Name: Blue Willow
ISBN: 9780140309249

At a Glance

Why This Clicks

The Pull of Home

A treasured plate gives this story of a moving family's search for home its emotional center.

Come here for

A child's yearning for home amid a family's constant moves
The quiet meaning of a plate pictured with a house

Expect

A grounded story shaped by poverty and displacement
Longing for roots, friendship, and a place to belong

Book Details

Authors: Doris Gates
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Published: September 30, 1976
Format: Paperback
Theme: 19th-Century U.S. · US Biographies
Reading lane: 19th-Century U.S.

Affinity

Publisher Categories

Parent-Child Stories
Farm & Ranch Life
Homelessness & Poverty

About This Book

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. 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. 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. Blue Willow i...

Read full description

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. 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. 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. Blue Willow is an important fictional account of the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression, and has been called The Grapes of Wrath for children. It won a Newbery Honor and many other awards.