The Crystal Tree

This is the final installment in the Golden Name Day series.  Nancy is counting down the time until she is reunited with her family.  It’s difficult waiting, but Grandma tells all the girls not to wish their lives away, and instead (as you can expect with these practical folk) they fill their days busily and happily.

The girls continue to work on the mystery of the Little Silver House, employing valuable advice to talk to everyone about it, not just people they think will know something.  In the process they make even more friends (of all ages) and pick up new traditions

One of the things that touched me the most is making a memory quilt.  I had a dear friend in high school whose mother actually did this for each of her children.  She kept bits of fabric from clothes they’d owned and she’d owned as well as fabrics from the house.  She pieced them together and for each child their going away to college gift was one of these quilts.  It’s something I would love to do one day.  You know, if I actually had children, or was remotely crafty.

Disabilities – the bad: Alex is referred to as “lame” which is a term that I believe has fallen out of favor.

Disabilities – the better: – As with the other two books in the series,  Alex, a boy in a wheelchair, is a main character.  In this book he has an operation on his back.  The proposed best case outcome is that he would be strong enough to move himself between the wheelchair and his bed using crutches.  I can’t say enough how pleased I am that Lindquist doesn’t go for some type of magical healing surgery that will allow him to walk.  The surgery would afford Alex more independence as he grows older but doesn’t give children some unrealistic pie-in-the-sky happy resolution to his physical condition.  Another big plus, at the end of the book Alex’s home situation is arranged so that he’ll be able to start attending public school rather than needing to be home schooled.  The girls are thrilled for their friend.

Also in their efforts to learn more about the little silver house, the girls learn that the child that died had been blind for a period before her death.  Upon her death her father donated a great deal of money to a hospital to help children who have vision problems.  The title crystal tree refers to something the little girl made by stringing beads after she lost her sight due to illness.

Sex, Nudity, Dating – A cat is having kittens and the girls protest she is too young.  Aunt Martha has to point out that cats grow up faster than people.
Profanity – None.
Death, Violence and Gore – We learn more about the little girl who died when she was 10.  Ben’s parents died when he was small.  Since the girls are researching history there’s a fair amount about people having died.
Drugs, Alcohol and Smoking – None.
Frightening or Intense Things – Mr. Cross gets quite sick.  Alex must have an operation and it is serious, there is a risk of death.