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Summary
Summary
The beloved Newbery Honor book by the author of The Fourteenth Goldfish, about a spirited heroine growing up with trying circumstances, a sense of adventure, and tremendous heart.
It isn′t easy being a pioneer in the state of Washington in 1899. It′s particularly hard when you are the only girl ever born in the new settlement.
With seven older brothers and a love of adventure, May Amelia Jackson just can′t seem to abide her family′s insistence that she behave like a Proper Young Lady. She′s sure she could do better if only there were at least one other girl living along the banks of the Nasel River. And now that Mama′s going to have a baby, maybe there′s hope.
Inspired by the diaries of her great-aunt, the real May Amelia, three-time Newbery Honor-winning author Jennifer Holm gives a beautifully crafted tale of one young girl whose unique spirit captures the courage, humour, passion and depth of the American pioneer experience.
Summary
May Amelia Jackson is the only girl ever born on the Nasel River-A Real Miracle, her family says. And with seven brothers she believes it. Most of the time she forgets that she's a girl, like when she wears her overalls to go fishing with Wilbert or helps Uncle Aarno and the boys make the fishing nets. But sometimes her family does treat her like A Miracle, and it's just plain maddening, like when Pappa yells at her for running around the logging camp or orders her to stay in the house because there's a real live murderer on the loose. Once in a while, though, it's good to be treated like a Miracle and have a whole family looking after their only May Amelia. Still, what May thinks would be the greatest Miracle of all is if the baby in her mamma's belly turned out to be a girl. Will May always be their only Miracle, or will the new baby be the little sister she's been hoping for? In this refreshingly spirited addition to historical fiction, Jennifer L. Holm bursts onto the literary scene with a story inspired by the diary of her Finnish-American grandaunt. Book jacket.
Summary
As the only girl in a Finnish-American family of seven brothers, May Amelia Jackson resents being expected to act like a lady while growing up in Washington state in 1899.
Author Notes
After graduating from Dickinson College, Jennifer L. Holm became a broadcast producer of television commercials and music videos for numerous companies including Nickelodeon, MTV, American Express, Hershey's and Huggies. Her first book, Our Only May Amelia, was a 2000 Newbery Honor Book. Both Penny from Heaven and Turtle in Paradise were Newbery Honor recipients in 2007 and 2011, respectively. She is also the author of numerous series including Boston Jane, Babymouse, and The Stink Files, which she writes with her husband Jonathan Hamel. Her title, The Fourteenth Goldfish made The New York Times Best Seller List in 2014.
(Bowker Author Biography)
After graduating from Dickinson College, Jennifer L. Holm became a broadcast producer of television commercials and music videos for numerous companies including Nickelodeon, MTV, American Express, Hershey's and Huggies. Her first book, Our Only May Amelia, was a 2000 Newbery Honor Book. Both Penny from Heaven and Turtle in Paradise were Newbery Honor recipients in 2007 and 2011, respectively. She is also the author of numerous series including Boston Jane, Babymouse, and The Stink Files, which she writes with her husband Jonathan Hamel. Her title, The Fourteenth Goldfish made The New York Times Best Seller List in 2014.
(Bowker Author Biography)
After graduating from Dickinson College, Jennifer L. Holm became a broadcast producer of television commercials and music videos for numerous companies including Nickelodeon, MTV, American Express, Hershey's and Huggies. Her first book, Our Only May Amelia, was a 2000 Newbery Honor Book. Both Penny from Heaven and Turtle in Paradise were Newbery Honor recipients in 2007 and 2011, respectively. She is also the author of numerous series including Boston Jane, Babymouse, and The Stink Files, which she writes with her husband Jonathan Hamel. Her title, The Fourteenth Goldfish made The New York Times Best Seller List in 2014.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (15)
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
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
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
Table of Contents
1 My Brother Wilbert Tells Me | p. 1 |
2 There Ain't No Gentlemen on the Nasel | p. 21 |
3 There Are Miracles and There Are Sheeps | p. 43 |
4 No Kind of a Brother | p. 63 |
5 Grandmother Tries Our Patience | p. 91 |
6 How to Be a Proper Young Lady | p. 109 |
7 Bad Days Indeed | p. 131 |
8 Mothers Grow Up Young Here | p. 157 |
9 What Happened on the Smith Island | p. 173 |
10 The Things I Have Seen | p. 187 |
11 A Sorry Girl Indeed | p. 205 |
12 A Lucky Doll | p. 225 |
13 Happy to Be Here | p. 237 |
Author's Note | p. 249 |
Resources | p. 253 |
1 My Brother Wilbert Tells Me | p. 1 |
2 There Ain't No Gentlemen on the Nasel | p. 21 |
3 There Are Miracles and There Are Sheeps | p. 43 |
4 No Kind of a Brother | p. 63 |
5 Grandmother Tries Our Patience | p. 91 |
6 How to Be a Proper Young Lady | p. 109 |
7 Bad Days Indeed | p. 131 |
8 Mothers Grow Up Young Here | p. 157 |
9 What Happened on the Smith Island | p. 173 |
10 The Things I Have Seen | p. 187 |
11 A Sorry Girl Indeed | p. 205 |
12 A Lucky Doll | p. 225 |
13 Happy to Be Here | p. 237 |
Author's Note | p. 249 |
Resources | p. 253 |