Horn Book Review
After eleven-year-old Lydia and her brother are orphaned in the 1918 influenza epidemic, they're sent to live in the Shaker community at Sabbathday Lake, Maine. Lowry masterfully establishes character, situation, and place as the reader experiences, right along with Lydia, her early struggles and eventual acceptance of the ordered, industrious life of the Shakers. An excellent addition to the Dear America series. (c) Copyright 2011. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
From the renewed Dear America series of historical-fiction diaries, this one belongs to 11-year-old Lydia Pierce. Lydia's world turns upside down in 1918, when influenza kills her parents and baby sister. With no one left to care for her and her brother, they are taken to live with the Shakers in Maine's Sabbathday Lake community. Since she has already lost so much, Lydia finds it hard to give up her favorite book and her grandmother's ring as communal property, but little by little, she adapts to her new home. Lowry writes with simplicity and sensitivity, bringing Lydia's world to life through concrete details and making the child's resilience entirely believable. Unlike books in the original series, this one has the author's name on the cover, though like the earlier ones, it extends the fiction in an epilogue summarizing Lydia's later life. The back matter also includes historical notes on the influenza of 1918 and the Shakers, a section of related photos, and a note on the author, including comments on her research. A fine addition.--Phelan, Carolyn Copyright 2010 Booklist
School Library Journal Review
Gr 4-8-Presented in a fictionalized diary format, this popular series entry chronicles the experiences of 11-year-old Lydia after her parents are killed in the 1918 flu pandemic and she is sent to live with a Shaker family. Painstaking research vivifies life in a community where a global war has no bearing. Audio version available from Scholastic. (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
(Historical fiction. 8-12)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
