Wow! Picked this up randomly at my in-law's...what a treasure! I laughed and I cried...cried...& did both some more. It runs the full gamut of emotions. The style is fun, as if written by a 12 yo girl of little education but a fair bit of common sense, truth and wit. I love that this book was inspired by the author's grand-aunt, and her family history in general. That's just cool. May Amelia could be an unforgettable character (I guess we'll see, eh?). This book deals with very real issues, hear...

Disappointed in this book. The writing is juvenile. Maybe that's intentional, but it's not appealing. The incessant repeating of "indeed" "truly" and the godawful catchphrases "our only __" or "the only ___ we've got" really grate on the nerves. There is virtually no Finnish culture incorporated (the only examples are random mentions of food). One gets no sense of these immigrants' heritage. Also, like Holm's Depression-era book, there is no sense of the time period. It reads like a contemporary...

Let's see.. In general I rather liked this book. It had a charming voice to the narration with a generally likeable protagonist. It fit together very nicely with themes connecting throughout the book such as the Chinook baby, the new babydoll, and Baby Amy. The foreshadowing felt so subtle that I'm not sure that it was useful while reading despite being interesting to look back upon toward the end. Some interesting things are sort of bumped into, possibly in a "good" way, but generally left unex...

Loved this book. Like an updated version of Little House on the Prairie. About May Amelia, a headstrong eleven year old growing up in the wilderness of Washington state in 1899. Great portrayal of pioneer life. Super likable, relatable protagonist. I liked this book even more when I read the author's note and found out that this is the author's interpretation of her great aunt's life. This would make a great read aloud.

My 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

Book Talk: Our Only May AmeliaPeople keep asking me to tell them about my sister, May Amelia. Well, Grandmother Patience says she is a trouble maker and a hellion, but then again Grandmother Patience is just plain evil. Yes, May Amelia does have a knack for getting into sticky situations. Like the time she got treed by a mother bear while out trying to catch that fugitive. We had to search all night for her. She never listens when Pappa forbids her to do something and she's downright pigheaded.

As a small child, Caddie Woodlawn was my favourite book. This novel felt like a revisit of that timelss classic. The main character is precious and as it takes place near and in Astoria, one of the places on earth that I consider most beautiful, this is one that I was destined to love. This is not always an easy read, there are painful episodes but it is beautifully written and I recommend it highly.

This juvenile historical fiction is based on the life of the author's great-aunt and takes place around the year 1900 in Washington state. Pros: The setting and time are interesting -- you learn about the culture of Finnish settlers (so many that everyone in the area learned Finnish and continued speaking it until the 1930s), lumber camps, salmon fishing, sailors, and rough frontier towns. Cons: The plot seemed contrived, as if the author were trying to include every bit of local culture and his...

2000 Newbery Honor BookDear Jennifer L. HolmI find your lack of quotation marks disturbing. Grandmother Patience piqued my curiosity and then the lack of quotation marks irked me. I know you've written better stuff and it used proper grammatical conventions, Readable text = enjoyable text. This was barely readable.Sincerely,Joy

No ❤Fun fact: There's not a single quotation mark in this book. Not. One.

Great book..Only problem is author never uses quotations in the entire book when someone is speaking, and I admit it was confusing..Overall, loved it!

I love historical fiction, and as a kid I was really into pioneer type of stories of early America. But strangely, I never got into Little House on the Prairie. I liked the show fine, but I wasn't the hugest fan of Laura, I must confess. So I never tried the books. But I am a huge fan of May Amelia, who just wants to sail the ocean and explore the world and get away from her pack of brothers (except her favorites).May Amelia gets into a lot of mischief, but it's not really her fault. Most of the...

Like May Amelia, I grew up in a Finnish-American family in Naselle (the extra "le" was added in the early twentieth century). This story, through it's heartache, always manages to bring me to a happy place. As May Amelia travels throughout the valley, across the rivers and over to Astoria, my heart follows her along in familiarity. Jennifer Holm captured the area--the culture, the scenery--and from it, has brought to life the memories of her great-aunt May. Whether your connection to the story i...

This book was very disappointing. The main character was so unlikeable and unsympathetic. I like a spunky tomboy girl as much as the next person, but May Amelia doesn't come across as spunky so much as bratty, selfish, and just plain mean. Not to mention ignorant and racist. And language idiosyncrasies to provide a regional flavor to voices are one thing, but I can't see any purpose served by eliminating quotation marks other than making the book harder to read than necessary. (view spoiler)[I n...

On the outside, this seemed like a light and fun read....NOT! Very emotionally charged with birth, death, first love, recognizing parents' limitations, struggling for survival, racial tensions, suicidal thoughts....ugh! We certainly had a lot to talk about, but I chose it as a fun read-aloud. I also did not care for the fact that the author chose to use no punctuation to indicate dialogue. This makes reading aloud a huge challenge. Definitely not for anyone under 9 or 10, and I think it needs a

So aside from the fact that both the general writing style and especially the frustrating and annoying lack of quotation marks found in Jennifer L. Holm's Our Only May Amelia continuously do manage to majorly grate on my academic and yes, perhaps even a bit grammatically anal and obsessive nerves (and that this lack is both distracting and at times rather confusing), the constant and heavy-duty historical anachronisms that seem to abound in Our Only May Amelia are even more of an issue, are prov...

There are so few books out there that have really hit me like a hard punch in the gut that the emotions of the experience are always compounded by the surprise. To stir up complex and dynamic real emotion in a human heart by nothing more than the trails of ink on the page of a novel is an accomplishment that almost defies reason. How could a made-up story have more of an impact on us than most of what we live through on a daily basis? How could we become so invested in the lives of fictional fam...

I was expecting a fluffy wilderness story, but this has a lot of depth to it. Also, the audio version was really good.

Anecdotal, schmaltzy, and inaccurate. Inaccurate because Holm writes about May Amelia petting two black bear cubs in the wild before the mother spots her and chases her up a tree. Come on! Outrunning a black bear! and an enraged mother at that! Or how about the place where Holm writes about the mouth of the Columbia River freezing over one night as if it were Lake Frigid! And this is supposed to be a historical novel!Schmaltzy because May Amelia's character is crafted as if she were a female Huc...

I heard Jennifer speak at IRC. Once about Penny from Heaven, a serious look at her family's history, and another with her brother, Matthew, complete with song, dance, voices, and sketching. Ying Chang Compestine isn't the only author who switches genre and mood, going for light and humorous when the serious work weights them down.Our Amelia MayJennifer L. HolmNewbery Honor BookALA Notable BookParents’ Choice Silver AwardJennifer L. Holm weaves a phenomenal story from artifacts and handed-down fa...