Like the Willow Tree: The Diary of Lydia Amelia Pierce, Portland, Maine, 1918

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Like the Willow Tree: The Diary of Lydia Amelia Pierce, Portland, Maine, 1918 (Dear America)

3.76 of 5 stars 3.76 · rating details · 376 ratings · 65 reviews

Two-time Newbery Award-winning author Lois Lowry brings a brand-new, beautiful diary to the Dear America series!
Suddenly orphaned by the Spanish flu epidemic in the fall of 1918, eleven-year-old Lydia Pierce and her fourteen-year-old brother, Daniel, of Portland, Maine, are taken by their uncle to be raised in the Shaker community at Sabbathday Lake. Thrust into the Shake...more

Hardcover, Unabridged, 224 pages

Published January 1st 2011 by Scholastic

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Dec 06, 2012 kari rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, childrens-books

I was hoping to get some insights into the Shaker life and beliefs, so I'm not sure this book was truly successful for me. Perhapys it isn't possible to truly understand another person's beliefs and, as an adult, I was looking for more than what most children reading this book would be. Personally, the Shakers seem cruel to orpahned children, not allowing them any interaction with their siblings if they are of the opposite sex, taking away all personal possessions and focusing on work, work, wor...more I was hoping to get some insights into the Shaker life and beliefs, so I'm not sure this book was truly successful for me. Perhapys it isn't possible to truly understand another person's beliefs and, as an adult, I was looking for more than what most children reading this book would be. Personally, the Shakers seem cruel to orpahned children, not allowing them any interaction with their siblings if they are of the opposite sex, taking away all personal possessions and focusing on work, work, work. I'm not sure how any group that believes in total segregation of the sexes can expect to continue over the long term. It almost feels as if they are indocrinating innocent chidlren who have no choice in the matter in order to keep their religion afloat. Not sure I think that is a positive thing. That is just my take on it and I mean no disrespect to anyone.
As an adult, what I did like was knowing what life was like before we had social programs and protections, child labor laws and how parentless children were just left at the mercy of their circumstances. One could say that Lydia and Daniel were luckier than most that they had relatives to take them it, at least temporarilty, but they also didn't end up in a loving family home.
Enough of my personal commentary. The story is told well, the voice of Lydia is very authentic. I would have enjoyed more of her thoughs, actions, emotions, and less about the weather and the clouds and what the place looks like. The ending is abrupt and I didn't truly see any change in Lydia from being of the world to becoming a Shaker girl. Maybe the time frame was just too quick, but she seemed the same, more calm perhaps, but she has adjusted to what life has handed her. I didn't really perceive that she adjusted her thinking or feelings, just that she had soldiered on with what she had to do. I didn't feel that she had beome happy at the Sabbathday Lake, but that she was content or resigned to it. Her brother's story needed to be told, that was a big miss for me. Why did he make the decisions he made? What happened to him? This left too many unanswered questions.
I think for the audience it is written toward, it would be enjoyed.(less)

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Mar 27, 2012 Lori rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: middle-grade

This is Lois Lowry‘s latest book, hot off the 2011 press. In 1918, the flu pandemic cost 50-100 million lives. The reality of this comes home to us as we read the story of eleven-year-old Lydia, who with her brother, is orphaned by the sudden illness and death of their parents. They are eventually taken in by the Shakers at the Sabbathday Lake community in Maine (which actually exists to this day). The story is fictional, but the depiction of life among the Shakers is realistic. I once visited...more

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Sep 15, 2011 Chelle rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: read_2011, juv

There's something special when a character walks among surroundings familiar to the reader. When the author has represented the area right, the characters take on more immediacy and familiarity right away. Living in Southern Maine I don't often get the chance to see favored local places represented in fiction. Here Lois Lowry makes the area come alive. Lydia's family attends the very church I worked in for a time so it was easy to picture the large imposing brick edifice with it's spacious and i...more There's something special when a character walks among surroundings familiar to the reader. When the author has represented the area right, the characters take on more immediacy and familiarity right away. Living in Southern Maine I don't often get the chance to see favored local places represented in fiction. Here Lois Lowry makes the area come alive. Lydia's family attends the very church I worked in for a time so it was easy to picture the large imposing brick edifice with it's spacious and inviting sanctuary but what truly comes to life under Lowry's care is the Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village.

Sabbathday Lake is located in my home town of New Gloucester, ME. As a third grader it was the field trip of the year to go and visit. Later in high school I took Shaker Studies as an honors US History elective. I spent the year working with the Shakers (that then numbered six), touring the facilities, researching in the library and growing to love the community. The steps Lydia walks are familiar. I have been in the sister's shop, the ironing room, and the large main kitchen. I have climbed to the top of the water tower in the orchard. I have leafed through (if my memory is correct) Sister Prudence's journals and scrapbooks and saw her deep admiration for President Hoover. Lydia's foray into helping make apple sauce and pies reminded me of the amazing apple crisp Sister Frances made for our class and eating in the large dining room. Each year I go back to attend the annual Christmas fair and seek out Brother Arnold who is generally in the kitchen on biscuit duty. Chosen Land is truly one of my favorite places on this earth. There is a peacefulness and warmth that pervades the community even though many of it's buildings stand empty.

Lydia's story of finding love and healing after such a crushing loss not only highlights a less well known time but also a very little known place. This was my first foray into the Dear America series. It's local interest caught my eye and I was very happy to see that the author did the area and village justice.

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Jan 12, 2011 Margo Tanenbaum rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction, shakers

With the relaunch of its Dear America series last year, Scholastic is not cutting corners, recruiting some of our most beloved writers for young people to add to this acclaimed historical fiction series for young people. This particular title, written by two-time Newbery winner Lois Lowry, chronicles the life of eleven-year-old Lydia Pierce in Portland, Maine of 1918, orphaned along with her brother by the deadly Spanish flu epidemic. Initially sent to live with relatives who can't afford to kee...more With the relaunch of its Dear America series last year, Scholastic is not cutting corners, recruiting some of our most beloved writers for young people to add to this acclaimed historical fiction series for young people. This particular title, written by two-time Newbery winner Lois Lowry, chronicles the life of eleven-year-old Lydia Pierce in Portland, Maine of 1918, orphaned along with her brother by the deadly Spanish flu epidemic. Initially sent to live with relatives who can't afford to keep them, they are then sent to be raised in a Shaker community in Sabbathday Lake.

The adjustment to the world of the Shakers is difficult indeed. Because Lydia knows nothing of the Shakers, we learn along with her through about their customs and lifestyle. She is struck by her first view of their settlement: "It seemed to be a whole village, but quite small, and it was amazingly tidy. It made me think of a toy village, built for dolls." She was shocked to have her few meager possessions taken from her, told by one of the Shaker sisters that all that they had belonged to them all. She was equally surprised to be separated from her brother after learning that men and women's lives in the community are quite distinct; even though they consider themselves brethren and sisters, they don't converse, and have no physical contact. Because they don't marry, they take in orphans, who are free when grown up to go "into the world" or take vows to stay in the community. Even their language seems strange and old-fashioned to Lydia.

Although both she and her brother are struggling with their grief over the loss of their parents and baby sister, but her brother seems unusually withdrawn, and when he runs away, she can't help but worry about him.

But as the year passes, Lydia comes to admire and even love the kindly Shaker sisters, who teach her their beautiful handicrafts, songs, ways of worship, and finally, bring her a feeling of peace. Although the book encompasses only a year in Lydia's life, Lowry provides an afterword in which she tells us what became of Lydia and her brother Daniel. Did they stay with the Shakers or leave the religious life behind?

As is typical with this series, a historical note at the end of the novel provides invaluable context for young readers about both the outbreak of the Spanish flu epidemic and the history of the Shakers, including information on present-day Sabbathday Lake. We also learn that Lowry was inspired to write this title after buying an old farmhouse in southwest Maine, not far from the Sabbathday Lake community, where three Shakers remain in residence.

Unlike some other titles in the Dear America series, this novel is not action-packed; instead, it contains many details about the Shaker lifestyle and not a lot of action and conflict. The conflict in the story is more internal, dwelling on whether Lydia and Daniel can adapt their hearts to the Shaker ways. I found that its quiet style seems to fit with the Shaker theme, and the book should appeal to those children who like more contemplative stories as well as those who might be interested in learning more about different religions in our country.
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Aug 31, 2011 Terri rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011-reading-list

I have loved the Dear America series since I was a little girl. I read most of them through middle and high school, as they were a beautiful series and a great way to get kids interested in history. Now, at the age of 24, I must have at least 30 of them sitting on my bookshelf. I was devastated when they stopped producing the series in 2004... and absolutely elated when they relaunched the series.
This book was the first I picked up from the relaunched series. I was not disappointed. Lois Lowry...more

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Mar 26, 2012 Erin Forson rated it 4 of 5 stars

Dear America: Like the Willow Tree
by Lois Lowry
Imagine having a birthday and one week later both of your parents are dead. This is what Lydia faces when the Spanish Flu kills her mother, her father, and her baby sister. She and her brother are sent to live with the Shakers, a deeply religious people who believe in a simple life. When Lydia and her brother first arrive at the Shaker village, Lydia is accepting but apprehensive about this new life. She becomes more apprehensive when one of the sis...more

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Feb 26, 2011 Zemkat rated it 4 of 5 stars

A young girl and her brother, orphaned by the 1918 Spanish influenza pandemic, are sent to live in a Shaker community and learn a very different way of life.

I have not read any of the other books in the Dear America series, and picked this one up because it was written by Lois Lowry. I was not disappointed! The voice of the narrator was believeable, and her description of the Shakers was informative and enjoyable as she learned about their activities and beliefs through experience with various c...more

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Apr 14, 2011 Shazzer rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011-middle-grade, middle-grade

As posted on Outside of a Dog:

Confession time. Until recently, I had never read any of the titles in the Dear America series. Originally published from 1996 to 2004, they were simply after my time of middle grade reading, and before my time as a children's bookseller and librarian. It's only now that the series was re-launched in 2010 that they've really come onto my radar, and only when presented with a new title written by Lois Lowry did I make an attempt at reading one. Lowry's new book, Like...more As posted on Outside of a Dog:

Confession time. Until recently, I had never read any of the titles in the Dear America series. Originally published from 1996 to 2004, they were simply after my time of middle grade reading, and before my time as a children's bookseller and librarian. It's only now that the series was re-launched in 2010 that they've really come onto my radar, and only when presented with a new title written by Lois Lowry did I make an attempt at reading one. Lowry's new book, Like the Willow Tree: The Diary of Lydia Amelia Pierce is the newest title in the Dear America series, but it is much more than just another title in a bunch.

Lydia Pierce thinks herself to be quite ordinary. She lives with her parents, her older brother Daniel and her baby sister Lucy in Portland, Maine, and in the year 1918, she turns eleven. 1918 is also the year of the great Spanish Influenza epidemic, which claims the lives of Lydia's mother, father and sister, in the course of one short week. Now orphans, Lydia and her brother go to live with their Uncle Henry and his family, but life there is crowded and unwelcoming, and they are soon moved again, this time to Sabbathday Lake, a nearby Shaker community. It is here that Lydia must learn a new way of living, so different from her old life. On her first day, two of her prized possessions, her copy of The Secret Garden and her grandmother's opal ring, are taken away from her (because the Shakers do not ornament themselves, and believe in communal property). As a Shaker, Lydia must work, doing laundry, helping in the kitchen, knitting (which she hates) and making candy (which she can't wait to do). But there is also school and play, and new friends made, including the cheerful Grace, who talks of one day leaving the Sabbathday Lake, marrying and having a family. Over time, Lydia becomes accustomed to her new life, but brother Daniel does not, and one day he runs away, leaving Lydia with nothing but worry and the loss of the last ties to her old family life.

Though she begins her diary as many typical eleven year olds would, with the sentence "I am desolate", there is a gentleness that comes to Lydia's narrative that inspired from her time living among the Shakers. Lowry does a wonderful job of infusing the diary with the peace Lydia finds there. This is achieved partly by the addition of several Shaker hymns, which add solemnity, but not heaviness. I found Lydia's transformation as she eased into her hardworking, simplified Shaker life to be a breath of fresh air after the weighty gulp that was her earlier confession: "I have not written for eight days. What could I write? Father is dead. Mother is dead. My baby sister, Lucy, is dead." I, who had forgotten what the novel was about, felt a good punch of shock at these words. In some ways, the diary format was limiting, and I wish I could have known more about Lydia's brother, Daniel, instead of only knowing what Lydia knows and thinking what she thinks. But that would have been a book for another day, I suppose.

After this first foray into the pool of Dear America titles, I'm sure I'll find more to interest me, and more authors who have supplied books for the series to entice me (I know Karen Hesse wrote at least one). I don’t know what to expect from the rest, but if they’re anything along the lines of Like the Willow Tree I’ll be satisfied. Because Lowry, after all these years, still has the power to surprise me, and that’s a wonderful thing
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May 24, 2011 Ruthie rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Abbie Voth

Shelves: audiobooks

Lois Lowry is amazing. She wrote a very informative book about the Shaker way of life, seen through the eyes of a lovable little girl. I loved how respectfully she treated the Shaker ways, rules and all. I was impressed that the main character wasn't a rebellious child trying to escape the confines of a religious society. I loved that she was able to conform to what was expected of her, and to find happiness there. Most of the characters in this book actually existed - Lois Lowry was able to rea...more

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Nov 16, 2012 Becky rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012

I enjoyed this Dear America book. I haven't read many in the series (so far), but what I have read I have enjoyed for the most part. Like the Willow Tree is set in Maine in the fall of 1918. The heroine, Lydia Amelia Pierce, endures many losses as she loses both parents and a baby sister to the Spanish influenza. Lydia and her older brother, Daniel, survive but are placed with a local Shaker community. The diary chronicles her time with the Shakers and provides an interesting look at faith and c...more

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Feb 18, 2011 Christy rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: ages 9-12

I found this story different from other Dear America books mainly because it focuses on the simple way of life in a Shaker Community instead of just the character Lydia going through an adventure. I really enjoyed learning about the Spanish Flu epidemic and its impact on the cities. I was also intrigued with the hard working but yet joyful life of the Shakers (who eventually dwindle down in numbers over the years). Like all other Dear America books, it ends with an epilogue about Lydia, historic...more

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Oct 15, 2012 Arwa Saed rated it 4 of 5 stars

It was the year Lydia turned 11, all her life has changed. On that same year in 1918, both her parents and her baby sister became sick. The Spanish influenza has entered their house and there was no way to get out. There weren’t many doctors and hospitals. And in just a couple of days she and her brother, Daniel, who was 15 years old, had become orphans. At first they went to their uncle’s house where there was not enough food, warm clothing and water for them. After a couple of day their uncle...more

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Jun 05, 2012 Fives OnTheFly rated it 2 of 5 stars

The third book of the Dear America series that Five of Hearts and I have read together. Since this takes place in our home state of Maine we had high expectations. However, for some reason this book fell short. It might just be because life with the Shakers was so structured and peaceful that there wasn't much conflict or excitement for the author to write about. However, learning about the Spanish Influenza of 1918 was a huge eye opener for some reason I never learned about this while in school...more

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Jan 13, 2011 Mary Ann rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 4th, 5th, historical-fiction

Lowry writes a new entry in the freshly re-launched Dear America series of historical fiction written in diary format. Lydia Pierce is an eleven year old schoolgirl in Portland, Maine when her world is suddenly shaken by the influenza epidemic. Within a matter of days, her parents and baby sister have died, leaving Lydia and her older brother orphans. Their uncle briefly takes them in, but soon realizes that he cannot afford to keep the pair. With some sadness, this uncle takes Lydia and her bro...more

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Feb 23, 2012 Ms Anderson rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: formystudents, 2012-02-feb

I enjoyed it, but I would've liked to know more--for example, what happened with her brother to make him come back? If they spent all their time working (and Sundays either praying or doing quiet contemplation), when did they actually find the time to goof off? The author's note at the end gave some good information, but the epilogue felt really rushed. A decent book for what it was, not not as awesome as I would expect from Lowry.

I would be open to reading a "My Name is America" novel about the...more

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Nov 15, 2012 Jennifer Wardrip rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: trt-posted-reviews

Reviewed by Sally Kruger aka "Readingjunky" for TeensReadToo.com

No one knows the actual statistics on deaths due to the Spanish influenza in 1918, but estimates range from 50-100 million worldwide. When the sickness hit Portland, Maine, Lydia Pierce lost her mother, her father, and her baby sister. Uncle Henry came to collect Lydia and her brother, Daniel. They went to live in a house crowded with their many cousins.

Uncle Henry and his wife just couldn't handle two more children, so Lydia and Da...more Reviewed by Sally Kruger aka "Readingjunky" for TeensReadToo.com

No one knows the actual statistics on deaths due to the Spanish influenza in 1918, but estimates range from 50-100 million worldwide. When the sickness hit Portland, Maine, Lydia Pierce lost her mother, her father, and her baby sister. Uncle Henry came to collect Lydia and her brother, Daniel. They went to live in a house crowded with their many cousins.

Uncle Henry and his wife just couldn't handle two more children, so Lydia and Daniel were packed up and taken to the Shaker community at Sabbathday Lake. Life there was very different from their life in Portland.

The Shakers are a religious community that believes in hard work, clean living, and the separation of men and women. There are no marriages and no romantic involvement in a Shaker community. Everyone shares all material goods and everyone works to support the community. It may sound harsh and impersonal, but that is not the case. Love and respect are present in abundance.

Lydia desperately missed her parents and her baby sister, but life with the Shakers kept her busy. She and Daniel attended school and each were given jobs around the complex. Lydia helped in the kitchens, the laundry, and with basket making, although she never seemed to be given the chore she wanted most - helping with the candy making. Daniel lived and worked with the men. When he wasn't in the classroom, he helped with the animals and other chores on the farm.

LIKE THE WILLOW TREE is part of the DEAR AMERICA series focusing on historical fiction. Lydia's story greatly enhanced my understanding of the Shaker way of life. Since the community never produced children, young people like Lydia and her brother were welcomed with open arms. Lydia tells of the diminishing numbers in her Shaker family, and how unless adults learned of this wholesome way of life, the communities would eventually cease to exist.

Author Lois Lowry captures Lydia's experience beautifully. Although her diary simply recounts humble daily activities, I found it a fascinating read. (less)

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Oct 30, 2010 Rebecca rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction, diaries, arc

Eleven-year-old Lydia Pierce lives a carefree life in Portland, Maine, in 1918, until the terrible flu epidemic that is spreading worldwide takes the lives of her parents and baby sister. Lydia and her older brother Daniel are now orphans, and their aunt and uncle have no room for them on the crowded family farm. With no other options available, their uncle takes them to live in Sabbathday Lake with the Shakers, who care for orphaned children.

Life with the Shakers is very different from Lydia’s...more Eleven-year-old Lydia Pierce lives a carefree life in Portland, Maine, in 1918, until the terrible flu epidemic that is spreading worldwide takes the lives of her parents and baby sister. Lydia and her older brother Daniel are now orphans, and their aunt and uncle have no room for them on the crowded family farm. With no other options available, their uncle takes them to live in Sabbathday Lake with the Shakers, who care for orphaned children.

Life with the Shakers is very different from Lydia’s old life in Portland. The Shakers have many rules that must be strictly followed. Males and females must stay separate and not socialize, which means Lydia can rarely speak to her brother. In her diary Lydia describes her first few months living with the Shakers and how she eventually adjusts and finds some happiness in her new life.

I was really looking forward to this new Dear America book as the historical setting looked really interesting and unique. However, the main character, Lydia, seemed to adjust far too quickly to her new life. Her parents and little sister died, she and her brother were separated, she had to start a totally new life in a place with very different rules and a new religion, where she could not even keep the few mementos she had of her family and old life - and less than a month later, she didn’t seem too sad or concerned and her only worry was that she thought her brother might be unhappy. It seemed more than a bit unrealistic for an eleven-year-old girl to adjust so quickly to so many losses and I would have enjoyed the story more and found it more realistic if these changes in Lydia had taken place over a longer period of time. While the historical information was interesting - I hadn’t read any books before about Shaker life during this time period - ultimately, I just found the main character to be totally unrealistic. The historical detail and interesting setting are well written, and the book is possibly still worth a read if you are a dedicated fan of the series, but personally, how unrealistic the main character seemed pretty much ruined the book for me. (I gave it an extra star for the quality of the historical detail)(less)

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Nov 23, 2011 Abby Johnson rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: audio, blogged

I actually liked this book quite a bit more than I was expecting to. I have recommended this series to seekers of historical fiction at my library, but I had never actually read one. It's quite an enjoyable way to experience a historical time period and facts about the Shakers were incorporated believably into the diary account of an 11-year-old girl. The narration was nicely done on the audiobook and reader Sara Barnett is a perfect match for the text, sounding authentically childlike, but not...more

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Feb 17, 2013 Rhonda Nelson rated it 4 of 5 stars

I’ve always been a big fan of the “Dear America” series. This was the first I have done as a read aloud to the boys. As an Iowa Children’s Choice Award winner it was required reading for my eldest. Lydia unexpectedly finds herself an orphan after her parents and baby sister fall victim to the Spanish Influenza outbreak of 1918. She and her older brother are taken in and raised by a local community of Shakers. Very interesting.

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Aug 11, 2011 Jennifer added it

Write a review...You immediately want to know Lydia and see what will happen next. I read it in one sitting. It's not intriguing like some of her other books but it has its own place in my heart. Very sweet, gentle, and loving tale. You care very much about what happens to Lydia and Daniel right away. Lois has a way of drawing you in from page one and this book is that way as well.

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Mar 07, 2012 Amy rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction, juvenile-fiction, i-quit

I grabbed this because Peggy Orenstein had flagged the Dear America books on her website, and because this one is set in Maine, where I live. I knew the Spanish Flu orphan presence, yet I found it too depressing at the outset. Her parents and baby sister are dead, she's been sent to live with Shakers because her uncle's wife doesn't want her, she's separated from her brother, forced to give up her book she and her best friend were reading, and now she can't even keep her grandmother's ring, give...more

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Mar 06, 2013 Devin rated it 4 of 5 stars

Like the Willow Tree is a story about a girl who loses her parents and her baby sister to the flu, but gains sisterhood when her uncle signs her over to a group called the Shakers. Lydia learns new things from a different point of view in life, there. Like the Willow Tree is a historical fiction book filled with family and religion.

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Jun 11, 2012 Joy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Interesting JF, historical fiction about a young girl whose family is effected by the influenza of 1918 and what happens as she and her brother are taken to live with a family member and then to live with the Shakers. I really didn't know anything about the Shakers. I learned a lot and found this story by Lois Lowry very interesting.

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Apr 27, 2011 sharon rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: listened-to-for-ncr

I'm not usually a fan of the Dear America books, but I do like Lois Lowry and thought this audiobook was engaging and enjoyable. It's weird to be reviewing audiobooks as I was never a big listener. But there'll be A LOT of them over the next 2 years while I'm on the Notable Children's Recordings Committee!

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Apr 10, 2013 Zoey Gab rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction

I really liked this book because it should how hard it was to lose parctically your whole family and still be happy. She lost her mother, father, and her little sister Lucy to Spanish Influenza. All she has left is her brother, her Uncle Henry, and his mean wife. After her faimly dies Lydia and her brother go to live with them and their 5 kids. His wife doesn't want them there so they send them off to a Shaker Community. This story shows how hard it is to change your life style and how to stay p...more

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Jan 25, 2013 Patrice rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: america, historical-fiction, youth, series

I enjoyed this rare opportunity to learn about the Spanish Influenza epidemic (which for some reason is not taught in American History although it was a deeply significant event), which was quite sad and about the Shakers, whom I knew very little about. I liked Lydia and enjoyed reading about her fictional life.

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Jan 02, 2013 Mary rated it 4 of 5 stars

I loved this book. It was one of my favorite dear America books! Poor Lydia's family all die of the flu (except her and her brother) and she is sent away to live with the shakers. Not only was it a great story but I really enjoyed learning a little more about the shakers.

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Jun 22, 2012 Sarah Sullivan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: middle-grade

In my re-reading of Dear America books for an upcoming Slatebreakers feature, I discovered that Lois Lowry wrote one! So of course, I had to read it. And it was a fascinating point of view about a girl who ends up in a Shaker community after being orphaned by the 1918 flu epidemic.

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Dec 05, 2011 Michelle rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: children-s, historical-fiction

I picked this up because it is about Maine and written by Lois Lowry. Because of the series it was from, I had pretty low expectations, but I was pleasantly surprised. It is about life at the last remaining Shaker settlement, and treated the subject with historical accuracy and respect.

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Oct 17, 2011 Callie rated it 4 of 5 stars

I have enjoyed the Dear America series since it began. I had my worries that the series would lose some of that magic when it was first published. I picked this book up on a whim, and I really enjoyed it. The series is as strong as it was when it was first published.

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About Lois Lowry

Taken from Lowry's website:
"I’ve always felt that I was fortunate to have been born the middle child of three. My older sister, Helen, was very much like our mother: gentle, family-oriented, eager to please. Little brother Jon was the only boy and had interests that he shared with Dad; together they were always working on electric trains and erector sets; and later, when Jon was older, they always...more Taken from Lowry's website:
"I’ve always felt that I was fortunate to have been born the middle child of three. My older sister, Helen, was very much like our mother: gentle, family-oriented, eager to please. Little brother Jon was the only boy and had interests that he shared with Dad; together they were always working on electric trains and erector sets; and later, when Jon was older, they always seemed to have their heads under the raised hood of a car. That left me in-between, and exactly where I wanted most to be: on my own. I was a solitary child who lived in the world of books and my own vivid imagination.

Because my father was a career military officer - an Army dentist - I lived all over the world. I was born in Hawaii, moved from there to New York, spent the years of World War II in my mother’s hometown: Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and from there went to Tokyo when I was eleven. High school was back in New York City, but by the time I went to college (Brown University in Rhode Island), my family was living in Washington, D.C.

I married young. I had just turned nineteen - just finished my sophomore year in college - when I married a Naval officer and continued the odyssey that military life requires. California. Connecticut (a daughter born there). Florida (a son). South Carolina. Finally Cambridge, Massachusetts, when my husband left the service and entered Harvard Law School (another daughter; another son) and then to Maine - by now with four children under the age of five in tow. My children grew up in Maine. So did I. I returned to college at the University of Southern Maine, got my degree, went to graduate school, and finally began to write professionally, the thing I had dreamed of doing since those childhood years when I had endlessly scribbled stories and poems in notebooks.

After my marriage ended in 1977, when I was forty, I settled into the life I have lived ever since. Today I am back in Cambridge, Massachusetts, living and writing in a house dominated by a very shaggy Tibetan Terrier named Bandit. For a change of scenery Martin and I spend time in Maine, where we have an old (it was built in 1768!) farmhouse on top of a hill. In Maine I garden, feed birds, entertain friends, and read...

My books have varied in content and style. Yet it seems that all of them deal, essentially, with the same general theme: the importance of human connections. A Summer to Die, my first book, was a highly fictionalized retelling of the early death of my sister, and of the effect of such a loss on a family. Number the Stars, set in a different culture and era, tells the same story: that of the role that we humans play in the lives of our fellow beings.

The Giver - and Gathering Blue, and the newest in the trilogy: Messenger - take place against the background of very different cultures and times. Though all three are broader in scope than my earlier books, they nonetheless speak to the same concern: the vital need of people to be aware of their interdependence, not only with each other, but with the world and its environment.

My older son was a fighter pilot in the United States Air Force. His death in the cockpit of a warplane tore away a piece of my world. But it left me, too, with a wish to honor him by joining the many others trying to find a way to end conflict on this very fragile earth.
I am a grandmother now. For my own grandchildren - and for all those of their generation - I try, through writing, to convey my passionate awareness that we live intertwined on this planet and that our future depends upon our caring more, and doing more, for one another."(less)

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title link	preview: Like the Willow Tree: The Diary of Lydia Amelia Pierce, Portland, Maine, 1918
avg rating	preview: Like the Willow Tree: The Diary of Lydia Amelia Pierce, Portland, Maine, 1918 Goodreads rating: 3.76 (376 ratings)
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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8151795-like-the-willow-tree?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1274063174l/8151795.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8151795-like-the-willow-tree?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Like the Willow Tree: The Diary of Lydia Amelia Pierce, Portland, Maine, 1918 by Lois Lowry[/url]

Like the Willow Tree: The Diary of Lydia Amelia Pierce, Portland, Maine, 1918 (Dear America)

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