Lessons from the Gypsy Camp
by Elizabeth Appell
Published by Scribes Valley Publishing
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Reviewed by Elysabeth Eldering
This is a great book of coming of age, understanding life in general, and learning lessons that may seem so common to us. Lolly Candolin learns a lot during her adventures of being defiant towards her father.
One thing he has always told her was not to go over the levee to the gypsy camp. These people couldn't be trusted, or so he told her many times. Lolly tries to make a bargain with her father about his drinking and ends up doing something stupid--cutting her hair to spite her father. Her father takes this as an opportunity to try to teach her a lesson. He takes her and her cat, Bo, after stuffing him in a burlap sack, out to the levee and throws the cat out. This makes Lolly mad but also hurts her heart. She loves her cat, and the cat was her only ally.
Lolly finds a way to the camp and searches for Bo only to find some interesting characters. As Lolly gets further involved with the group of vagabonds, she learns many things. The gypsies and her father and her mother, among other characters, help Lolly come to realize that you can't bargain with material things when lives are at stake.
Lolly goes through a harsh summer and fall because it seems her father is drinking more and more and eventually, his poor health gets the best of him. Even with all the wishes of him dying, Lolly learns that this is no way to live. Her father had a stroke and almost dies and Lolly does everything she can to help him live. Eventually, the two work out things and learn from each other.
The lesson learned here is that no matter how much you dislike a person's actions, you can only accept them for what they are, a human being who makes mistakes; as long as they learn from their mistakes, all is well. It is when we try to change others that we get deep in the planning and hatred towards others that we don't see everything in front of us. So please don't try to change people, just accept them as they are and take the good with the bad.
This is a very well written book. The author brings lots of wonderful imagery to life in the Lessons from the Gypsy Camp, almost to the point that I felt like I was experiencing the same things Lolly did. This is definitely a tearjerker, so have the tissues handy before starting to read, as you will feel Lolly's guilt and pain and hatred and kindness and loving personality.
Armchair Interviews says: A good young adult read that they will learn from.