Where the Lilies Bloom Easy or Difficult
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*If you have not read this and are trying to cheat in class, I'm disappointed in you. This is a good play and deserves to be read. (hide spoiler)]
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I loved books like this one that were about kids who had to make it in the world alone because their parents are absent for some reason. (In this book, the parents were absent because they were DEAD!) I think I was drawn to that plot line because I just wanted my parents to leave me along. (Not that I wanted them dead. I didn't par
I can't believe I have been on GoodReads for over a year and just remembered this book! I read it so many times when I was in middle school-it was one of my favorites!I loved books like this one that were about kids who had to make it in the world alone because their parents are absent for some reason. (In this book, the parents were absent because they were DEAD!) I think I was drawn to that plot line because I just wanted my parents to leave me along. (Not that I wanted them dead. I didn't particularly want them dead. I just wanted them to leave me along.) But anyway...
There was a movie (maybe a made for TV movie) based on this book. I remember watching the movie, and I still remember rather vividly the scene where the older guy who wanted to marry the quiet, shy, maybe mentally slow older sister (played by the actress who went on to play Bailey on WKRP in Cincinnati) was really sick with some sort of lung ailment. The kids put him in a bathtub while he still wore his grimy looking long johns and poured steaming hot smothered onions over him. This scene led to a inside joke in my family that I am not even going to try to explain.
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― Vera Cleaver, Where the Lilies Bloom
This is a book about Mary Call, a strong minded young woman trying to keep her family together after the loss of her parents. She feeds and clothes her siblings and tries to keep up the pretense that her parents are still there, for if outsiders knew what had happened they would surely s
"Friends were another thing Miss Breathitt believed in and thought wonderful. Friends, she said, improved talents and happiness and all of us should take care to make some."― Vera Cleaver, Where the Lilies Bloom
This is a book about Mary Call, a strong minded young woman trying to keep her family together after the loss of her parents. She feeds and clothes her siblings and tries to keep up the pretense that her parents are still there, for if outsiders knew what had happened they would surely separate the family.
I. LOVED. THIS.
The book is a wonderful read. There are themes of loss and poverty. The characters start to feel like old friends. One gets invested and roots for the sassy Mary Call and her small group of siblings as they fight to stay together in the North Carolina mountains.
This is an exceptional and very special book that nobody should miss out on.
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This is a touching, moving, realistic portrayal of poverty in the Trail Valley of the Appalachian Great Smokey Mountains of NE North Carolina.
Mary Call was 14 when her father died, leaving her with unrealistic promises to fulfill and three sibling
Written in 1969, this incredible YA book received numerous awards including a National Book Award finalist, New York Times Outstanding Book of the Year, School Library Journal Best Book, Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, and the ALA Notable Children's Book.This is a touching, moving, realistic portrayal of poverty in the Trail Valley of the Appalachian Great Smokey Mountains of NE North Carolina.
Mary Call was 14 when her father died, leaving her with unrealistic promises to fulfill and three siblings to raise.
Unrealistically as stubborn as her father's short-sighted, unyielding demands, Mary valiantly attempts adherence to his edicts of keeping the family together while never accepting assistance from anyone, never allowing her "dimwitted" sister to marry the local man who loved her, to hide his death, to bury him in the mountain and to at all times maintain self reliance .
Never stooping to over sentiment, this marvelous book is a shining treasure, chocked full of trials, travails and the reality of stubborn misguided loyalty vs the reality of what can and cannot be accomplished against the odds of nature, unrelenting poverty and the terrible burden placed on the shoulders of a mother and fatherless child.
As a means of survival, the Call family become wildcrafters harvesting and selling medicinal plants found in the mountains. While this brought a modicum of relief, when an exceedingly harsh winter arrives, Mary Call realizes that while her bravery and courage has enabled the family to survive for a short period of time, forces outside her control mandate that she become more malleable.
It is at this point in the story that the authors wonderfully weave the portrayal of Mary Call who, in order to survive, must shift her paradigm to incorporate the fact that while stubbornness is necessary, to survive one must accept the assistance of others and must pave the destiny of her family by opening to the possibility that her father's well-intentioned, but misguided rules cannot be followed.
Found in 1,001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up, this is a gem to savor and re-read time and time again.
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The book gave breathtaking descriptions of the mountains and I learned a lot about the plants of that region. I wish I could survive on the environment and relish in the beauty of "heaven on earth." I would try roughing it if I could, but I'm sure I'd miss technology.
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Mary Call is thrust into the position of provider for the three siblings after her father sickens and dies. She and her brother covertly bury him on their property, and they must keep up the pretense that he is still in the sickroom with outsiders. Mary Call is a strong fourteen-year-old, and she courageously schemes and plots to secure the land and home and food for her family while railing against her chief adversary, Kaiser Pease.
You won't run across a stronger girl character th
What a story!Mary Call is thrust into the position of provider for the three siblings after her father sickens and dies. She and her brother covertly bury him on their property, and they must keep up the pretense that he is still in the sickroom with outsiders. Mary Call is a strong fourteen-year-old, and she courageously schemes and plots to secure the land and home and food for her family while railing against her chief adversary, Kaiser Pease.
You won't run across a stronger girl character than Mary Call, I think, and you won't find a more compelling story than Where the Lilies Bloom.
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I love Appalachian fiction, and this book ranks among one of my new favorites. The authors do an excellent job of depicting the proud, stubborn, and loyal people of the region through the main character Mary Call. Even though it's hard, she does what is required for the survival of her family, and she keeps her promises to her father at all costs. Her pride is almost her downfall, but Mary Call maintains her dignity. Even in the end, she and her siblings continued to forage for herbs and roots t
I love Appalachian fiction, and this book ranks among one of my new favorites. The authors do an excellent job of depicting the proud, stubborn, and loyal people of the region through the main character Mary Call. Even though it's hard, she does what is required for the survival of her family, and she keeps her promises to her father at all costs. Her pride is almost her downfall, but Mary Call maintains her dignity. Even in the end, she and her siblings continued to forage for herbs and roots to provide for themselves.
Appalachian fiction is always sad on some level because of the hardship, poverty, and lack of education that the region has experience historically. While things are getting better, the people of Appalachia, my people, have been playing catch up for years.
I assume this novel is set in the 1950's based on the time it was written, use of cars, the description of the town, and the county's maintenance of the road after the blizzard. However, this story could have been anytime from the 1930's to the late 1960's. Time stood still for much of Appalachia during those years. Life was not much different for my mother's generation than it was for her mother or her grandmother.
I loved this book and would recommend it to any of my 6th grade students as well as my friends.
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Mary Call Luther has to be by-far one of the best heroines I have read about so far. She brushes off insults coolly, and has her family at heart, going so far so to keep her family together. She is a great role model, and she really leaves an impress Where the Lilies bloom by Vera Cleaver is about the Luther family struggling to survive without their recently deceased father. His daughter Mary Call Luther promises to look after her family, and has to go through many obstacles to achieve her goal.
Mary Call Luther has to be by-far one of the best heroines I have read about so far. She brushes off insults coolly, and has her family at heart, going so far so to keep her family together. She is a great role model, and she really leaves an impression on you. In fact, this whole book leaves an impression on the reader. Its humor was absolutely 'on point', as well as the writing style and details. Also, I very much enjoyed the pictures, help me get a better picture of what everything was like. It was a tad to short for my liking, I prefer longer books. I also wished the ending could've been more clear. maybe it's just me but, I could not wrap my head around it.
In conclusion, this book was a fun quick read,(even though i would prefer it to be longer) and the character development was just fantastic. Even though at some points i would get confused. Nevertheless, the theme for this book is ask for help when you need it. I rate this book 5/5 stars. ...more
I see there is a sequel (Trial Valley) - I can't imagine it being as good as this, but hopefully it's not a disaster.
The 1974 movie version takes some liberties, but it is still excellent.
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What I found the most irritating was the resolution: the retarded older sister suddenly becomes well enough to see the need of her family and take charge.
Mary Call is a 14 year old girl who lives in the Appalachian Mountains at the foot of two mountains- Old Joshua and Sugar Boy. Mary Call has an older sister Devola who has
I read this book when I was in the 5th or 6th grade and had forgotten how great it is. I certainly did not appreciate it like I did when I read it this time. It was a touching book about life and growing up and being so poor you don't know where you are going to get your next meal but ultimately about family sticking together.Mary Call is a 14 year old girl who lives in the Appalachian Mountains at the foot of two mountains- Old Joshua and Sugar Boy. Mary Call has an older sister Devola who has a slight mental handicap it seems. Mary Call calls her "cloudy-headed". She also has two younger siblings- Romey and Ima Dean. They live with their father, Roy Luther who, at the start of the book, is quite ill already and suffers what appears to be a stroke that leaves him in even worse shape. Mary Call already works hard to provide for her family and she picks herbs to sell in town. She manages to get the house and land signed over to the family so they are no longer indebted to the man that wants to marry Devola.
As Roy Luther's health gets worse, he makes Mary Call promise him some things. She must NOT tell any other adults that he has died. The children must bury him themselves on Old Joshua. She must not let Devola marry the man that owned they land they lived on. Mary Call agrees to these things. When Roy Luther does die Mary Call does the best she can to keep her family going. Ultimately, they lose the house, live in a cave but in the end, she begins to make decisions for herself and her brother and sisters instead of just relying on the things her father believed and wanted her to do. She allows Devola to marry Kiser Pease and he in turn, takes all of the children in and provides them with a home and safety.
The story was sweet and hard and sad all at once. Mary Call was proud and hard working and so determined to take care of the other children. She did not want to go into foster care and tried her best to make sure she honored her father's requests. She reminded me of some people I have known in my life that come from backgrounds similar to Mary Call's. They are strong willed, proud people who go through life doing what they have to do to take care of their families.
I would reccommend this for 4th grade and up. Some of it is not going to be appreciated by younger children but I think they will still get the general idea behind what is going on.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39...
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So I strolled down the isles and saw this book. I liked the title so I thought, why not? This is a great book for young readers. It kept my interest and was a fast read. Success! The
I happened upon this book at the library. Logan and I went so that I could have a "good" experience there and want to go back. I'm not much for libraries! The books I went there to get were checked out which was annoying, but then I came up with a plan. I would go to the teens section and pick out a book at random.So I strolled down the isles and saw this book. I liked the title so I thought, why not? This is a great book for young readers. It kept my interest and was a fast read. Success! The library isn't so bad afterall.
Since I can't summarize this book very well I've just copied and pasted a summary I found online. Note - the book is worth reading!
"Mary Call Luther struggles to keep her family together in North Carolina's Great Smokey Mountains after the deaths of her parents. As he lay dying, her father made her promise to look after her batty but sweet older sister Devola and younger sisters Romey and Ima Dean. She also had to fufill several conditions. First, she was not to call a preacher or an undertaker when he died. She was to wrap him in a sheet and bury him on the mountain. Second, she was to always take pride in the name of Luther and instill that pride in her sisters. Third, she was to do her utmost to keep the family together and not accept charity. Fourth, she was always to keep Devola with her and treat her kindly and never, under any circumstances allow her to marry their hillbilly neighbor Kiser Pease.
Though Mary Call does her utmost to fulfill her promises, hardships settled on thick and fast. People insisted on seeing her father and seemed suspicious of his absence. Money was tight, and the Luthers had to work long hours in the mountains to get any money at all. Winter came with vengeance, and the roof of the house partially collapsed from the weight of the snow. Finally, the Luthers were told they had two weeks to leave their home. At this point, Mary Call finally admitted that she could not continue to battle and found help from a surprising source."
Katherine Brooks, Resident Scholar
A3
March 3, 2017
★★★★
The exciting book, Where the Lilies Bloom, by Vera Cleaver had lots of emotional ups and downs that took you on the mental roller coaster of a lifetime. It tugged on all the heart strings, and got you connected to every single one of the characters. Even if it is a bad connection, it was there. This book had a lot packed into it for a book with only 224 pages, it had a surprising amount of details in it also. There are two literary elements that I quickly saw when
Lily SmithA3
March 3, 2017
★★★★
The exciting book, Where the Lilies Bloom, by Vera Cleaver had lots of emotional ups and downs that took you on the mental roller coaster of a lifetime. It tugged on all the heart strings, and got you connected to every single one of the characters. Even if it is a bad connection, it was there. This book had a lot packed into it for a book with only 224 pages, it had a surprising amount of details in it also. There are two literary elements that I quickly saw when I was getting through this book.
The first one was the setting, the setting was in the woods and not a city type of place. It was more a country property where the main characters lived. The subject that pointed out the most was the house of shack that they lived in, it was like poverty level how they lived yet they survived. It is a very interesting setting because it is very hard for them to live like everyday people in that kind of a house, The feelings that occur are sadness and sympathy. But a quote from the book says, "I have never forgotten what he said - that this land was fair land, the fairest of them all. This is where the lilies bloom." What this is basically saying is that Mary Call loves the place where she lives no matter what kind of roof she has.
The Second literary element was the point of view. The main character, Mary Call, was the main character and the story was told through her eyes, and every experience was through her perception of the experience. What is unique about it is that she is the one taking care of everything for her family, and she is this kind of adult figure in a household where the oldest won't take responsibility for anything. This kind of book with a strong female as the main character is a very unique book. These are the books that interest readers even more because they are different than the ditzy female characters in a lot of books. I highly recommend this book to anyone that has an interest in reading.
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Armed with the in
Where the Lilies Bloom (Vera & Bill Cleaver, 1969) is the story of Mary Call Luther, a 14 year old Appalachian girl, who struggles to keep her family alive and unharmed in the face of unthinkable hardship. After the death of their mother, Mary Call and her three siblings are raised by their proud yet kind-hearted father until he too becomes unceasingly ill. Mary Call takes on the role of family leader, family protector, and the progenitor of the Luther family's values and pride.Armed with the inherited knowledge to forage for valuable edible and medicinal plants and roots, and the resilience earned from being the daughter of a share-cropper, Mary Call helps her family to thrive against all odds. This is a story of family loyalty and pride, strength and perseverance, and a glimpse at the tough-as-nails character of a culturally distinct people.
Where the Lilies Bloom is a personal narrative novel, spanning approximately 175 pages. The story is told in the common speech of the 14 year old protagonist, which makes for a relatively easy read. The challenge for the reader is in the use of regionalisms, or descriptions that are culturally or historically distinct. This is an emotionally intense story with which most readers can either empathize or identify on some level - abject poverty, abandonment or loss of parent, family loyalty, a struggle to thrive. While the Lexile (920) and ATOS (6.0) ratings suggest an audience of late elementary or early middle school students, this range can be extended to include readers in late middle school and high school. While the overall complexity of the writing might not challenge the more advanced readers, the emotional intensity of the story encourages empathy, introspection, and a deep consideration of the human condition.
-Jane Hoff
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I was completely captured by this story. I couldn't put it down. Last night I woke in the middle of the night thinking about it, wanting to sneak downstairs to finish it. Ever since I was young I have always loved stories about the Appalachian people, mostly the girls and their will to survive. To me they are the true heroines. Poor as dirt but they rise above the best they know how to.
I remember watching the movie when I was young and loved it. I was trilled when I found it was based on a book. I loved the book even more. I will read and reread this book. Loved it!
...moreTogether, they produced more than a dozen novels for young adults. Their subject matter reveals a particular interest in mountain children who have both physical and mental problems. The Cleavers were three times nominated for the National Book Award, and t
After her first book, The Nurse's Dilemma (1966), most of her magazine articles and 16 novels for children were written with her husband, Bill.Together, they produced more than a dozen novels for young adults. Their subject matter reveals a particular interest in mountain children who have both physical and mental problems. The Cleavers were three times nominated for the National Book Award, and their novels made multiple appearances on the American Library Associations list of "Notable Books." Settings often mirror the Cleavers' place of residence.
After Bill's death, Vera Cleaver wrote Sugar Blues (1984) and Sweetly Sings the Donkey (1985).
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