Faith Hope and Ivy June

Faith, hope, and Ivy June

by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

IL: Grades 5-8

RL: 5+

 Ivy June and Catherine are young girls who live in Kentucky- Ivy June in the Appalachians an Catherine in Lexington. On the surface their lives are as different as can be. Ivy June's family is poor and living in cramped quarters- her Papaw is the primary support for four generations of family that live in the holler, split between two houses because of cramped conditions. There are no house or cell phones or even indoor toilets. By contrast Catherine lives in a spacious upper middle class home in Lexington where she has her own room, cell phone, and attends a private girls' school.

The two meet because they both applied for and were accepted for an exchange program where each girl stays with the other for two weeks. The intent of the program is to expose each girl to a different way of living. Through the weeks together each girl comes to learn that they are more alike than different. When Ivy June's Papaw is involved in a mining accident and Catherine's mother is hospitalized they learn that they are more alike than different and that family and friends are what matter the most.

Naylor, P.R. (2009). Faith, Hope, and Ivy June. New York, NY: Delacorte Press.