It is a really good book.In 1849, twelve-year-old California Morning Whipple, who renames herself Lucy, is distraught when her mother moves the family from Massachusetts to a rough California mining town. If I recommended this book to somebody, it would be everybody I know who likes to read. I also learned how people worked and how they provided food and shelter during the Gold Rush. I learned that Lucky Diggins is a place in California. I was also sad because Lucy’s brother died.

It was pretty surprising because I didn’t expect her to stay in California when her mama left for the Sandwich Islands. I was kind of happy with how the story ended. Some other ways we are alike is that she likes to be alone a lot and think like I do. She does not like to work but she listens to her mama and works hard. I am like Lucy for the following reasons: One, she has a good imagination and so do I. These characters all have an effect on Lucy because her mama makes her a hard worker Lizzy is her friend and helps her be free by taking her to the open areas the miners also affect her because they make her like California more. Also, there is Lizzy Flagg, a girl who becomes Lucy’s closest friend. Some other characters in the book are Mama, Butte (Lucy’s brother), Prairie and Sierra (Lucy’s sisters) and all the miners like Jimmy Whiskers, The Gent, Mr. Then at the end she likes California because she meets new friends, begins work she enjoys and she chooses to stay there rather than going home.

Lucy changes from the beginning of the book to the end because at first when she moves to California, she does not like it she doesn’t like it because it’s dirty, there are strangers, no Gram and Grampop and it is far from home. She does not like doing that stuff and, because she always complains about it and does not work hard, her mom is hard on her. Lucy also has to work by hunting and cooking. At first, Lucy misses her dead pa, her home in Massachusetts and has conflict with her mama who always works because she houses gold miners. In the beginning of the book, Lucy is 12 years old but at the end she is 14 or 15. The main character of the book is a girl named California Morning Whipple who changes her name to Lucy. Lucy tries to raise money to go back to her home, but then she starts to like Lucky Diggins (the place in California where they were staying). Lucy sees that the town is poor looking and she wants to go back home to Massachusetts. The Ballad of Lucy Whipple by Karen Cushman is a realistic fiction book about a girl named Lucy Whipple who moves to California during the Gold Rush. A Report on Karen Cushman’s The Ballad of Lucy Whipple

The ballad of lucy whipple book