Anne of Green Gables’ fans–Rejoice!  There’s a new book about Anne.  Wilson does a wonderful job bringing Anne’s childhood to life.  I so loved reading about Anne’s early years.  While she has a different writing style than Montgomery, and parts of the book come off almost as a biography, Wilson has done an amazing job writing about a character that so many know and love.  When I finished the book, I wasn’t ready to leave Anne just yet, so I started re-reading the rest of the Anne books.  I’d love for Wilson to write another book about Anne, set after the series ends.

This book has to be one of my favorite books of all time. I don’t remember when I first read it–middle school maybe? But every few years, I dig it out and rediscover it again. I’d be hard-pressed to describe exactly what I like best about this book. Overall I’d say that I love the Nolan family, who struggles not only to survive, but thrive, against great odds. But my favorite scene in the book is definitely when Francie retreats to her shady apartment balcony on a peaceful Saturday afternoon with a glass of ice water, a bowl of candy, a comfortable pillow, and of course, a good book. Does it get any better than that?

Dilly’s mother died when Dilly was 6. Now that she’s 12, Dilly has few memories of her own about her mother. What she does have is a life full of “traditions” that are being kept to honor her mother’s memory. Dilly is tired of doing things to make her mother happy. When Dilly learns about a letter that her mother wrote to her for Dilly to read when she was older, Dilly decides to find the letter and tear it up, before she can read any more decrees from her mother. This was a good book, but nothing spectacular.

When Ricky discovers that his mother was not killed in an accident, but was murdered by drug lords, he wants his dad to seek revenge. But his father, a former drug-enforcement agent, refuses. So Ricky travels to Mexico to take matters into his own hands.

I liked this book for the way in which it portrayed “rateros” (kids living on the streets). In the book, these children were seen as hard-working and resourceful. One even befriended and helped Ricky. It’s good to see these kids in a positive way. The whole premise of the book seemed a bit far-fetched to me, but I can see how upper elementary kids would really like it.

A cute story about an 11 year old worry wart with an embarassing mother.

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