The Wonder of Charlie Anne

Starred review from October 1, 2010

Gr 4-8-When Charlie Anne's mother dies, her cousin Mirabel arrives to take charge of her, her siblings, and their household. But the woman's unremitting chore assignments and insistence on reading The Charm of Fine Manners send Charlie Anne to the barn, the fields, the river, and her mother's gravesite to escape. Papa takes her older brother up north to try to earn money working on the roads, and Mirabel sends younger brother Peter to stay with relatives in Boston, leaving Charlie Anne even more inclined to befriend their new neighbors, the exotic pants-wearing Rosalyn and her ward, Phoebe, an African-American girl. The painful poverty and bigotry of the Depression era set the stage for Charlie Anne's gradually increasing awareness of the impact and unfairness of prejudice and her power to make changes in the world and her own circumstances. The girl's vinegar pie appears throughout the book as a symbol of her value to the family and her abilities, even as Mirabel's own growth is reflected in her slow willingness to acknowledge Charlie Anne's skill and her acceptance of Phoebe. Each character is distinct and adds flavor, but it's Charlie Anne's voice that resonates as she confronts both the hardships and unfairness of life, yet finds ways to change things for the better.-Carol A. Edwards, Denver Public Library, CO

Copyright 2010 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2010
Grades 5-8 Drudgery cuts to the bone in this Depression-era tale, as Charlie Anne struggles to hang heavy laundry and muck out the outhouse. Hard-hearted Mirabel, with her endless list of chores, came to care for the family when Charlies mother died, and it seems all of the fun has gone out of life. Then Papa and older brother Thomas head north to build roads and send home some New Deal money. Bereft, Charlie mentally communicates with her dead mother for support and clings to her beloved farm animals to stave off loneliness. When her neighbor Mr. Jolly takes an intriguing new wife, Rosalyn, with an African American daughter, Charlies world slowly brightens. Rosalyn has bold ideas and works hard to open a school as well as the minds of the provincial, bluntly racist, unaccepting neighbors. The town turns around a little too miraculously, perhaps, but this is a poignant tale of fighting odds and struggling to find ones strengths.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)