PRIVATE LILLY

by Sally Warner ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 1, 1998

Lily, who is six, her brother Casey, twelve, and their mother have moved from a house in New Jersey to a small apartment in Philadelphia. Casey has a space of his own, while Lily has to share a room with her mother. Seeking privacy, Lily attempts to sleep in the bathtub with the chair cushions, but the faucet leaks and the cushions get wet; she then tries to make a cave under the kitchen table that lasts only until a spider takes a walk across her face. Sleeping in the closet doesn't work out much better. Casey provides the solution when he spots a folding screen in a used-furniture store, which the family refurbishes to Lily's satisfaction. Warner keeps the tone light and the focus tight, so readers only know that the family's reduced circumstances are because a ""mean judge"" has sent Lily's father to jail for ""taking stuff that wasn't his."" In true six-year-old form, Lily's attention is on the problem of privacy, and while a one-chapter predicament has been spun into a novel, the childlike first-person narration is written with considerable humor and grace.

Pub Date: July 1, 1998

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 82

Publisher: Knopf

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1998

Categories: CHILDREN'S