The Ballad of Lucy Whipple

When California Morning Whipple's widowed mother uproots her family from their comfortable Massachusetts environs and moves them to a rough mining camp called Lucky Diggins in the Sierras, California Morning resents the upheaval. Desperately wanting to control something in her own life, she decides to be called Lucy, and as Lucy she grows and changes in her strange and challenging new environment.

I absolutely could not put this book down! It immediately sucked me in the with the very first lines:
"Mama" I said, "that gold you claimed is lying in the fields around here must be hidden by all the lizards, dead leaves, and mule droppings, for I can't see a thing worth picking up and taking home" I did not say it out loud, but I sorely wanted to, for I was sad, mad, and feeling bad.

I thought it might be good to post a couple of discussion questions (for future use) for this book.
• What do you think of Lucy's mother's decision to move the family to California? Do you agree or disagree with Lucy's reaction? Why?
• How does the author portray the rough-and-tumble atmosphere of 1880s California? Why do you think she included Butte's death?
• What do Lucy's letters tell you about her? Why do you think she sometimes expresses different feelings in her letters from those in her narrative?
• How does Lucy react to instances of prejudice and injustice?
• How do the adults in the story sometimes act like children? How do the children in the story sometimes take on adult roles?
• Compare and contrast Lucy's feelings about California at the beginning of the story and at the end. Why do her feelings change?