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Summer, Bandstand, and Prison: The Warden’s Daughter by Jerry Spinelli
Author Jerry Spinelli has published more than 30 books, and is a household name to many parents and teachers alike. His most famous character is probably Maniac Magee, the runaway orphan from Two Mills, Pennsylvania. Published in 1990, the book won numerous awards, including the Newbery Medal. Now, 27 years later, Spinelli has returned again to the town of Two Mills in The Warden’s Daughter. This time, we meet Cammie O’Reilly, a girl on the cusp of becoming a teenager, in the sweltering summer of 1959. Known to her friends as Cannonball Cammie, Cammie is not the shy and quiet type. If there’s something Cammie wants, she goes after it. And this summer, what Cammie has decided she wants is a mother.
Cammie doesn’t know too much about her biological mother, but what she does know comes from a yellowed newspaper article and the whispered reminiscences of the townfolk. Anne O’Reilly is a bit of a local legend from long ago, known for saving her infant daughter from death, sacrificing her own life in the process. Everybody in Two Mills knows about Anne. And they know Cammie as the girl who lives over the Hancock County Prison, where her father is warden. Up until now, Cammie has been okay with just her father. It’s not so bad living at the prison. She gets to meet all sorts of interesting people. But this summer, something feels a little bit different.
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So who will take on this new role? Cammie decides upon Eloda Pupko, the prison trustee who acts as maid and caretaker. It shouldn’t be too hard, Cammie figures. She’ll endear herself to Eloda; create the mother-daughter bond. They’ll chat while Eloda braids her hair. When Cammie gets out of line, Eloda will reprimand her, and set boundaries that Cammie will pretend to hate, but really feel grateful for. They’ll laugh, they’ll cry, they’ll argue. Just like a real mother and daughter. It seems simple, but no matter what Cammie does, Eloda remains cold and indifferent. It’s like she refuses to be the mother that Cammie is sure she can (and should) be. And that lights Cannonball Cammie’s fuse.
A colorful community of characters surround Cammie herself. There’s her father, quiet and reserved, but loving in his own way. Reggie, Cammie’s best friend, is obsessed with Bandstand, aqua nail polish, and fame. Boo Boo, is a prisoner with a huge heart and personality who is serving time for shoplifting. There’s Danny Lapella, the new kid in town that Cammie can’t decide whether she hates…or something else. Marvin Edward Baker, the prison’s most famous inmate, is on trial for a grisly murder that may land him on death row. And young Andrew, whose unexpected appearance in Cammie’s life causes a new turmoil of emotions. In the summer of 1959, all these characters and their lives intersect in ways both unexpected and life-changing. In the manner Spinelli fans have come to expect, he takes his readers on a ride, bringing them to the highest highs and the lowest lows. Cammie’s emotions are raw and real, her choices both heartbreaking and understandable as she struggles to come to grips with her past on the brink of her teenage years. As the story winds to a close, and the threads come together, we arrive at an ending that is honest, satisfying, hopeful, and reflective.
Cannonball Cammie is pieces of all adolescents struggling to link their past, present, and future. The daughter of a saint and a warden, a combination of innocence and steel. She’s a character that, once met, you’re not likely to forget.
The Warden’s Daughter is on B&N bookshelves now.