Much Ado About Anne

April 2, 2007
Allusions to Little Women
, sprinkled throughout this contemporary novel, may well pique the interest of Louisa May Alcott buffs. Frederick (the Patience Goodspeed books; the Spy Mice series) alternates the perspectives of Emma, Megan, Cassidy and Jess, members of a mother-daughter book club who are reading Little Women
while adjusting to their first year of middle school. Emma, an aspiring writer, has grown apart from her former best friend, Megan, who gained entry into the popular crowd after her father's invention made the family rich. Despite her heightened status, Megan isn't altogether happy, since her mother scorns her dream of becoming a fashion designer. Meanwhile, tomboy Cassidy mourns the loss of her father, who was killed in an accident, and Jess misses her mother, who has gone to New York to pursue an acting career. All of the girls are less enthusiastic about the book club than their parents are, but as might be expected, their attitudes change as they become absorbed in Little Women
and its author, who grew up in their hometown of Concord, Mass. The girls' increasing sensitivity to each other's problems is convincing, but the way in which each character finds happiness (during a whirlwind trip to New York City) is more dependent on lucky circumstance than personal achievement. Still, this club's success in uniting a group of disparate sixth-graders may well inspire readers to start one of their own. Ages 9-12.

November 1, 2008
Gr 5-8-The cast of "The Mother-Daughter Book Club" (S & S, 2007) is back. Now the girls are in seventh grade, each responding to the social and academic challenges of middle school and impending teen years. This year, the club is reading books by Lucy Montgomery, starting with "Anne of Green Gables". Each member and her mother find something to relate to in the books, even the snarky Becca Chadwick who, with her dictatorial parent, joins the club. Different perspectives are provided as each chapter is told in the alternating voices of Emma (writer), Jess (farm girl), Cassidy (athletic tomboy), and Megan (fashion diva). The pace is fast, the concerns and emotions real. The girls are gutsy problem-solvers, with plausibly presented emotions. Adult characterizations, however, are almost clichéd (Emma's mother, for example, is especially bright as she's a librarian, and the patience of Cassidy's mom's love interest doesn't falter until the final pages). The resolution is a bit romanticized but satisfying. As in the first book, Frederick connects a classic title to contemporary problems."Maria B. Salvadore, formerly at Washington DC Public Library"

Copyright 2008 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2009
Cassidy, Emma, Jess, and Megan, this time reading Anne of Green Gables, are blindsided when their moms invite stuck-up Becca and her mother to be in the club. Becca's presence engenders tension and hurt feelings until she hatches a plan to save Jess's family farm. The girls' different perspectives provide direction in a story overstuffed with subplots.

(Copyright 2009 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)