Good historical fiction, but I think Boston Jane and Turtle Moon are much better.

Can't remember why I originally had the sequel The Trouble with May Amelia, on my to-read list; but I always put off reading it because I wanted to start with the first book, this one, and it's not available on kindle. Then I got amazon prime and that meant free shipping and the paperback was pretty reasonable so I got it and here I am finally finished reading a book I intended to read in Aug 2011. Isn't that fascinating? I thought so.

Likes: I immediately fell in love with May. I love her voice and her brightness and sweetness and awesomeness. I loved her liberal use of capitalization. I loved her seven brothers, even eventually ornery ol Kaarlo. It was a fascinating glimpse into a history I had no idea existed; a 1899 settlement in Washington state. There was an interesting cast of characters, mostly May's family, but a few neighbors as well. Life in that time was difficult and scary, but seeing everything through the spicy tom-boy May Amelia's point-of-view was great. I particularly loved the family dynamics. All the love and rivalry, and seeing what May saw but interpreting it differently as a parent than she did as a 12 year old. She thought her Pa was mean and hated her while I could easily see how much he adored her and was trying to protect her from a difficult and dangerous world. It never occurred to May, which is very childlike and I think authentic.

Dislikes: None to mention, but there is a very sad part that might be disturbing to some readers. Is it standard to make children cry (Old Yeller, Where the Red Fern Grows, the Yearling, etc)? I guess it Teaches You A Lot About Life.

Great book, but too much shame, blame and emotional abuse towards children is in it. It's likely to be true to the history, but still makes me cringe.
Great book to read and explain shame & emotional abuse to children. However, can be also serve as terrible reinforcement that shame, blame & emotional abuse is normal.

Excellent book for pioneering, immigrants, westward expansion

Wonderful story about a spitfire of a girl living on a farm with her seven brothers.

maybe i’m getting cranky. i didn’t really like this book much either. may doesn’t use quotation marks ever and is quite liberal with capital letters used to make things seem more important. i’m all for stylistic writing, but this was occasionally confusing and that’s me reading it as an adult. plus, after trying to teach high school freshmen how to use quotation marks and them being clueless about it, i’m all about exposing readers to standardized punctuation and spelling as much as possible. as for the content of the book— meh. i’m just not a fan of historical fiction, apparently. sigh. may is the only girl in a household of sons. a baby sister is born near the end of the book, but dies soon. may has a completely evil grandmother who comes to live with them. i dunno. i just didn’t really care for it.

A fun read-aloud with a nine-year old who loves realistic stories about adventures in the great outdoors. While the colloquial style lends authenticity to the story, the lack of proper punctuation makes reading this book aloud somewhat challenging. Still, the character of the protagonist, tomboyish May Amelia, more than compensates for the rough-hewn quality of her diction and her lack of manners. Truly, she is lovable. (Be warned: a newborn dies halfway through the book.)

Imagine my surprise when I saw that I read this book in 2011. I have no memory of the story. None. I have edited the stars from 3 up to 4. I really liked it this time!

I'd rate it higher but for the narrator who does a perfectly fine job emoting but can't balance her volume well (turn it up, turn it down, turn it up, etc). This has plenty of things I like: Homesteading in Washington, a young girl trying to make it in a world of boys, lots of siblings with character, etc. so it sounded like gold. For the most part, it is. I'd highly recommend it to someone who likes Anne of Green Gables or Little House on the Prairie. It's episodic and doesn't really have any overall direction, but it's a pretty good snapshot of homesteading life if all the dramatic events happened close together.
That said, it's still about homesteading so be prepared to be sad-that was a very, very hard life. I kind of wish May Amelia was a little more rascally, but I still liked her anyway.