THE BALLAD OF LUCY WHIPPLE by Karen Cushman Book Review

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Cushman, Karen. 1996. THE BALLAD OF LUCY WHIPPLE. New York, NY: Clarion Books. ISBN 0395728061

2. PLOT SUMMARY

After losing her husband in the autumn of 1848, Arvella Whipple loaded up her children the next summer and headed out west to California to seek their fortune. From the moment they arrived in Lucky Diggins, California, California Whipple, the oldest child, wanted to head back home to Masachusetts, where she belonged. Running a boarding house for dirty, loud miners, shooting her own dinner and freezing during the winter in their makeshift tent home, was not how California wanted to spend her days. Knowing she did not belong in California, and she did not want to be associated with it anyway, California Whipple changed her name to Lucy Whipple. Lucy did everything she could to find her way back to Masachusetts such as writing Gram and Grampop letters describing how miserable her life was to steering away the men that wanted to marry her mom to baking and selling pies to miners to earn her own money for her return trip. Somehow, something always seemed to get in the way of her plans. Between befriending a runaway slave and an abused girl, her brother’s death, eating food made with flour consumed by weevils and the entire town burning down, Lucy Whipple grew up. Surprisingly, when the opportunity arises for Lucy to return back East, she turns it down for the chance to stay and rebuild Lucky Diggins with the few friends she has made there. Her love of books even leads her to be the town’s first librarian.

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Through the eyes of a female child, Karen Cushman helps the reader imagine what life must have been like for the many children that journeyed with their parents to California to seek their fortunes with the American Gold Rush. The language she chose to use such as “Miss Lucy” or “we ain’t had but bad luck since you came here, fella” are prime examples of how people in the 1850’s in California mining towns would have talked. Cushman showed evidence of thorough research of the living conditions of this time period through her recreation of the mining town with phrases such as “…a tangle of cabins and lean-tos, unpainted board shacks, and tents of canvas, of blankets, of brush, of potato sacks and old shirts”. Through her hardships and her imagination that would carry her away, young children can relate to Lucy Whipple. Her words, thoughts and actions were all believable. The reader watches Lucy grow up and come to know herself and her choices as time progresses. In her author’s note, Cushman even shares ways in which she kept this fiction story authentic to the real California Gold Rush. This is a must read for anyone yearning to learn more about this event in history that helped shape California and its followers.

4. REVIEW EXCERT(S)

AMAZON.COM Review: “Here Karen Cushman helps the American Gold Rush spring to colorful life, just as she did for medieval England in her previous two books…”

PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY Starred Review: “a coming-of-age story rich with historical flavor.”

SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL Starred Review: “Cushman’s heroine is a delightful character, and the historical setting is authentically portrayed. Lucy’s story, as the author points out in her end notes, is the story of many pioneer women who exhibited great strength and courage as they helped to settle the West.”

BOOKLIST Review: “With zest and wit, Cushman gives us the domestic side of the western frontier adventure--what it was like for women and especially children.”

5. CONNECTIONS

*Students could research the California Gold Rush. During their research, students could answer questions about life of women and children, hardships people faced, how many were successful, where did most people originate from, etc.

*Look for these other books about the California Gold Rush:

Chambers, Andy. CALIFORNIA GOLD RUSH. ISBN 0816745560

Levitin, Sonia. BOOM TOWN. ISBN 0531300439

McNeer, May. THE CALIFORNIA GOLD RUSH. ISBN 0394897153

*The teacher could prepare a reader’s theater using part/all of a chapter which exhibits a lot of dialogue between different characters/and or an important scene from the book.  Chapters 6, 10 or 12 would be good examples. Students could practice oral reading with the dialect of the time period by reading their various assigned parts.

*Other books by Karen Cushman:

Cushman, Karen. THE MIDWIFE’S APPRENTICE. ISBN 9780064406307

Cushman, Karen. CATHERINE, CALLED BIRDY. ISBN 0064405842