And I don’t really think it held up that well for being almost 40 years old, especially her enjoying a kiss that was explicitly against her consent.

[Christina Nestor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rylant does it again

Fantastic read for children by the wonderful Rylant! The relationship between Ellie and her father is one many kids can relate to these days.

[Linda Spear · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cyndi Rylant + Appalachia.....the best combination for a great story!

[Sue Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the story
definitely worth reading

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

You know you like a book when you wish it had been at least another hundred pages long. I enjoyed reading about Ellie and would have liked to have spent more time with her.

[Josiah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Noticeably episodic in its telling, A Blue-Eyed Daisy is the type of novel for which Cynthia Rylant has become best known: plain, simple, and completely unpretentious in the way it is presented. It's a novel of real life, told without any shocking revelations or twists implemented to sell it to the reader. The pace of the events that unfold is quiet and generally reserved, not really changing even as the tone of the narrative changes from one of sadness to happiness, back and forth again and again.

The book is meted out in four segments: fall, winter, spring and summer. This is to be a transformative year for Ellie Farley, a year in which no one thing stands out as the catalyst for change on a massive scale, but with everything contributing to the approach of her adolescent phase. Ellie learns some things about her parents, both as a couple and as individuals; she learns about her four teenage siblings (all sisters), who each occupy their own particular place in the family. She learns about her family as a whole, which may not be as wonderful a group as she would have chosen, but which is far less broken than many of the families around her. Ellie even begins to feel the first warm stirrings of interest in boys, which had never previously inhabited her mind. Over the course of twelve months and a host of happenings, some related and others not really connected in any way, Ellie realizes that a year in the life of a human being always changes things, and it won't ever be exactly the same again.

Strength may come from within, but Ellie finds that there's no substitute for the presence of even a clearly imperfect family, which gives emotional support even when seemingly not being supportive at all. So while very little on the outside may be different from the beginning of the book to the end, so much has actually changed, in the ways that really matter.

Don't miss the compassionate understanding of Cynthia Rylant, which is the granite in which the words of this book are chiseled. She is a fine writer who has once again delivered a relevant, thoughtful piece of literature. I would give two and a half stars to A Blue-Eyed Daisy.

[Story Revolution]

In a boxed review, Publishers Weekly called this novel of 11-year-old Ellie Farley, living in a coal-mining town in West Virginia, "an exquisite novel, written with love." Ages 9-12Ellie Farley's father, Okey, drinks too much, mostly because he hasn't been able to work since he was injured in a mining accident. He hasn't been able to hunt, either, so it's strange when he brings home a hunting dog, a beagle named Bullet. But Bullet is only the first odd thing that happens to Ellie the year she's eleven. She sees a favorite uncle go off to war; a boy in her class has a fit in the middle of geography and another is accidentally killed while target shooting; and Okey drives his Chevy pickup off the mountain, with near-tragic consequences. But still Ellie manages the ordinary pleasures of making a best friend and getting kissed for the first time -- it's no wonder she confides to Bullet on her twelfth birthday, "Some year."

[Miriam · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was about a girl named Ellie who had to deal with being the youngest of five girls and with her father losing his job in a mining accident which led him to the path of drinking and not having much to say or do. In this book she makes a best friend, gets her first kiss,see's a classmate have a fit and see's a boy named Lance get killed, and see's her uncle head off to the war. I liked this book because it shows the way people deal with their day to day conflicts and how everyone struggles to earn something and to survive. This book also showed how a family can unite after evrything that was happening around you could go wrong. I recommend this book to anybody who likes to learn about what struggleing as a family is about

[Marilyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Middle-gr-oade fiction. Eleven-year-old Ellie lives in a coal-mining town in West Virginia with a disabled father who drinks too much, a distant mother and four older sisters. This short, easily-read book follows Ellie for a year---a year in which her father gets a hunting dog, she learns to shoot a gun, she gets her first kiss, she finds a friend, an uncle goes to war---and more. Beautifully written by Cynthia Rylant, but still, kind of depressing.

[Dianne White · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love Cynthia Rylant, and picked up this book in Portland when I was there recently. It was fair.

[Rose]

JF Ryl

[* La Baybehh Smiley · Rating 4 out of 5]

So far i like it and i am reading this with katia!

[Celeste · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good story, but starts out kind of slow.

[Ilana Waters · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember our fifth grade teacher (hello, Mrs. P.!) reading this to us in class. I love it just as much now as then. Quiet, beautiful novel that takes a realistic--yet heartening--view of life.

[Sondra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sweet but doesn't follow typical story arc. It's more like a collection of stories.