GENRE 5 - THE BALLAD OF LUCY WHIPPLE

Cushman, Karen. 1996. THE BALLAD OF LUCY WHIPPLE. Clarion Books: New York.

CHARACTERS
The main character is California Whipple, aka Lucy, along with her family and the gold miners in Lucky Diggins. They are very believable and are true to their time period as far as clothing, verbiage and actions.

PLOT
The story is about Lucy and her family and their trek from New England to California and the gold rush. The main body of the story takes place in Lucky Diggings, a gold mining town that is all tents when they arrive and when they leave California. It surrounds Lucy and her struggle to find her place in the world.

SETTING
The setting changes from New England through the journey to California and finally settling in Lucky Diggins. The story takes place during the gold rush in California. The weather, living conditions, clothing, food situation and terrain are all vividly described.

THEME
The story encompasses the struggle to settle the West without all of the conviences of the East. No running water and many times having to wait on supplies brought on difficult living conditions. It reflects our time since we still have those adventuring people who go off to live in areas that are not yet graced with civilization.

STYLE
The author captures the mannerisms and speech of the time period. There are many nights where they tell stories around the table and then they may even pull out a fiddle and have some dancing. The way the story is written it grabs you and pulls you into the time period. It is difficult to put down.

ADDITIONAL CRITERIA
There is an Author’s note at the end of the book with more historical detail of the gold rush in California. There is also a cited listing of reference books the author used in the writing of the book.

AWARDS & CITATIONS
Positive Reviews
Children’s Literature
Publisher’s Weekly
Kirkus Reviews
Booklist – Editor’s Choice
School Library Journal – Best Books of the Year
Booklinks Lasting Connections Selection
Notable Children’s Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies
Notable Children’s Book in the Language Arts
IRA Teachers’ Choice
American Bookseller “Pick of the Lists”
Texas Lone Star Reading List Selection
John and Patricia Beatty AwardABC Children’s Booksellers Choice Award