Lily's Crossing

So, to kick this off, I think I'll start with a book review of Lily's Crossing, by Patricia Reilly Giff.

Lies slip from Lily's lips naturally, fast and easy. Each time she promises herself never to speak another, the vow is broken fast.
When Lily meets Albert, a refugee from Hungary in the summer of 1944, a friendship blossoms between them, strong and beautiful. But Lily has let a lie slip that might bring Albert to his death.

It's a fairly easy read, only a hundred and eighty one pages and the story moves fast.

I love World War II fiction, and, although it takes place in America and away from the fighting, it shows the everyday life of Americans during the war.
I read it for the first time when I was eight or nine, for summer reading, I believe. Since then, I've picked it up at the library and read it six or seven more times, expecting each time for it to be not quite as good as I remembered. Each time, it's shown to be just as wonderful.
I think that one of the things that made it so enjoyable in the fact that I recognized all the places the author described- Crossway Boulevard, Rockaway, Broad Channel. I've been to all of them, so I felt so at home when reading the story.
Also, I could relate to Lily a lot. Sometimes I wonder when the lies I've told will get back to me, because, like her, I'm a liar who can't stop.
"Rockaway." She said it aloud, loving the sound of it on her tongue. Rockaway and the ocean were waiting for her. The summer without homework . . . to write stories for herself and not Sister Eileen."