Review of "Blue Willow"

"Janey Larkin paused on the top step of the shack and looked down at her shadow."

     In Doris Gates' Blue Willow, Janey Larkin is the ten-year-old daughter of an itinerant farm worker. She has spent nearly her entire life travelling from shack to shack, attending the camp schools and learning to be independent. When asked how long she will stay, her answer is always "As long as we can"--a phrase she has come to resent as the years pass. Then, one day, the Larkins move into a small hut on the edge of a large property, and from across the street comes a little Mexican girl with a baby. The girl's name is Lupe, and she wants to be Janey's friend. Filled with an emotion she has never experienced before, Janey reveals to Lupe her family treasure: a blue willow plate that once belonged to her mother. It is the prettiest thing the Larkins own, and to Janey it represents imagination, hope, and possibility. When trouble strikes the Larkins with all its might, Janey learns power of bravery and sacrifice as she decides between the fate of a loved one and her most prized possession.

     One of the wonderful things about Blue Willow is the point of the story. While there are some touching books about struggling immigrants, the Larkins' is not about an unlucky family from an ethnic minority. Their race isn't even a key point in this story. Janey, with her sunburned skin, blue eyes, and pale blonde hair, is short and excitable, and doesn't care in the least that her one and only friend is Mexican, or that her father competes against a black man in the local cotton-picking competition. Her indifference to race is admirable, almost as admirable as the way she views the world as a blank canvas of endless possibility. For Janey, the most important things are friendship, stability, and the blue willow plate.

     Gates' writing style is geared toward young readers, but it is not at all the kind of writing a child might be used to. Her vocabulary is mature and direct, and isn't patronizing or overly simple. Readers of any age will enjoy her straightforward narrative and the way she easily slips into the mind of little Janey. She captures our lovable heroine perfectly, from her appearance to her pride, her bibliophilia to her devotion to the blue willow plate. Every thought, every mannerism, is completely in character and fits the flow of the story wonderfully.

     Although lovable, the characters in Blue Willow are relatively flat. Lupe is straightforward and kind, Janey is imaginative and hopeful, and Bounce Reyburn is positively awful. There isn't much dimension to anyone, although we get to watch Janey emerge from her shell and shift her opinions over the course of the story.

     The plot of Blue Willow is also simple. Janey and her family move into an unoccupied hut in the San Joaquin Valley and make friends with the neighbors; Bruce Reyburn, a harsh man with a disgusting attitude, begins to collect rent; several experiences begin to change the way Janey values people, events, and material things; terrible events occur, leading to scenes that keep you holding your breath and hoping against hope that it'll turn out all right; and little details that may have once been overlooked become crucial to the ending. Although there are few, if any, subplots, and there is little in the way of secondary character development, the overall story of Blue Willow makes for a great read.

     I would recommend Doris Gates' Blue Willow to anyone interested in a short, heartwarming book about courage, hope, and sacrifice. Although the characters are rather flat and the plot is one-dimensional, it is full of gritty details, beautiful worldbuilding, and great characters. For all of these reasons, Blue Willow deserves four stars.