The Only Girl in a Pack of Boys, by Kristin Eliza Tollestrup

books:


	• Our Only May Amelia (Newbery Honor Book, 2000) Jennifer L. Holm, 1999 - 272 pages average customer review:based on 95 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A Parent's Perspective

My family and I listened to this book on tape as we traveled last week. As adults, my husband and I found the story fascinating and touching. As parents, we were shocked. Why is there swearing in a book that's labeled "for ages 9 and up"? Also, why is there a gruesome and graphic description of a murdered woman's remains and what happened to them? If that scene had appeared, as written, in a movie, it surely would have been rated PG-13 or R. We really did enjoy the book very much, we were just horrified that it is considered "children's literature." When I was a child, May Amelia would have been in the young adult dept at the library, not the children's. Just my two cents.

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May Amelia-miracle child

May Amelia the main character grows up with an all boy house at the turn of the 1900's. The author Jennifer L. Holm does a great job capturing the readers attention. In every chapter there is suspense and excitment like when she got chased up a tree by a mother bear, or when she almost got killed by a rushing stream of logs and was saved by an incredable string of luck. This book should fill childrens libraries,and in my opinion is one of the best books I have ever read. If I were you I would check it out!!!!!!!

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The Only Girl in a Pack of Boys, by Kristin Eliza Tollestrup

Our Only May Amelia is a historically based novel for older children. It is also a Newberry Honor Book and is for good reason. The characterization is infectious, the emotion is honest and provokes a reaction, the relationships between characters creates a welcoming atmosphere, and the first person perspective in which it is written portrays the social and developmental status of the protagonist, May Amelia, perfectly.

Characterization
Jennifer L. Holm, the author, clearly knows her characters very well and I believe she does a fantastic job of not only introducing us to them but allows us to know them quite thoroughly. This has great appeal with children in the fact that they are able to relate with such characters and to some extent live the experiences through the characters. In My Only May Amelia, we first meet May Amelia Jackson on her 12th birthday. Already, such a fact makes her endearing to the audience as most children are easily excited by birthdays. For the most part, children also have a sense of fantasy that allows them to believe that a person is somehow more special on their birthday. I believe this was done on purpose by the author to get children captivated in the story early. Having this sort of situation start the book also allows the author to introduce a new character, May's father Jalmer. He is characterized as gruff and harsh. This is apparent in the opening pages as he yells at May, even though it is her birthday. Children tend to see things in a more polarized view, and having these opposing characters from the start build interest in the story. However, as the story unfolds, we are able to see the more, loving side of Jalmer. This is apparent as he comforts May after Grandmother Patience smashes her china doll to pieces. Such a change in characterization is very effective in a book for children. It also satisfies the one of the typical story patterns, where the evil character redeems himself in the end. This is a pattern that has been followed many times, but in My Only May Amelia it doesn't feel cliché or overdone.

The brilliance of the characterization does not stop with May Amelia or her father. She is a girl with 7 brothers (well, one is technically a cousin) who each have their own unique personalities. These boys, along with other members of the family and neighbors are all developed well enough that you feel like you are part of the family. Matti is the kind one, Kaarlo the mean cousin, Isaiah the patient shepherd, Wendell the aspiring doctor, Alvin and Ivan the sneaky twins, and Wilbert the compassionate, understanding pal. The characterization of all of these individuals works very well together to weave a tapestry known as the Jacksons. All of the differing traits agree and clash in ways that makes the Jackson family a believable one, relatively peacefully living on the banks of the Nasal River.

Emotion
Corresponding to the unpretentious life of this young girl, the emotions that we see in the book are simple. May Amelia will be happy when she gets to go fishing, sad when Kaarlo makes fun of her, and frustrated when she has to go help muck out the sheeps. This appeals to children as these are emotions they themselves can understand. I believe that it works well in this novel because it allows children to put themselves in May Amelia's shoes and to live in the 19th century through her. On the reverse, however, as the book progresses, emotion is not as simple as it was towards the beginning. This change occurs when Amy Alice, the baby sister May has so fervently hoped for, unexpectedly dies. This event appeals very strongly to the reader's pathos. Death is a hard subject, yet the book works because it is coming from the point of view of a 12 year old girl who was the primary caregiver for her infant sister. Pity is evoked not only by the passing of an infant, but by the raw reaction May has to this event. She has never experienced death before, and having it be of someone who she was striving so hard to care for is crushing. Grandmother Patience only adds to the situation by blaming the fatality on May Amelia's care. Children can also identify with this, as they have a sense of injustice and being blamed for things that are not their fault. As a warning, the book might not be appropriate for a younger audience who could be shocked by such an event and not able to handle their own emotions in reaction to this.

Perspective
In Our Only May Amelia, the story is told through the first person perspective of May Amelia. This allows the story to be told in an essential sort of way, with other events that could be distracting stripped away. May Amelia, as her nature states, is not an elaborate person. The author is very in tune with this and only includes parts of the story that are engaging. This is very effective in the way that it adds to the tone of the book. The novel has a very straight-forward feel, and this makes the message of the pages even more powerful. Having the story written how May Amelia would have written it appeals to the intended audience. She is a 12-year-old telling her story to her peers. Even though she may have lived over 100 years ago, May still relates to children today as she is constantly getting herself into scrapes and needing help from an older person to get out of them. The author really allows the audience to feel like the situations that happen to May Amelia could have happened to anyone. I believe that this makes the book great, as it can relate to a wide variety of children.

Relationships
One of the core elements of this book is the relationship that May Amelia has with her brother Wilbert. One of the reasons the book is so good is because this is a completely believable relationship. Even though they are inseparable most of the time, May and Wilbert do not always get along. This is easy for the audience to relate to, as they probably have siblings or at least a good friend that they have such kinds of conflicts with. This makes the story much more real to the children, as they can related to the frustrations that May Amelia feels. Also, Wilbert is the one that takes May Amelia to Astoria after Grandmother Patience is so awful to her at Amy Alice's funeral. This shows the loving nature of the relationship between these two siblings. This is another instance where the book is amazing. While you are still reeling with shock at Grandmother's actions, the author swiftly introduces a frantic May Amelia running away and a protective Wilbert chasing after her. He knows that May cannot be expected to stay after such an incident. So they leave.

A few days after their departure, Jalmer comes to the door of the aunt and uncle where Wilbert and May Amelia are now living. At this time, the relationship between May and her father is revisited. At first, Jalmer wants May and Wilbert to immediately come back home. After some coaxing from Wilbert, however, Jalmer is convinced that May really needs to heal and because he loves her, allows both children to stay in Astoria. I believe that at this time, May changes greatly the way she feels about her father. Instead of feeling like he just picks on her all the time because she isn't a blonde boy, she can see that he truly does care about her and wants what is best for her. I feel this is another instance where the book is fabulous because the author is able to write a deeply touching moment in the tense father-daughter relationship without coming off too sentimental.

My Only May Amelia is a sweet tale of an irrepressible girl growing up in a rural area of all boys. She has her sorrows and her triumphs. Jennifer L. Holm is able to tie all of the events together in one neat package, writing at a level that makes it applicable for older children. Her characters are lovable, the emotion is real and through May Amelia's perspective, you can see that she is surrounded by a family that loves her, despite all the trouble she gets herself into. This book is a charming read and I would recommend it to any older child looking for a moving glimpse into the past.

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One of Eight

May Amelia was a girl was the only girl in her Washington farm. She had seven brothers and her mother and father with her. May Amelia was their one and only. She was no proper young lady. She wanted to be just like any of her other brothers. Fishing on the Nasel and getting messy with her brothers was what she treasured most. She had a very harsh life, and Jennifer Holm had a very superior way of expressing the calamity and pain of her life. May had her hardships and the twilights of her life. Being the lone girl on the Nasel was tough for May; since she would do anything, and everything to be like one her own brothers. She had done so many outrageous and extreme things just to do the things a boy was allowed to do. May had an Uncle in Astoria, which was a city down along the end of the Nasel. When he would come to visit his Finnish family on the shore of the Nasel it was then a very extraordinary occasion. He was a sailor, just like one of May Amelia's brothers wanted to be. When he left, which wasn't exceptionally time-consuming after he had just arrived. While May does a great deal to be like one of her brothers, nothing seems to be actually effective. May was a wonderful girl, who everyone knew, even though there were not that many people that lived along the Nasel River. There especially were no other girls.

After May has so many things to have the privileges and the honors of being a boy, some one comes into her home and life that no one wanted within a million years; Grandmother Patience. Grandmother Patience was the meanest person that May's family had ever met. She had treated May with no respect, and had abused her as if she had no feelings and could feel no pain at all. Jennifer L. Holm had described May and her life with her father's mother with such a deep passion; with all the things that had happened to her from the things that Grandmother Patience had done to her. May was tortured inside and out, with her having no control. Since she was just a girl, she had to be a proper young lady. She couldn't say anything that would disrespect her elder, no matter how much she wanted to. It was tearing her up inside. This book was such a spectacular thriller/drama that it kept me reading and always interested. Every time you have to stop reading, it is like having to read an ongoing cliffhanger. It would always keep you interested, and having very depressing feelings for May Amelia. It makes you wonder if you could handle what she was going through, and how much more of it you wanted to read it to see what her decision to do is next. I would recommend "Our Only May Amelia" to everyone to see how suspenseful someone's life could be.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

She may be a miracle, but she's no proper young lady!

It isn't easy being a pioneer in the state of Washington in 1899, but 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. Not when there's fishing to be done, sheep to be herded, and real live murderers to be captured! May is sure she could manage 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....

00-01 Utah Book Award (Gr. 3-6) and 00-01 Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Bk Award Masterlist

Notable Children's Trade Books in the Field of Social Studies 2000, National Council for SS & Child. Book Council, 2000 Newbery Honor Book, and 2000 Notable Children's Books (ALA)

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