School Library Journal Review
Gr 5-8-May is the only girl born in the sparsely populated area along Washington state's Nasel River at the end of the 19th century, and the youngest in a family with seven boys. Inspired by her grandaunt's diary and after researching the Finnish-American community of that place and time, Jennifer L. Holm wrote this Newbery Honor book (HarperCollins, 1999). It combines historical fiction with coming-of-age concerns as May Amelia Jackson relates everyday activities such as tending the sheep and helping her pregnant mother with household chores. She also includes straightforward descriptions of family conflicts, the stabbing of a local woman, and encounters with bears and a mountain lion. Most devastating for May is the loss of her baby sister and the cruelty of her paternal grandmother, but the girl's mischievous spirit adds many amusing moments. Emmy Rossum does a marvelous narration, handling both the light-hearted and the somber with youthful vocal veracity. Though the book has a large cast of characters and a variety of evocative events, the first-person narrative style works well in a recorded format. Clearly marked cassettes with good sound quality are ready for circulation in a sturdy, attractive plastic case. This is a useful addition to middle school and public library collections.-Barbara Wysocki, Cora J. Belden Library, Rocky Hill, CT (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
"An unforgettable heroine intelligently narrates Holm's debut novel set in 1899 Washington State," said PW in its Best Books of 1999 citation. Ages 9-up. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
Twelve-year-old May Amelia Jackson describes life as the only girl among seven boys in her Finnish-American family. The voice of the colloquial first-person narrative rings true and provides a vivid picture of frontier and pioneer life in Washington State in 1899. An afterword discusses Holm's research into her own family's history and that of other Finnish immigrants. From HORN BOOK Fall 1999, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
May Amelia, the feisty lovable heroine of Holm's fetching novel, ``ain't no proper young lady.'' A 12-year-old girl with an adventurous spirit and ``a nose for trouble,'' May Amelia is the youngest of eight children and the only girl. Life in the rough world of logging camps and farming in the wilderness of the state of Washington in 1899 is not easy, and May Amelia and her brothers have to work hard to keep farm and family going. May Amelia dreams of being a sailor and traveling to China, but is hampered by everyone, especially her strict Finnish-born father, who is always yelling at her for ``doing what the boys are doing.'' The book chronicles May Amelia's adventures with her brothers, a brush with a wild bear, conflicts with her mean- tempered grandmother, and the long-awaited birth of a baby sister who later dies in her sleep. The story, which is episodic and somewhat shapeless, careens along before stopping without much resolution. Still, the robust characterizations captivate, the lilting dialogue twangs, and the sharply individual first-person narrative gives the material authority and polish. (Fiction. 10-12)
Booklist Review
Gr. 4^-6. May Amelia, age 12, lives with her stern Finnish father, pregnant mother, and seven brothers in the state of Washington in the late 1800s. She records the details of her life in a diary using the present tense and a folksy speech pattern: "I go about fixing dinner real quiet-like so they can talk and tell secrets." Aside from quarrels with her adoptive brother Kaarlo, May lives a relatively bucolic life until the arrival of her shrewish grandmother, who finds fault with everything May says and does. The author bases her story on her aunt's real diary, so the everyday details of life among Finnish immigrants add a nice specificity to the background, and May is appealingly vivacious. However, the lack of quotation marks, the overuse of certain expressions (among them, "indeed"), the length, and sometimes slow pacing may make this a secondary purchase. --Susan Dove Lempke
