R My Name Is Rachel

September 19, 2011
Giff's (Storyteller) plaintive yet heartening historical novel introduces a close-knit family devastated by the Depression. After losing his job in the city, Rachel's widower father moves his children to the country, where, to Rachel's sorrow, the school and library are closed for lack of funds ("I can't even cry. No library: the idea is too big for tears"). Meanwhile, Rachel's father finds work that keeps him away from home for months. Left in charge of her younger siblingsâbossy, organized Cassie and reckless, optimistic Joeyâ12-year-old Rachel struggles to scrape together food and rent money, insisting that they will not ask for help: "I have to do this myself. No, not myself. Ourselves." The children transform their dilapidated farmhouse into a home, plant a garden, and turn for help to the bighearted woman who was Rachel's mentor in the city. Rachel's searing, present-tense narrative exposes her fears, determination, and hopefulness in the face of wrenching challenges. Recurring motifsâcolor, flowers, and drawings by a neighbor that Rachel discovers in unlikely placesâadd lyricism to this story of family solidarity. Ages 9â12.

November 1, 2011

Gr 4-7-The 1930s Depression is chipping away more and more at the average American family, and 12-year-old Rachel's is no different from the others. Her father, a single parent, loses his job at the bank and relocates the family from the city to a dilapidated farmhouse in upstate New York. A snowstorm prevents Pop from getting to a bank interview in their town. Rachel and her younger siblings, Cassie and Joey, must fend for themselves when he leaves them for a time to take work building roads farther north. Rachel is extremely disappointed that the school and library are closed because of hard times, and the farm is isolated. Still, the siblings are determined to make a go of it. Rachel's correspondence with her friend Miss Mitzi, who owns the flower shop on her old city block, gives her strength and encouragement. When Cassie loses the money Pop had left for them to buy food and pay rent, she runs away, giving rise to the well-calculated suspense and pathos of the story. Giff's depiction of the children's living conditions, daily activities, and fears and triumphs create a realistic, discussable, thoroughly enjoyable read. The ending is almost too perfectly "happy ever after" yet that is easy to overlook, given this gift to readers, even reluctant ones.-D. Maria LaRocco, Cuyahoga Public Library, Strongsville, OH

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