Our Only May Amelia
4/5
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About this ebook
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.
Jennifer L. Holm
Jennifer L. Holm is the New York Times bestselling author of The Fourteenth Goldfish. Her novels Our Only May Amelia, Penny from Heaven, and Turtle in Paradise are all Newbery Honor winners. Jennifer also collaborates with her brother, Matthew Holm, on two graphic novel series: the Eisner Award-winning Babymouse series and the bestselling Squish series.
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Reviews for Our Only May Amelia
179 ratings16 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5May Amelia has seven brothers and is the only girl child for miles around in the southern Washington/northern Oregon area known as the Nasel River in the very early 1900's. She can't help trying to keep up with the boys but it does lead to trouble. A writing style that doesn't use quotation marks may throw off some younger readers.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5My mom's been married a few times now, and I can honestly say that not much good has come out of the multiple stepfathers I've dealt with. There is one notable exception: my first stepfather, when I was maybe 8 years old, randomly decided to give my sister and I a present each. He put his hands behind his back and told us to each pick a side, and then presented us each with our own book. My sister got "Because of Winn Dixie" and I got this book.
I remember being disappointed at first, because I had heard about "Because of Winn Dixie" and had never heard of this May Amelia character. Plus, the book wasn't pretty. Also, I had wanted to pick the other hand but the older sister got first call. Needless to say I didn't enter this book with any positive expectations.
I guess it goes without saying that I loved it, if I remember it all these years later as a favorite, so much so that I still have it on my elusive 'favorites' shelf ten years later at age 18.
The book is about a young girl who has grown up in a family of rambunctious brothers. She's unruly and rather wild, just goes about the riverside with her animal friends and her imagination to make a great day out of it. I remember the book felt rustic to me, that I was transported to this whole world that I, safely growing up in my upper-middle-class suburb, had no idea existed. And who knew that it could be so fun!
I might have been too young by conventional standards to read this at age 8 or so, so I'm not suggesting this as the prime reading age for any of my friends' and followers' children. But my gosh, please don't forget about this book. In 2000 it didn't win the Newbery Medal but it did win Honors, and it deserved every bit of recognition it got. - Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Maybe I am uptight and too conservative, but I cannot cope when books don't use quotation marks to indicate dialogue. I will never understand why this happens. ASIDE FROM THAT, this book was mildly interesting (and I'm picking it up now because the sequel is out this year). A little Caddie Woodlawn-esque, Finnish immigrants settling in Washington state in the late 1800s, tomboy May Amelia gets up to hijinks. The book was based on the diary of a relative of the author, and on one hand it's interesting to see how this story is based on real events ... on the other hand, I felt that lack of cohesion - in real life, stuff happens that doesn't necessary relate to other stuff that happens, in a work of fiction, all that stuff is supposed to flow together in a purposeful way. Which is a strength of a book like Caddie Woodlawn, where Carol Ryrie Brink makes her material work like a book ... this one doesn't quite hit it.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This Newbery Honor Award book is jam-packed with the weighty issues of a twelve year old girl struggling in a Northwestern frontier community. The only girl among seven brothers, May Amelia fights for her dreams, identity, and respect in a family that considers her nothing but trouble. Author Jennifer Holm gets right into the mind of May Amelia giving us the strong perspective of a maturing adolescent as she learns about dealing with pain, recognizing love, taking responsibility, and gaining self esteem. I expect I'll pass this on to my granddaughter. I wonder if it might be a little heavy - but it's honest and straightforward as it addresses emotions young girls still deal with today. It's also a portrayal of how hard life was during the time of early settlements. Kids should realize the sacrifices made and how good they have it now in comparison.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is a the story of May Amelia. A girl born into a family of 7 boys, so her family considers her a miracle. May does not really like being considered a miracle she would rather be treated like one of the boys. She enjoys doing everything the boys do. She finds out that her mother is going to have another baby so she is hoping that it is a girl so she won't be considered a miracle anymore.I can relate really well to this book because I am a tomboy, I really enjoy fishing, racing, sports and hanging out with the guys. I would recommend this book to those girls in school who get made fun of for being just one of the guys.For an extension i would have the students take pictures of their family and explain what makes their family unique.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wonderful character and writing. Great energy and more emotional and nuanced story arc than expected.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This book reminded me of a more culturally sensitive Caddie Woodlawn, which is awesome because that was one of my very favorite books growing up. May Amelia lives in a small community of Finish immigrants in Washington State in 1900. She's got a lot of spunk and a lot of heart, running around their farm and the woods with her many brothers, but she's also starting to feel pressure to "act like a girl". With lots of detail about the Finish immigrants and Native American people of the time and area woven in seamlessly, this is a solid adventure story with a strong heroine. The audio recording is just fine. I tend to prefer voiced recordings, which this is not, but it's still a solid reading. Emmy Rossum gives May Amelia a no-nonsense voice, which fits with May Amelia's character. Rossum's reading voice is high and clear, childlike without being annoyingly childish.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5May Amelia is a Finnish immigrant girl in 1899 in a small wilderness town in the Washington state area. Her father is rough, and she has a mess of brothers but no sisters. She doesn't much care for being a girl because boys have all the fun. One of her brothers is good to her, but most of them just give her grief. The book is a collection of sub-plots involving a purely evil grandmother, an older brother who may have been shanghaied, a murderer on the loose, the dangers of the logging operation upriver, and many more.Over all, excellent. But I must offer this one criticism: It took me a while to get comfortable reading it, because the author rarely uses commas, frequently capitalizes words that shouldn't be capitalized, and worst of all, doesn't use quotation marks at all! Sometimes I found it awkward to figure out if May was talking to the reader, or talking out loud to someone else, or if someone else was doing the talking.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5May Amelia has seven brothers, but not a single sister. She can keep up with the boys, but doing so often gets her in trouble, especially from her father. But why should the boys get to have all the fun, just because May Amelia is supposed to be learning how to be a proper young lady?This story combines lighthearted moments of humor with themes of surprising depth as May Amelia experiences both the joys and the hardships of frontier living. I can see the episodic nature of the story making for good classroom reading, but the lack of a narrative arc makes it seem a bit disjointed at times. Still, readers who enjoy tales of plucky heroines of days gone by are sure to enjoy this book.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Summary:Our Only May Amelia is a story about a young girl, May Amelia Jackson, who is growing up during the late 1800’s. She is a tomboy, growing up in the pioneer life with 7 brothers. Her mom is pregnant and May Amelia’s wish more than anything is a baby sister. Despite her family’s wishes for her to be a proper lady, she likes to go on adventures and that’s exactly where the book leads you through the adventures of her life in the pioneer days where along the Nasel river she will always call home. Personal Reaction:I got this book at a book fair when I was in either 3rd or 4th grade and absolutely fell in love with it. As a child, I related to May Amelia because I loved to go on adventures myself. This book is one of the very few books I have always kept close to my heart even as I have gotten older and I don’t see that changing any time soon.Extension Ideas:1) Do a deep study into the pioneer life by bringing in the history behind it with how they lived, what they ate, what they wore, what they did for fun.2) Have the students write a story about if they was to put themselves in pioneer life with May Amelia.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Our Only May Amelia is my all time favorite book. It set me on the road to being a devout reader. The usual problems sited with this book are probably true. It has no quote marks. (The book is a work of art. Work with it.).. May has too many brothers. (Make a list, There all there on the one page.) I just get all choked up, picking up the book and reading the first page again. "My brother Wilbert tells me".. This book is a first person narrative. It is May Amelia's story. She is telling it to you. The book is just better and better with multiple readings. Jennifer Holm's other books are OK, but Our Only May Amelia is a work of art. A young Emmy Rossum from the movie "The Phantom of the Opera" read the audio book. This is the only audio book that I have ever loved. She becomes May Amelia.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The story teaches unity between families and the community. Many of the families were immigrants from Finland and other parts of the world. All brought many cultural traditions, customs, and ethnicity to their homes and community. The story also teaches resiliency of our pioneer settlers in an untamed American frontier. Our Only May Amelia is a 1999 Newbery Honor book. This is an authentic story based on the diary of the author’s grandaunt, Alice Amelia Holm. The Author’s Note and Resources provide background information to substantiate the accuracy of the timeframe and geographic location. The author relied heavily on oral histories and local historical societies. Photographs from historical society and private collections preface many of the chapters.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The vernacular in this book makes it a little hard to swallow. The depictions of hard frontier life for white people also don't help the books cause but the spunky lead character is worth reading.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The details were so perfect I could imagine I was there
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5May Amelia lives with her parents and seven older brothers on their Washington state homestead in the late 1800's. She struggles against the idea that she should learn to be a proper young lady and that she's not supposed to do all the things her brothers can, and hopes that the baby her mother is carrying will be another girl so that she won't feel so alone.Think Little House on the Prairie, but with Finnish immigrants in the Northwest. If you like Wilder's books, chances are good that you'd enjoy this one, too, which Holm wrote based on her great-aunt's actual diary entries.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I do love May Amelia's voice. Storytelling at it's finest.