Status
Available
Publication
Candlewick (2017), Edition: Reprint, 400 pages
Library's review
Joan runs away from home at age 14 to become a hired girl in 1911.
Life with her unpleasant father and brothers on their farm in Pennsylvania is rough. Knowing she is not loved, she sees escape when she learns that the going rate for a hired girl in the city is $6 a week. She lands in Baltimore over
Tons of period details, especially about clothing, round out a highly satisfying and smart breast-clutcher from this Newbery-winning author. (Historical fiction. 10-14)
Life with her unpleasant father and brothers on their farm in Pennsylvania is rough. Knowing she is not loved, she sees escape when she learns that the going rate for a hired girl in the city is $6 a week. She lands in Baltimore over
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her head and is rescued by the Rosenbachs. A large young woman, Joan presents herself as Janet, 18, impressing Mrs. Rosenbach with her love of reading, quickly making herself indispensable to the aging housekeeper, and landing a job as a hired girl and “Shabbos goy.” Joan is smart, hardworking, and naïve, but most of all, she’s romantic, thanks in large part to all those novels. The Rosenbachs’ flirty son David seems to love her both for her mind and—as an aspiring artist—her looks. “Tall and robust and wholesome looking. You’re like one of Michelangelo’s Sibyls—a grand, bareheaded creature.” Trouble ensues, but a happy ending awaits, with friendship and the awesome glint of an independent life. The diary format allows Joan’s romantic tendencies full rein, as well as narrative latitude for a few highly improbable scenarios and wildly silly passion.Tons of period details, especially about clothing, round out a highly satisfying and smart breast-clutcher from this Newbery-winning author. (Historical fiction. 10-14)
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Awards
A Horn Book Fanfare Best Book (Fiction — 2015)
Boston Globe–Horn Book Award (Honor — Fiction — 2016)
LA Times Book Prize (Finalist — Young Adult Literature — 2015)
Sydney Taylor Book Award (Winner — 2016)
Utah Beehive Book Award (Nominee — Young Adult — 2017)
National Jewish Book Award (Winner — Young Adult — 2015)
Arkansas Teen Book Award (Nominee — 2017)
California Young Reader Medal (Nominee — 2018)
NCSLMA Battle of the Books (Middle School — 2018)
Scott O'Dell Award (2016)
Mind the Gap Awards (2016)
Best Fiction for Young Adults (Selection — 2016)
Notable Children's Book (Older Readers — 2016)
Nerdy Book Award (Young Adult Literature — 2015)
Los Angeles Public Library Best of the Year (Teen — 2015)
Chicago Public Library Best of the Best: Teens (Fiction — 2015)
Great Texas Mosquito List (2017)
New York Public Library Best Books: For Teens (Fiction — 2015)
Chicago Public Library Best of the Best: Adults (Selection — 2015)
Just One More Page Recommendation List (Young Adult — 2017)
OYAN Book Rave (2016)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2015-09-01
ISBN
0763694509 / 9780763694500