Wish
You Well
by David Baldacci
 Southwest
Virginia, 1940. Wish You Well is the story
of Louisa Mae Cardinal, a precocious twelve-year-old
girl living in the hectic New York City of 1940 with
her acclaimed but sadly underpaid writer father, her
compassionate mother, and her timid young brother, Oz.
For Lou, her family's financial struggles are invisible
to her. Instead, she is a daughter who idolizes her
father and is in love with the art of storytelling.
Then, in a single, terrifying
moment, Lou's life is changes forever, and she and Oz
are on a train rolling away from new York and down into
the mountains of Virginia. There, Lou's mother will
begin a long, slow struggle between life and death.
And there, Lou and Oz will be raised by their remarkable
great-grandmother Louisa, Lou's namesake.
Suddenly a girl finds herself
coming of age in a landscape that could not be more
foreign to her. On her great-grandmother's farm on the
land her father loved and wrote about, Lou finds her
first true friend; learns lessons in loyalty, tragedy,
and redemption; and experiences adventures tragic, comic,
and audacious. When a dark destructive force encroaches
on their new home, Lou and her brother are caught up
in another struggle -- a struggle for justice and survival
that will be played out in a crowded Virginia courtroom.
Reading Strategy
Lesson Plans
Before-Reading
| During-Reading
| After-Reading
| Vocabulary
Additional
Plans and Activities
Description of additional plans and activities related
to Wish You Well
Critical
Praise
What have the critics said about the novel? What makes
the novel worthy of a national reading program like
All America Reads?
"Origins
of Wish You Well"
Original essay by David Baldacci about writing the novel
- from David-Baldacci.com
Excerpt
Chapter one from Wish You Well
Reading
Guide
Designed specifically for reading circles and book groups,
a guide to reading with background information.
Additional
Details from David-Baldacci.com
Read more about the novel, its different publication
formats, and its origins and research on the author's
Website, David-Baldacci.com.
About
the Author
Additional information about David Baldacci and his
involvement in All America Reads
|
