Explore our new BookBrowse Community Forum!

Book Summary and Reviews of The Trouble with May Amelia by Jennifer L. Holm

The Trouble with May Amelia by Jennifer L. Holm

The Trouble with May Amelia

by Jennifer L. Holm

  • Critics' Consensus:
  • Published:
  • Apr 2011, 224 pages
  • Rate this book

About this book

Book Summary

May Amelia Jackson captured readers' hearts in the Newbery Honor Book Our Only May Amelia. Now, after over ten years, Jennifer Holm is bringing this beloved character back in a beautiful way. The Trouble with May Amelia is a gorgeously written story that's as heartbreaking as it is funny.

May Amelia lives in pioneer Washingon State in 1900, and she just can't act the part of a proper young lady. Working a farm on the rainy Nasel River isn't easy - especially when you have seven brothers and a Pappa who proclaims that Girls Are Useless. May Amelia thinks she may have finally earned her father's respect when he asks her to translate for a gentleman who's interested in buying their land and making them rich. But when the deal turns out to be a scam, Pappa places all the blame on May. It's going to take a lot of sisu - that's Finnish for guts - to make things right.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Reviews

Media Reviews

"Starred Review. Anyone interested in learning to write crowd-pleasing historical fiction for elementary school readers would be wise to study Holm's work...this sequel demonstrates her mastery of writing a complete, exciting story in a trim novel." - Publishers Weekly

"With plot elements pulled from the author’s own family history, the book draws to a close with an ending that, though ultimately hopeful, hints at more trouble to come. Line drawings at the start of each chapter add further appeal. Grades 3-6." - Booklist

"Readers who enjoyed the first novel should embrace May Amelia again and may well believe that the only "trouble" with her is that the sequel didn't happen sooner." - Kirkus

This information about The Trouble with May Amelia was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Author Information

Jennifer L. Holm Author Biography

Jennifer Holm was raised in Audubon, Pennsylvania with her four brothers. After graduating from Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, she worked in television and later began to write. Our Only May Amelia, the story of a 12-year-old girl living in the late 19th century, inspired by a diary written by her great aunt, was her first published novel and was a 2000 Newbery Honor Book. Holm also has written a series starring Jane Peck, a young woman living in the 1850s (Boston Jane: An Adventure, Boston Jane: Wilderness Days and Boston Jane: The Claim); The Creek, a horror thriller; a series of graphic novels for young adults illustrated by her brother Matthew (Babymouse: Queen of the World, Babymouse: Our Hero, Babymouse: Beach Babe, Babymouse: Rock Star, Babymouse: Heartbreaker, and...

... Full Biography
Link to Jennifer L. Holm's Website

Other books by Jennifer L. Holm at BookBrowse
Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

More Recommendations

Readers Also Browsed . . .

more literary fiction...

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket: Our Evenings
    Our Evenings
    by Alan Hollinghurst
    Alan Hollinghurst's novel Our Evenings is the fictional autobiography of Dave Win, a British ...
  • Book Jacket: Graveyard Shift
    Graveyard Shift
    by M. L. Rio
    Following the success of her debut novel, If We Were Villains, M. L. Rio's latest book is the quasi-...
  • Book Jacket: The Sisters K
    The Sisters K
    by Maureen Sun
    The Kim sisters—Minah, Sarah, and Esther—have just learned their father is dying of ...
  • Book Jacket: Linguaphile
    Linguaphile
    by Julie Sedivy
    From an infant's first attempts to connect with the world around them to the final words shared with...

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    Pony Confidential
    by Christina Lynch

    In this whimsical mystery, a grumpy pony must clear his beloved human's name from a murder accusation.

Who Said...

A library is thought in cold storage

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

F the M

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.