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Summary: What a wonderful story!
Review: This is indeed a wonderful story. Katherine Paterson does a great job of portraying Lyddie Worthen. It was hard to put this book down. I had to find out what happened in the end and I loved the ending. Nevertheless, it wasn't just the ending that fascinated me, but the whole life story of Lyddie so beautifully portrayed. Great job, Katherine Paterson!
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Summary: lyddie on-line book review
Review: Lyddie Worthington lives with her unstable mother, younger brother Charlie and her two younger sisters in a small cabin in Vermont. Lyddie at the age of 13 has taken on the responsibility of paying off the familys' farm debts. In order to do so Lyddie goes off to Lowell, Mass in search of factory work. Factory work is very harsh and demanding but her main goal is to one day pay off her family debt, return to Vermont and live with her dear family once again.
This book captured me and I was relocated to the factories in Lowell. I felt as though I was right beside Lyddie, feeling all that she was going through. The story seemed so real because of all the figurative language used. I could visualize and feel all that the characters were going through. I could not put this book down, I kept wanting to see what was going to happen in the following chapter. This book was written on a level that was easy for students to read and understand.
This book can be used in the classroom in relation to social studies and history. (related lessons: unions, labor laws, industrial revolution) I beleive that a variety of students would really enjoy this book because of the strong story line and the fact the the reader participates in the novel rather than being lead through it.
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Summary: Reviewing Lyddie
Review: Lyddie Worthen lives with her mother, brother Charlie and two sisters in a small cabin on their farm. Her mother is not a stable person and Lyddie has to take on paying the farm debts. She looks for work in the factories in Lowell, Mass. Factory life is hard but her goal is to one day return home with all the debts paid and live on the farm with her family.
While reading the book i felt as though i was living life in the 1800's right alongside Lyddie. The story seemed so real and i felt some of the same emotion as the characters. I thought the book was very interesting in that it drew you in and let you see what life was really like for the women who worked in those factories. This book is written on a level that would make it easy for students to read and understand.
I think that teachers will find this book to be a great accompaniment to History or Social Studies lessons pertaining to the industrial revolution, the factory system in America or as a testament to everyday life at this time in the history of our country.
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Summary: Lyddie is a real piece of work . . . but you'll love her
Review: Blunt, scrappy, and "plain as dirt," Lyddie would lay her life down for those she loves: her younger brother and sisters. Father has gone West to seek a fortune, leaving wife and children to run their small Vermont farm, but Lyddie's mother loses her grip mentally and hires her children out to a miller and a tavern. After helping a runaway slave travel north to freedom, Lyddie finds her own way to independence: the factory mill at Lowell, Massachusetts. There are dangers in this city life, however: her overseer is a sexual predator, her uncle is a greedy creep, and Lyddie must keep watch over her own soul as she slowly becomes one with the machinery of the mill: a cold, heartless money-maker who stops for no one, not even the young man who offers her an escape. I loved this book.
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Summary: A Real Page Turner
Review: Lyddie, her mother, two sisters, and two brothers lived in the middle of the woods in an old wooden house in Vermont. Her father had gone away when she was young, to find work, and had never come back. During the winter, a bear attacked her house,and Lyddie stared it down until it left.
Ever since Lyddie's father had gone away, her mother had been acting weirdly. She seemed to be able to deal with everything else, but the bear had just been too much to handle. After it attacked, she took Lyddie's two sisters and her youngest brother to live with their aunt and uncle. Lyddie and her brother Charlie, spent a winter on the farm by themselves, until their mother, got them jobs.
Lyddie went to work at a tavern and her brother at a baker's shop, but got dismissed for going on vacation when she was not supposed to, so she walked all the way to the Lowell Mills where she found a job as a mill girl.
During this time, many good things happened as well as bad things too. The advantages of being there were, having clean clothes, money, books, and friends. The disadvantages were, missing her brother Charlie, and her home. Although Lyddie had a hard time at the mills, she gained a lot from it too. She finally got dismissed and decided she wanted to go to college.
I would recommend this book, because it is filled with adventure, sadness and courage. It's a very descriptive book, but also easy to read. It made me think how easy I have it compared to some of the people that lived back then.
My favorite character is one of Lyddie's friends, Diana. I like her because she is nice and taught Lyddie how to do the mill work and how to read. She is also nice to all the other mill girls, no matter if they are Irish or not, even though most people don't like them.
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Summary: This is a book you want to read!
Review: Katherine Patterson's Lyddie is a book that paints a picture for the reader of what life during the 1800's was like for a young female. Lyddie, the main character, exhibits the struggles of a girl that takes on lots of responsibility as her family parts in different directions across the country. Her mother leaves Lyddie and her brother to tend to the farm, and then writes in a letter she has found jobs for them in other cities forcing them to leave the farm. Through the entire book, Lyddie remains strong and determined to bring her family back to the family farm. This book reminded me a lot of the Little House on the Prairie series. I used to read those books all the time when I was younger. Like Laura Ingalls Wilder, Katherine Patterson has a unique way of writing that makes text feel like real life.
Readers are pulled into this book through Katherine's words. Take for example the sentence in the seventh chapter, when the coach takes Lyddie to the city and gets stuck in the mud. "The men grunted and cursed below as their fancy breeches and overcoats turned brown with the mud and their lovely beaver hats went rolling off down the road" (49). Like this passage and many more, Katherine uses descriptive words allowing the readers to create a vibrant image in their head as they read.
Katherine Patterson also does an excellent job relating to the history of the time period. She writes of how women struggled with their rights and also how females were not given many choices of what they could do as a profession. This book provides a chance for readers to live a life in the past and experience the hardships.
Throughout this book, I was able to feel as though I was working in the various jobs Lyddie held, living in the boarding house with the other girls, and caring for the others that are special. Lyddie provided me with a chance to travel back in time and experience what she went through. I would highly recommend this book!
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Summary: Great Historical Fiction for Young Adults
Review: I read this book years ago and recently re-discovered it when I came across it in a bookstore and decided to give a copy of it to my young cousin. It is a powerful story that chronicles the life of a teenager, Lyddie, who must leave her family farm and earn money to pay off their debts. The novel is rich in both emotional and historical detail, and gives readers a glimpse into the life of a New England factory worker and allows them to form personal attachments with many of the characters. Katherine Patterson's style in this novel is comparable to Ann Rinaldi's (whose books I would also highly recommend). I would suggest this book to anyone who is interested in learning about the past or simply wants to enjoy a great novel!
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Summary: One of Many Books I've Read
Review: Lyddie, a young girl who survives by herself. She use to live at a farm with her family. But one day her mother decided to go away because of the debts, her mother sent Lyddie to work at a tavern and her brother Charlie to work at Bakers' Mill. But Lyddie was dismissed from the tavern and she headed of to Lowell, Massachusetts to work as a "factory girl". She was the overseer's "prize girl" but one day the overseer tried to kiss her and she fought back and that's when the connection broke. She made friends with people at the factory such as this girl name Diana Goss and Brigid. Diana wanted people to sign the petition for better working standards, but Lyddie didn't sign it because she needed the money to pay back the debts so she can go home. But to her surprise her uncle decided to sell the farm, and all her hopes were gone. Brigid was an Irish girl. Lyddie helped her to work at the factory. And you can find out the end.
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Summary: Seems long? Read it! It's worth it.
Review: Ok, some people thinks this is a boring book, which you can fall asleep in, while others enjoy this. I think it's sort of both. Lyddie was an very tough-very confident character, on the other hand she cared about her family too, especially her younger sis. But she is a lil bit too "care-y" about her $$$.
This book is mainly about how a gurl survives in the old time REAL WORLD, how she made it on her own, and how others helped her and loved her and how she helped others and helped herself.The boring part is that she WORRIES WAY TOO MUCH!!! BUT, what's not boring is that she's an independent woman.
To some peeps, "we can still hop" was a lil (no comment) but to others it's funny.
Katherine P., I think, spent a lot of time thinking about this, to make it seem real while fictional. HOPE THIS ACTUALLY MADE SENSE TO YOU, BUT AH-WELL.....CYL!
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Summary: Very Amazing....one of the best
Review: I loved this book in every aspect. I read many of Katherine Paterson books and this is why I chose this one. The only author I read now is her. Lyddie is a book for those who want to read about life around 1886. The book shows struggles between a 12/13 year old girl who goes through a lot just to pay debts. On the way she makes several friends and relationships. After reading the whole book I can say its the most touching book I have read.
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