Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... Stillwater Public Library | J FICTION GIF | Searching... Unknown |
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Summary
Summary
A story of the American Revolution from two-time Newbery Honor-winning author Patricia Reilly Giff.
nbsp;
While staying with her aunt, Elizabeth finds something remarkable: a drawing. It hangs on the wall, a portrait of her ancestor, Eliza, known as Zee. She looks like Elizabeth.
The girls' lives intertwine as Elizabeth's present-day story alternates with Zee's, which takes place during the American Revolution. Zee is dreamy, and hopeful for the future--until the Revolution tears apart her family and her community in upstate New York. Left on her own, she struggles to survive and to follow her father and brother into battle.
nbsp;
Zee's story has been waiting to be rediscovered by the right person. As Elizabeth learns about Zee, and walks where Zee once walked and battles raged, the past becomes as vivid and real as the present.
nbsp;
In this beautifully crafted, affecting novel from beloved author Patricia Reilly Giff, the lives of two girls reflect one another as each finds her own inner strengths.
Author Notes
Patricia Reilly Giff was born in Brooklyn, New York on April 26, 1935. She knew she wanted to be a writer, even as a little girl. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Education from Marymount College, a Master's of Arts from St. John's University, and a Professional Diploma in Reading and a Doctorate of Humane Letters from Hofstra University.
After she graduated from college, she taught in the public schools in New York City until 1960 and then in the public schools in Elmont, New York from 1964 until 1971. She then became a reading consultant before finally, at the age of 40, deciding to write a book. She also worked as an educational consultant for Dell Yearling and Young Yearling Books and as an advisor and instructor to aspiring writers. Her first book, Today Was a Terrible Day, was published in 1980. She is the author of more than 100 children's books, as well as a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers.
Together with her husband, Giff opened "The Dinosaur's Paw," a children's bookstore named after one of her own stories. She is the author of the Polk Street School books. Lily's Crossing, about the homefront during World War II, was named a Newberry Honor Book by the American Library Association as well as an ALA Notable Book for Children. The novel also won the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Honor. Her companion book to Lily's Crossing, Genevieve's War, won a 2018 Christopher Award. Pictures of Hollis Woods was also named a Newberry Honor Book and Nory Ryan's Song was named an ALA Best Book for Young Adults.
Patricia Reilly Giff died on June 22, 2021. She was 86.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
This novel by two-time Newbery Honor author Giff gracefully bridges two eras and two insightful perspectives. Elizabeth is a contemporary girl who goes to stay with her late mother's sister, Libby, while her father is away. There, she is captivated by a drawing of a young woman who looks remarkably like her: Zee, an ancestor whose patriot father died fighting in the American Revolution and whose mother was killed when their cabin was ambushed. Through thoughtfully crafted narratives that alternate between each heroine-Elizabeth's story is told in the third-person present tense, Zee's interior monologue is written in the past tense-Giff draws parallels between the two. Both are tenacious yet self-deprecating, have lost family, and are uprooted and searching for a sense of belonging. A roughly drawn map on the back of Zee's portrait and the scattered information Libby and a cousin know about their ancestors help Elizabeth assemble the pieces of Zee's life and become the present-day teller of her story. As she brings these characters and history alive, Giff again demonstrates her own gift for storytelling. Ages 8-14. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
While visiting her aunt, Elizabeth is taken by a drawing of her ancestor, a Revolutionary Warera girl named Zee who looks like Elizabeth. As she learns more about Zee, Elizabeth rebuilds her own family, just as Zee had to do. Giff alternates accounts about the two girls' lives, weaving historical facts into Zee's tale. The characters' compelling voices drive the story. (c) Copyright 2011. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
What determination they had to build this country, marvels a character in this moving novel, set partly during the Revolutionary War. Giff shows young readers the truth in that sentiment through the perspectives of two young girls: Elizabeth, a contemporary kid who is staying with her aunt, and her ancestor, Zee, an eighteenth-century farm girl. Intrigued by a picture of Zee in her aunt's house, Elizabeth researches the tragic events that led to the burning of Zee's home, the death of her mother, and the battle at Oriskany. Giff's use of everyday, period details brings immediacy to Zee's story, while the well-integrated themes, including the loss of a parent and the girls' struggles to feel useful, further unite the two stories, both told in compelling voices. The horror of war is clearly conveyed without graphic specifics, and the historical framework makes this a strong classroom choice. It is the intertwined, personal stories of the two girls, though, that will win hearts, and the characters' growing maturity and discovery of their strengths will resonate strongly with young readers.--Rutan, Lynn Copyright 2010 Booklist
School Library Journal Review
Gr 5-7-Giff juxtaposes two stories to highlight a little-known piece of Revolutionary War history. Present-day Elizabeth has been sent to stay with her deceased mother's sister while her father travels to Australia. Resistant at first, she gradually becomes comfortable with her Aunt Libby and is fascinated by a drawing of an ancestor, a girl who lived through the War for Independence. Zee narrates her dramatic story: living on a farm in upstate New York, her Patriot family is pitted against Loyalist neighbors. When her father and brother leave for battle, her house is attacked and burned and her mother is killed. Handicapped by hands burned in the fire, she sets off to find her father and brother and is caught up in what has come to be known as the Battle of Oriskany. While Elizabeth knows nothing of Zee's story, she is helped by her reclusive Uncle Harry, a history buff, to piece together events by visiting the site of the battle and of Zee's home. Another discovery is made in an antiques shop where Harry has found other drawings, presumably of Zee, by the same artist who did Libby's drawing. Through this experience, Elizabeth acknowledges her own storytelling ability, an implied connection between the two girls. Zee's story is compelling, and, by embedding many historical details, including the role of the Iroquois in the conflict, into the vehicle of Elizabeth's trip with her uncle, the novel barely escapes didacticism. The fast-paced narrative, toggling back and forth between the 18th and 21st centuries, will keep readers interested.-Marie Orlando, North Shore Public Library, Shoreham, NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
(Fiction. 10-14)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Excerpts
Excerpts
Elizabeth Twenty-first Century School's over; the weekend's here. Elizabeth heads for home. She'll put her feet up on the bench in the kitchen, read her library book, and finish off the brownies she and Pop made last night. What could be better? She trudges around to the back door, passing the living room, then Pop's workroom. She can see him through the window. He's long and lanky, his hair a little gray around the temples. He's leaning over his table, working on one of his carvings. On a shelf above his head, wooden animals march along in a row, and a face mask glares out at her. Weird. She tilts her head, picturing someone wearing that mask; a girl maybe, trying to look fierce. Her name would be . . . Pop spots her. "Elizabeth?" She climbs the steps, pushes open the door, and drops her backpack inside. "Hey, Pop," she calls. "What were you doing out there?" he asks, coming into the kitchen. "Just . . ." Embarrassed, she doesn't know what to say. "Just nothing, I guess." She sees now that he has a line between his eyebrows. Trouble. She tries to think about what she's done, or what she hasn't done. She grins to herself. Maybe it's something he hasn't done. The breakfast dishes are still in the sink; a plate with sandwich crusts is on the table. "How about a hot chocolate to warm you up?" he says, taking the milk out of the refrigerator. Still that frown. What's coming? She reaches into the cabinet for a couple of crackers. "Listen, Elizabeth," he says. "I have to go to Australia. I've been asked to show my carvings at a university in Melbourne." Australia! A million miles away. She blows air through her mouth. It means staying with Mrs. Eldridge and her fat bulldog with his horrible breath. But she can do that. She's done it dozens of times before when he's been away teaching or selling his carvings. Pop runs a hand through his graying hair. "I called your aunt Libby. She says you can stay with her." He reaches for the box of cocoa. "She's only two or three hours away." Elizabeth stares at him, a saltine halfway to her mouth. Her mother's sister? Elizabeth has seen her maybe twice in her life. Libby, a scientist, who probably spends her days in a dusty laboratory, working with little dishes of who knows what. She sends odd Christmas and birthday cards, her writing so small you can hardly make it out, and she doesn't have kids. Of course she doesn't. "Libby!" Elizabeth explodes. "I don't even know what she looks like. I'll stay with Mrs. Eldridge." Pop turns away to stir the milk on the stove. "Mrs. Eldridge is moving away." "Alexa, then--she's my best friend, after all." He pours the milk into a glass. It's so hot the glass cracks. Elizabeth watches the milk sizzle out across the stove, and thinks about her mother, who died in a car accident so long ago she can't even remember her. Pop stands in front of her. "I might be gone several weeks, Elizabeth. It can't be helped. I wish it could. I don't want to go without you. I don't want to leave you for so long." He hesitates, a dishcloth in his hands. "But it's time for you to know your mother's family. I've been feeling that for a while. Libby spent a lot of the last few years doing research in Canada, otherwise I'd have asked her sooner." Elizabeth doesn't answer. She goes inside to turn on the television, pressing up the volume until everything around her vibrates. Pop comes to the door. "I'm sorry, Elizabeth. I'm so sorry. This will be important to us, really. It'll mean more money, commissions for more carvings." She turns away from him. Libby. A different school. She'll miss chorus and gymnastics. He's not worried about her missing school. One time she missed a few weeks. "You'll catch up," he'd said, knowing she would. It's so unfair, but she knows there's no hope of changing his mind. Not by banging her bedroom door shut all week, not by skipping breakfast, not by saying she's sick and can't go to school. The next Friday Pop brings two duffel bags from the basement. She stuffs almost everything she owns into them while he straightens the house and locks everything up. They drive through a spring snow. It coats the windows like feathers; the windshield wipers drum back and forth. "If this works out, I'll go back to Australia next year," Pop says. "Maybe you can go with me someday when we have more money. This trip I'll be able to sell some of the old carvings, things I did years ago." "I don't care," she whispers, and wonders if he hears her. He turns on some horrible music, and she leans forward to switch to something else, something equally horrible. "I love you, Elizabeth," he says. She hums along to the music all the way, as if she can't hear him. At last they stop at a house that's set back in a snowy garden. Elizabeth hunches her shoulders against the cold, against Pop, as Libby opens the door. She's tall, thin as a bone, peering at them with sky blue eyes behind her glasses. She's smiling, a tight smile, but still-- Good for Libby, Elizabeth thinks. She's not going to let us know what a horrible imposition this is. Imposition. A word her English teacher, Mrs. Thomas, would love. Elizabeth feels a zing of pain in her chest. On Monday she'll go to a new school where she doesn't know a soul. They drag her duffel bags through Libby's perfect hall, into her neat living room, and Pop leans forward to kiss Elizabeth good-bye, aiming for her cheek. She pulls back and he grazes her hair. He mumbles a few words, and then he's gone. Blotches of red stain Libby's neck. She moves forward and reaches out to Elizabeth. A hug? But Elizabeth realizes it's her jacket Libby's after. Drops of snow are beginning to melt on the carpet. Elizabeth has to feel sorry for Libby. She imagines Pop calling on the phone, talking Libby into taking Elizabeth, as if she's the third duffel bag. There's another sharp zing in Elizabeth's chest. Maybe something's wrong with her heart. She catches a glimpse of herself in the mirror. Nothing's wrong with her heart, of course. Too bad. It would serve Pop right if she keeled over and stopped breathing. Excerpted from Storyteller by Patricia Reilly Giff All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
