Our Only May Amelia
Common Sense Note
May Amelia is a girl, but this book has boy appeal too; six brothers and a male cousin share in her adventures. The drawings add to the book's appeal.
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Wesley Sharpe
This historical novel captures the harsh and lonely life of a girl living in the Pacific Northwest at the turn of the twentieth century. The author builds excitement and suspense into each chapter: Chased by an angry mother bear and a cougar and nearly swept away by logs sent downriver from a logging camp, May Amelia seems to remain alive only by virtue of a string of luck.
To write this story, Holm delved into her family history: Her great-grandfather was one of the first Finnish-American settlers in the Nasel River Valley, but it was her grand-aunt's diary that inspired the title character.
Holm has crafted her award-winning story with adventure and suspense. Readers learn some things don't change in a hundred years: Brothers and sisters argue, parents set rules, and children run away.
From The Book
Nasel is truly in the middle of nowhere--why there's nothing here but land and trees and elk and sheep and bears and boys. Mostly boys though. There haven't been any girls born out here since me and I am the only girl in the Island Schoolhouse.
Plot Summary:
May Amelia hates to be told, "Behave like a proper young lady." She works on the farm as hard as any boy. Her birthday wish is for a little sister, but when baby Amy dies, she goes "grief mad" and runs away. Based on tales from her own family, author Jennifer L. Holm creates a believable heroine in a realistic historical setting.
Related Books:
For more wilderness adventures read Little House On the Prairie, by Laura Ingalls Wilder.
Rate It!
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ViolenceMay Amelia is blamed by her grandmother for the death of her baby sister. |
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Social BehaviorMay Amelia runs away. Her grandmother is cruel and hateful. |
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