Rachna Gilmore,
The Trouble with Dilly
Harper Collins, 2009.

Ages 8-12

Eleven-year-old Dilly, the daughter of Punjabi immigrants to Canada, has to settle for second-hand hockey skates every year, but she knows she could show up that show-off Connor (who has blond hair, blue eyes, and gets everything he wants) if she just had some brand new skates. Dilly’s parents work hard and still can’t afford to buy her what she longs for, so Dilly has been saving her money and waiting for the skates to go on sale after Christmas.

One day in her parents’ store Dilly sees her classmate Gedion (who has recently arrived with his parents from Hungary) steal a candy bar.  Why should he get away with that when she and her family have to work so hard and still do without?  Before she can stop herself, Dilly calls him on the theft, and Gedion’s proud but poor father puts back some beans he had planned to purchase so he can pay for the candy.  Suddenly Dilly realizes that other people may be making even greater sacrifices than she is and how difficult it must be to leave one’s home and start fresh.  She wishes she could replay the incident and keep her mouth shut, but it’s too late. 

With the help of her friends Olivia and April, Dilly plans a Christmas Eve surprise party for Gedion’s family, and everyone they know pitches in.  This lovely story about a diverse group of recent immigrants helping even more recent immigrants feel welcome in their new home will fill readers with a new kind of holiday spirit.  Traditions and food from China, India, England, Greece, and Hungary come together to create a new, heterogeneous holiday celebration in which everyone who’s celebrating at this time of year feels included, whether it’s Christmas, Eid or Hanukkah.

Dilly is a warm-hearted, free-thinking heroine trying to overcome her typically eleven-year-old flaws.  She vacillates between selfishness and thoughtfulness and sometimes can’t tell the difference in what is motivating her own actions.  In this heartwarming book about difference and inclusion Dilly learns about herself, about compassion and about the importance of friendship, ultimately realizing, of course, that the things that matter most aren’t things at all.

Abigail Sawyer
December 2009