Julie's Daughter

by Colby Rodowsky

Book Overview

Seventeen-year-old Slug goes to live with her mother who abandoned her as a baby, and together they care for an elderly, terminally-ill artist. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0374339635
• ISBN13: 9780374339630
• Release Date: January 1985
• Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux
• Length: 231 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.8" x 8.5"
• Age Range: 12 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 7 and higher

Customer Reviews

Great Book, Surprises, Great Detail

Julie's Daughter is a book about a seventeen year old girl named Slug October Wilgus that had lived with her grandmother, Gussie Wilgus, for her entire life. When, Slug was three weeks old, Julie left her in a red wagon at Trailways bus depot and disappeared. Her grandmother died, and Slug finally got to meet her real mother, Julie Wilgus at Gussie?s funeral. Brian, Slug?s uncle can not take Slug to Italy with him while he was teaching art classes. Slug?s dream was that one day her mother would come to get her. Now that she was living with her mother in a new house in a strange city, she doesn?t know if that was really her dream. Julie?s house was on Butternut Street in Baltimore, and Julie?s job was at a school being the school nurse.Slug and Julie tried to fix up the porch swing, so they didn?t have to talk or touch each other. Their project was interrupted by Harper Tegges, an elderly person who lives across the street, when she fell walking on the sidewalk. Miss Tegges was a professional artist; some of her paintings were in museums, and other artistic places. Everyone ran to help her, but Harper liked to be alone; not surrounded by people trying to take care of her. About a week later, Slug found Harper in her backyard lying on the ground. Actually, Ginger, Harper?s dog found Harper on the ground, and she went to find help. An ambulance came, and brought Mrs. Tegges to the hospital. Slug and Julie went to visit her a couple times a week, and they also took care of Ginger while Harper was in the hospital. After Mrs. Tegges had many tests, she could leave the hospital, but she wouldn?t know the results until after she left the hospital. Slug found out that her mother really didn?t know who Slug?s father was! A while later, Miss Tegges got out of the hospital; she was very glad, because she thought it was a horrible place. At first Harper Tegges had flash backs of her family, and her past. It almost seemed like she was having early stages of Alzheimer?s disease. That pieces of her recent life were being removed from her memory, and she also jumped back and forth between her present and past life. While all of this was happening Slug and David Norton, a person that lived on her street that was her age, hanged out more often at the town, and at the movies. Many people came to Miss Tegges helping in any way possible like, Mattie Miller, Ernestus Stokes, and David Norton. People from the neighborhood were there at Harper?s house once in a while to check up on her. To make sure she had something to eat and that she was feeling okay. Julie was always going over to give Harper food, baths, or anything Miss Tegges needed. To find out what happens to Slug, Julie, and Harper, you should read the book. I believe this is a very good book, there are three different people telling their stories. This book is very emotional, so someone who could relate to this book would love Julie's Daughter!

Book of Abandonment

Julie's Daughter effectively delineates the seemingly fragile relationship between mothers who have abandoned their daughters at birth. The reason for Julie's pregnancy and abandonment is a disgrace, but the book as a whole is of high standing for teenagers, who undergo multiple difficulties when, or if, one's biological mother decides to take her back. It is better off this way, because Slug does not remember her mother, but instead, dwells on the times spent with her grandmother before her death. After she comes to live with Julie, she takes up Harper Tegges as an alternate grandmother. In a way, it seems her biological grandmother did not die in vain. Slug and Julie's characters are wonderfully cast into this book of abandonment, leaving the reader to end with a feeling of hope for those abandoned.