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In the Great Smoky Mountains region, a fourteen-year-old girl struggles to keep her family together after their father dies.Tags
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SomeGuyInVirginia Orphans home alone.
SomeGuyInVirginia Orphans home alone.
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“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 show more fight to stay together in the North Carolina mountains.
This is an exceptional and very special book that nobody should miss out on. show less
― 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 show more fight to stay together in the North Carolina mountains.
This is an exceptional and very special book that nobody should miss out on. show less
In the mountains of North Carolina, at some unspecified time in the past (I pictured the 1930s as I read) a down-and-out family of tenant farmers suffers a dreadful string of catastrophes, but is held together by 14-year-old Mary Call, who takes charge.
Their mother died before the story begins, and their father dies shortly into it, leaving Mary Call, a younger brother and sister, and her older, but somewhat mentally handicapped sister Devola, who is 18. Mary Call decides the only way the four of them can survive, is to keep it a secret that their father has died. Otherwise, the county social workers will come take them away. They make a little money by wildcrafting (gathering medicinal plants and selling them in town) and manage to show more stay in their ramshackle house because Mary Call sort of tricked the owner into giving it to them.
Mary Call manages to hold things steady for a while, but as the story works towards its close, her efforts begin to unravel.
Mary Call is a fierce heroine, and I loved her for it. But I loved her all the more at the end, when she reluctantly acknowledges that even she may need some help once in a while. show less
Their mother died before the story begins, and their father dies shortly into it, leaving Mary Call, a younger brother and sister, and her older, but somewhat mentally handicapped sister Devola, who is 18. Mary Call decides the only way the four of them can survive, is to keep it a secret that their father has died. Otherwise, the county social workers will come take them away. They make a little money by wildcrafting (gathering medicinal plants and selling them in town) and manage to show more stay in their ramshackle house because Mary Call sort of tricked the owner into giving it to them.
Mary Call manages to hold things steady for a while, but as the story works towards its close, her efforts begin to unravel.
Mary Call is a fierce heroine, and I loved her for it. But I loved her all the more at the end, when she reluctantly acknowledges that even she may need some help once in a while. show less
Hello, Book Twinsie!
I so enjoyed this middle grade story, recommended to me by a new friend, my bookish twin. Reminded me of the favorite kinds of books I read as a kid, especially ones with a tough young girl as the protagonist. My book twinsie has read it many times in her life. And I can see why.
It is funny, sad, and mighty eventful. Also worrisome to this old lady. Lordy, how are these children going to survive is the question I asked myself time and again as their growing dilemmas unfolded.
But they are made of tough Appalachian stuff. I was uplifted that it was also a story of kith and kin.
The short afterward by authors and married couple Vera and Bill Cleaver was a fulfilling end. I don't know how a couple writes a book together, show more but this book had such an authenticity to it that however they arranged it, they made a smooth, believable combination.
I've never been too "grown-up" to read books for kids or young adults; it can often be a great introduction to a larger picture. Like, "wildcrafting," I had never heard of that before. Yet, it's right up my alley. I spent a year teaching myself to make yucca baskets from the yuccas that grow wild on my place. (Easier to let them grow than to try to dig them up!) I even tried my hand at dyeing some of the prepared yucca fronds with cochineal, the red bugs that grow on prickly pear cactus, encased in white fuzz. Truth is, though, I hated killing the insects just for their red color so my baskets started off a light green hue and then quickly would fade to a simple golden pale hay color. They were lovely and I enjoyed giving them away, except saving one, the last one for myself that I still use.
Thank you for the recommendation, Book Twinsie. I laughed out loud about the onions. And the bear! show less
I so enjoyed this middle grade story, recommended to me by a new friend, my bookish twin. Reminded me of the favorite kinds of books I read as a kid, especially ones with a tough young girl as the protagonist. My book twinsie has read it many times in her life. And I can see why.
It is funny, sad, and mighty eventful. Also worrisome to this old lady. Lordy, how are these children going to survive is the question I asked myself time and again as their growing dilemmas unfolded.
But they are made of tough Appalachian stuff. I was uplifted that it was also a story of kith and kin.
The short afterward by authors and married couple Vera and Bill Cleaver was a fulfilling end. I don't know how a couple writes a book together, show more but this book had such an authenticity to it that however they arranged it, they made a smooth, believable combination.
I've never been too "grown-up" to read books for kids or young adults; it can often be a great introduction to a larger picture. Like, "wildcrafting," I had never heard of that before. Yet, it's right up my alley. I spent a year teaching myself to make yucca baskets from the yuccas that grow wild on my place. (Easier to let them grow than to try to dig them up!) I even tried my hand at dyeing some of the prepared yucca fronds with cochineal, the red bugs that grow on prickly pear cactus, encased in white fuzz. Truth is, though, I hated killing the insects just for their red color so my baskets started off a light green hue and then quickly would fade to a simple golden pale hay color. They were lovely and I enjoyed giving them away, except saving one, the last one for myself that I still use.
Thank you for the recommendation, Book Twinsie. I laughed out loud about the onions. And the bear! show less
A 14-year-old girl in Appalachia struggles to hold her family together after both her parents die, keeping their orphanhood secret from the adults around them and taking up wildcrafting to survive.
A harsh tale, fairly softly told. I enjoyed it mostly, although the ending was a bit too pat, really.
A harsh tale, fairly softly told. I enjoyed it mostly, although the ending was a bit too pat, really.
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 show more “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. show less
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 show more “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. show less
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.
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.
This was one of those books that was on my Battle of the Books reading list that I never got around to reading. As such, it's been sitting on my to-read list since middle school. Finally getting around to it as part of my current effort to read all the books I own.
What a magnificent story. Not only is it the tale of a girl forced to take charge of her family at the tender age of 14 after her father takes ill and suddenly passes, but it is also a fascinating story of North Carolina rural mountain living and the art of wildcrafting.
Mary Call Luther is a strong young woman who has to face great adversity at a young age and keep her family together at all costs. She comes up with a plan, though perhaps not as well thought out as she thinks, show more and sticks to it as best she can. This is a story of determination. show less
What a magnificent story. Not only is it the tale of a girl forced to take charge of her family at the tender age of 14 after her father takes ill and suddenly passes, but it is also a fascinating story of North Carolina rural mountain living and the art of wildcrafting.
Mary Call Luther is a strong young woman who has to face great adversity at a young age and keep her family together at all costs. She comes up with a plan, though perhaps not as well thought out as she thinks, show more and sticks to it as best she can. This is a story of determination. show less
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Has as a student's study guide
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Where the Lilies Bloom
- Original publication date
- 1974
- People/Characters
- Mary Call; Devola; Romey; Ima Dean; Miss Fleetie; Roy Luther (show all 10); Mr. Connell; Goldie Pease; Mrs. Connell; Kiser Pease
- Related movies
- Where the Lilies Bloom (1974 | IMDb)
- Dedication
- This book is dedicated to Jeanne Vestal
- First words
- Once in some near-forgotten time a traveller, making his way across these mountains on foot, wandered into our valley which in known as Trial.
- Quotations
- "Of course. Being Mean and ugly pleasures me more than anything i can think of. Opposite to what you think, I'm glad I'm not sweet and pretty like you. it takes time to be sweet and pretty and I havent't got any to spare. I'm... (show all) too bus seeing to it that you and those other two up there don't starve to death and don't freeza to death and that the county people don't come and haul you away. How much of this pork do you want for tomorrow? you 'd better tell me now; you won't get a second chance. whan we go back upstairs I'm going to lock the door. there's been some pilfering and it's got to stop.''
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)We discovered them and it was a fine education.
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- Fiction and Literature, Kids, Children's Books, Young Adult
- DDC/MDS
- 813 — Literature & rhetoric American literature in English American fiction in English
- LCC
- PZ7 .C57926 .W — Language and Literature Fiction and juvenile belles lettres Fiction and juvenile belles lettres Juvenile belles lettres
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