I have been able to explore the Fresno area and have found many of the places mentioned in the book. Well, life has strange quirks and I ended up in the 60’s moving to the area where Janey lived. I felt a connection with Janey and Blue Willow became one of my favorite books for life. My father had wanderlust and I had lived in many places and slept in many different types of bed. “In the 1940s I was a third grader in the Seattle area. “This story, told with sensitive beauty, should widen the horizons of those who read it.”– The Horn Book Doris Gates is also known for her collections of Greek mythology, including A Fair Wind for Troy. Blue Willow was groundbreaking in its use of realistic storytelling for children. About the Author:ĭoris Gates was a librarian and writer of children’s fiction. It won a Newbery Honor and many other awards. Someday, Janey promised the willow plate, with its picture of a real house, her family would once again be able to set down roots in a community.īlue Willow is an important fictional account of the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression, and has been called The Grapes of Wrath for children. Now that her father was an itinerant worker, Janey didn’t have a home she could call her own or any real friends, as her family had to keep moving, following the crops from farm to farm. To Janey Larkin, the blue willow plate was the most beautiful thing in her life, a symbol of the home she could only dimly remember.
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