Lily's
Crossing
By: Patricia Reilly Giff
Lily's
Crossing
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A Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book |
Ms. Giff graduated from Marymount College with a B.A. degree and heeded the advice of the school's dean and became a teacher. Giff loved teaching but became overwhelmed with her three careers --teaching, writing and her family, and left the teaching field. During her twenty year teaching career, she earned an M.A. from St. John's University, and a Professional Diploma in Reading and a Doctorate of Humane Letters from Hofstra University.
Patricia Reilly Giff has quite an extensive and reputable resume: being a reading teacher for twenty years, the educational consultant for Dell Yearling and Young Yearling books, an advisor and instructor to aspiring writers and the author of more that 60 books for children. Giff has spent her entire life surrounded by books.
She literally began her writing career in a closet that her husband rigged together in their apartment. She decided to write the Kids of the Polk Street School books because she wanted to give relatively new readers 'fat' books, chapter books. "At the same time I wanted to give remedial readers books they could read, laugh over, and, I hope, not be ashamed of. I wanted to give them joy." Giff tries to write books "that say oridinary people are special." She states, "All of my books are based in some way on my personal experiences of members of my family, or the stories kids would tell me in school."
Throughout the year, Giff visits schools and libraries around the country, and speaks to her readers about her books and about writing. When she is not writing, Giff enjoys reading in the bathtub and going to the movies and eating popcorn. She and her husband reside in Weston, Conneticut and have opened a children's bookstore, The Dinosaur's Paw, named after one of her Kids of the Polk Street School novels. They have three children, four grandchildren and two cats.
Language Arts- Have each student write a journal entry about how they would feel if they were in Lily’s shoes and their father was off fighting in WWII.
Write a letter to your father pretending you were Lily. This letter will be sent to your father while he will be fighting in France. Would you tell your father goodbye?
Art- Have each student make a drawing of their ideal vacation home. Lily spent her summer vacation in Rockaway, New York. What would your vacation house look like? Would it be in the mountains, near a beach or at a ski slope?
Social Studies- During WWII many battles took place. A famous battle fought in Normandy is known as D Day. Lead a class discussion about D Day. Discuss how many soldier’s died, the impact of D Day on the rest of the war, and how the American’s planned their attack.
Take a fieldtrip to Washington, D.C. Visit the memorial for the soldiers that died during WWII. The class will pay their respect to the American soldiers that lost their lives fighting for our county.
Science-Have the students go on
the beach and do a scavenger hunt. Have the students hunt for shells,
coral, horseshoe crab shell or any kind of beach oriented artifacts.
Pretend Lily’s family has decided to rent their beach house in Rockaway. You are the realtor hired to advertise the house and property. To start the web quest go to http://www.oceancitycondos.com/ and click on Nantucket Beach Cottages to see examples of advertisement. To further explore advertisements go to http://www.nagsheadrealty.com/ click on rentals (right side of site). Make sure that the cottage # only is checked and oceanfront is chosen for the location. Be creative with the rest of the selections, modernize Lily’s beach house. Then click search the rentals to get more ideas.
Based on your searches create a realty advertisement
for Lily’s beach house in Rockaway. Include some details from the
book but you can add your own ideas as well. Be sure to include a
picture. Be creative and have fun.
