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roseleaf24's review against another edition
4.0
Some of the family dynamics were hard to read about, but this was a powerful story about the life of an immigrant Finnish family, and of a twelve year old girl with regular problems that will be identifiable to many.
kelleemoye's review against another edition
5.0
Although the first May Amelia book was very good, I found this one to be even better. I love me a female protagonist with sisu.
brandypainter's review against another edition
3.0
Originally posted here.
I am clearly missing something here. Jennifer Holm has been honored by three different Newbery committees for her novels Our Only May Amelia, Penny from Heaven, and Turtle in Paradise. Despite never getting past the first third of Our Only May Amelia and pretty much detesting every moment I spent reading Turtle in Paradise, I dutifully checked out a copy of her latest novel, The Trouble with May Amelia, as soon as my library received its copies. It is, of course, generating some award buzz this year. Honestly I just don't get it. If you enjoy historical fiction from the point of view of plucky young girls then there is much to enjoy here. I certainly liked it far more than I have the other works I have tried by this author, but there were still a multitude of things that annoyed me about it.
This novel does a pretty good job accurately depicting life in a logging/farming community in the Pacific Northwest at the turn of the 20th century. Life for the Jackson family is difficult and there are many terrible things that befall them and their neighbors. It was a precarious way to live and that was conveyed well, as was the close knit community of immigrants from the same country and the attitude toward schooling. I did find it a stretch to think that May Amelia had at some point befriended a Chinese boy and a lady who ran a tavern in Astoria. (Maybe this is because I haven't read the first book?) The book,while having a main plot thread of the land deal running through it, is mostly snap shots of what life was like for the people in such a community.
As for the character of May Amelia herself, she is certainly sympathetic. I did feel for her and her situation(s) as the story unfolded. This is a first person narrative and I felt that her character was remote and rather bland for that format. She only identifies herself as the people around her identify her, which is true to life for children in many ways, however by the age of 12 most children start to question who they are in relation to those around them and May Amelia never does that. Her family say she is "irritating" and she repeats it like a mantra, but nothing in the book gives evidence that this is the case. She works her little tail off for her brothers, mostly without complaining.
What I found the most vexing about the book is one of the things that irritated me about Turtle in Paradise as well. May Amelia's parents and brothers act like petulant children. They storm around and make the strangest decisions while the heroine stands there in bewilderment and lands wherever the turbulent adult whims blow her. Until the end when suddenly she's a hero. For the life of me I can't figure out why the adults in the books act the way they do (almost as if their parents were first cousins-I don't know. Maybe they were?).
The books style further irritated me in that there was an Excessive and Unnecessary use of Capital Letters, and a complete lack of quotation marks. Some people find this quirky and artistic. I just find it annoying.
I admit I began the book with a prejudice against it. Being aware of that I really wanted to give it as fair a chance I could. There were scenes I enjoyed, lines that made me laugh. I could certainly see myself recommending this book to certain children I know. It was just not my cup of tea.
I am clearly missing something here. Jennifer Holm has been honored by three different Newbery committees for her novels Our Only May Amelia, Penny from Heaven, and Turtle in Paradise. Despite never getting past the first third of Our Only May Amelia and pretty much detesting every moment I spent reading Turtle in Paradise, I dutifully checked out a copy of her latest novel, The Trouble with May Amelia, as soon as my library received its copies. It is, of course, generating some award buzz this year. Honestly I just don't get it. If you enjoy historical fiction from the point of view of plucky young girls then there is much to enjoy here. I certainly liked it far more than I have the other works I have tried by this author, but there were still a multitude of things that annoyed me about it.
This novel does a pretty good job accurately depicting life in a logging/farming community in the Pacific Northwest at the turn of the 20th century. Life for the Jackson family is difficult and there are many terrible things that befall them and their neighbors. It was a precarious way to live and that was conveyed well, as was the close knit community of immigrants from the same country and the attitude toward schooling. I did find it a stretch to think that May Amelia had at some point befriended a Chinese boy and a lady who ran a tavern in Astoria. (Maybe this is because I haven't read the first book?) The book,while having a main plot thread of the land deal running through it, is mostly snap shots of what life was like for the people in such a community.
As for the character of May Amelia herself, she is certainly sympathetic. I did feel for her and her situation(s) as the story unfolded. This is a first person narrative and I felt that her character was remote and rather bland for that format. She only identifies herself as the people around her identify her, which is true to life for children in many ways, however by the age of 12 most children start to question who they are in relation to those around them and May Amelia never does that. Her family say she is "irritating" and she repeats it like a mantra, but nothing in the book gives evidence that this is the case. She works her little tail off for her brothers, mostly without complaining.
What I found the most vexing about the book is one of the things that irritated me about Turtle in Paradise as well. May Amelia's parents and brothers act like petulant children. They storm around and make the strangest decisions while the heroine stands there in bewilderment and lands wherever the turbulent adult whims blow her. Until the end when suddenly she's a hero. For the life of me I can't figure out why the adults in the books act the way they do (almost as if their parents were first cousins-I don't know. Maybe they were?).
The books style further irritated me in that there was an Excessive and Unnecessary use of Capital Letters, and a complete lack of quotation marks. Some people find this quirky and artistic. I just find it annoying.
I admit I began the book with a prejudice against it. Being aware of that I really wanted to give it as fair a chance I could. There were scenes I enjoyed, lines that made me laugh. I could certainly see myself recommending this book to certain children I know. It was just not my cup of tea.
aneeqah's review against another edition
4.0
A sweet, short little story. It was slightly predictable though, but I still really enjoyed it!
barbarianlibarian's review against another edition
4.0
wow, had no idea this was a sort of sequel until i logged it in goodreads just now. loved the story, strong female character. meant for middle readers but the appeal goes all the way up to adults. i listened to this on audio and the reader was really stiff, but it wasn't unbearable
beths0103's review against another edition
3.0
I liked the characters, I liked the story, but I really missed the quotation marks. I don't doubt that Jenni Holm had her reasons for not using quotation marks in all of the dialogue, she is a Newbery Honor author after all, I just found that I didn't care for plodding through the dialogue and narration to try to figure out which was which.
librariandest's review against another edition
5.0
Oh, May Amelia, you are my favorite. Actually, Jennifer Holm, you are my favorite, and May Amelia is my favorite of your creations. This book is practically perfect. The only thing I can complain about is the AWFUL COVER. Just wrong. Why can't a wonderful author like Holm get a great cover for an awesome book? The world is an unfair place.
Speaking of the world being an unfair place, I've noticed people complaining that too much bad stuff happens to the Jacksons in this book. I think I've made that claim myself about a few good books (like [b:Out of My Mind|6609765|Out of My Mind|Sharon M. Draper|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1275674397s/6609765.jpg|6803732] and [b:Mockingbird|2657|To Kill a Mockingbird|Harper Lee|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51fJnjap8BL._SL75_.jpg|3275794]). But the thing about this book is that it's so funny and so heartwarming, even while terrible things are happening--which, I think, is how life is.
I listened to the first May Amelia book on CD, so I didn't know that it was written with Lots of Capitalized Phrases and no quotation marks. I wonder if that is baffling for some kids, or if they just go with it. I don't really understand why Holm wrote it that way. I don't think it added anything special, but it didn't really bother me either. I'm neutral on it.
Speaking of the world being an unfair place, I've noticed people complaining that too much bad stuff happens to the Jacksons in this book. I think I've made that claim myself about a few good books (like [b:Out of My Mind|6609765|Out of My Mind|Sharon M. Draper|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1275674397s/6609765.jpg|6803732] and [b:Mockingbird|2657|To Kill a Mockingbird|Harper Lee|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51fJnjap8BL._SL75_.jpg|3275794]). But the thing about this book is that it's so funny and so heartwarming, even while terrible things are happening--which, I think, is how life is.
I listened to the first May Amelia book on CD, so I didn't know that it was written with Lots of Capitalized Phrases and no quotation marks. I wonder if that is baffling for some kids, or if they just go with it. I don't really understand why Holm wrote it that way. I don't think it added anything special, but it didn't really bother me either. I'm neutral on it.
librarylisa614's review against another edition
2.0
I'm not a historical fiction reader, and this may be part of what I didn't like about the book. It just seemed to go down, down, down, and the situation just kept getting worse. I was glad it had some hope at the end, but most of the way through the book, I just wanted to put it down. I realize that it was a hard time period, but that's why I wouldn't necessarily choose to pick up books about it. I appreciated the character's qualities, that she was plucky and perservered, but didn't like many of the characters.
scribesprite's review against another edition
5.0
Can I just say my 11 year old self would not like this book as much because it was so sad? There are of course more precocious kids than me (I've seen kids read classic Jane Austen stuff) but I was never okay with too sad of stuff as a kid, and I don't think I'm alone in this. This is not to deter anyone from reading it because the book is not exceedingly sad, just kind of.
The book is similar to the first if I remember correctly in that it starts out innocent enough. First, there are day to day events that happen but the then things start falling apart. The day to day events were just as entertaining as the more dramatic events that happen. It shows the struggles and pleasures of immigrant farmers who are settled in Washington State during the early 1900s. This one has some Finnish roots to it that I might’ve missed in the first.
The Trouble with May Amelia is that she is a girl. Whenever people hear how my brother lives with a bunch of girls they always feel sorry for him but I think the other way around is just as hard. I think this is a perfect example of that. May Amelia is always being teased about being a girl and not being good enough at it either. It’s a lose lose situation.
I couldn't get enough of May; I felt her story. I could believe her anger, jealousy, despair, as well as joy and hope. I understood her as a character even if she is so young. I could care about her family and feel sympathy for her brothers as well as annoyance.
If there would be a sequel to this book I'd defiantly read it; I want so much to know what happens to May Amelia and her family. The ending is fine and has finality to it that was hopeful just like Our Only May Amelia but just like last time I wanted to know more. But if it takes as long to get to it as this one then most likely I'll miss it- it was just by chance that I found out about this book. I could keep an eye out for a sequel I guess but it might come to not.
The book is similar to the first if I remember correctly in that it starts out innocent enough. First, there are day to day events that happen but the then things start falling apart. The day to day events were just as entertaining as the more dramatic events that happen. It shows the struggles and pleasures of immigrant farmers who are settled in Washington State during the early 1900s. This one has some Finnish roots to it that I might’ve missed in the first.
The Trouble with May Amelia is that she is a girl. Whenever people hear how my brother lives with a bunch of girls they always feel sorry for him but I think the other way around is just as hard. I think this is a perfect example of that. May Amelia is always being teased about being a girl and not being good enough at it either. It’s a lose lose situation.
I couldn't get enough of May; I felt her story. I could believe her anger, jealousy, despair, as well as joy and hope. I understood her as a character even if she is so young. I could care about her family and feel sympathy for her brothers as well as annoyance.
If there would be a sequel to this book I'd defiantly read it; I want so much to know what happens to May Amelia and her family. The ending is fine and has finality to it that was hopeful just like Our Only May Amelia but just like last time I wanted to know more. But if it takes as long to get to it as this one then most likely I'll miss it- it was just by chance that I found out about this book. I could keep an eye out for a sequel I guess but it might come to not.