Synopses & Reviews
Eight-year-old Anna enjoys one exciting experience after another in this charming story set in Baltimore just before World War I. She gets a new winter coat that's even better than Rosa's, rollerskates down the steepest hill in the neighborhood, and rides the trolley all by herself. And she delights in the changes occurring in the world around her, as motorcars and electric lights appear for the first time on her street. Based on the childhood experiences of the author's mother, these heartwarming episodes touch on timeless themes of family, friends, and the wonders of growing up.
Review
'\"powerful depiction of the childhood emotions that accompany the inevitable process of growing up...timeless... young readers should find Anna\'s experiences meaningful.\"'
Review
Based on the childhood of the author's mother, this engaging episodic novel follows the everyday adventures of third-grader Anna Sherwood growing up in pre-WWI Baltimore. Anna is "ein kluges Mädchen"-a clever girl, in her mother's native German-who likes reading better than arithmetic ("All you can do with numbers is make prob-lems. But you can make stories and poems with words"); she's also something of a tomboy. The novel moves from fall to summer as Anna conquers long division (having previously resorted to cheating); battles with her mother over the color of a new winter coat (Anna wants bright red, Mother wants "drab and boring" brown); "split[s] her chin wide open" roller-skating down the steepest hill in Baltimore on a dare; and is judged grown-up enough to ride the trolley downtown to have lunch with her father. All the chapters are informed by Hahn's able evo-cation of time and place-a Baltimore of groceries delivered by horse-drawn wagon and streets lit by gas lamps-and of the specific characters who inhabit it. Many of the episodes are driven by the tension between Anna and her strict, old-fashioned mother (in one of the best chapters, "Anna's Birthday Surprise," Anna, desperate to have a birthday party despite Mother's refusal, secretly issues invitations and then, with a mixture of hope and dread, waits to see what will happen when her friends arrive); the tension is always defused by the unqualified love between Anna and her father. Hahn's use of the present tense to tell Anna's stories helps keep nostalgia at bay, as does the energetic, just-dashed-off quality of deGroat's rough pencil sketches.
Horn Book
"powerful depiction of the childhood emotions that accompany the inevitable process of growing up...timeless... young readers should find Anna's experiences meaningful." Kirkus Reviews
About the Author
Diane de Groat has illustrated many novels and picture books for children; among them ANNA ALL YEAR ROUND. She lives in Amherst, Massachusetts.Mary Downing Hahn lives in Columbia, Maryland, with her husband. She has two grown daughters. Ms, Hahn was a children's librarian in Prince George's County until she decided to devote all her time to writing and visiting schools around the country. Her work ranges from realistic fiction to contemporary fantasy and has received much critical acclaim for its well-defined characterizations and interesting plot lines.