Like many of Paterson's books, Lyddie is concerned with the importance of other books and celebrates the power of reading fiction. For example, in Bridge to Terabithia, the precocious Leslie Burke and her friend, Jess, create the imaginary world, Terabithia, out of the books they have read. In Jacob Have I Loved, Louise Bradshaw draws strength from reading works by Scott, Dickens, and Cooper. The main character of Come Sing, Jimmy Jo finds comfort in a book by Beverly Cleary, while Park of Park's Quest daydreams that he is one of King Arthur's knights searching for the Holy Grail. In Lyddie, Charles Dickens's Oliver Twist sparks Lyddie's interest in books. Not surprisingly, Lyddie itself has some similarities to Dickens's book, particularly since both Lyddie and Oliver travel to a big city and attempt to find a new life in a community of other children or young...