Skip to main content

Wishing for Tomorrow: the sequel to A Little Princess

By curlyq
Wishing for Tomorrow: the sequel to A Little Princess
By Hilary McKay
Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2010. 273 pp. Chapter book.

It's always been a mystery as to what happened to the rest of the students after Sara Crewe escaped Miss Minchin's Select Seminary for Young Ladies. In this lovely sequel, written by Hilary McKay, the continuing stories of Lottie, Ermengarde, and even Lavinia are revealed. How the school, pupils, and teachers are changed and how they all manage to find some happiness in one way or another are addressed, making the original story of A Little Princess even richer. Lavinia is given a more human side and a fuller scope of personality is revealed, showing her deep longing to learn. Lottie is still up to her usual mischief but has matured a small bit. Ermengarde seems to be suffering from Sara's absence the most--her journey of maturing and finding peace is the heart of the story.

Reading a sequel to a childhood favorite, when penned by a different author, is a strange experience. There is always the worry that it won't do justice to the original or that will sound so foreign as to be jarring, but Wishing for Tomorrow escapes all such unpleasant problems. McKay remained so true to Burnett's writing style that the reader can completely and seamlessly slip back into the world of Miss Minchin's Select Seminary. I was truly impressed with the harmony of the sequel and the original; even the phrasing and vocabulary was in tune. New characters are introduced and are just as delightful as the original ones. My one regret was that Sara wasn't more involved in the story; she was always my favorite character and it would have been wonderful to see things from her eyes once again, although I did appreciate that she was included in a small way. Nonetheless, this was an excellent, beautifully written book with great charm, grace, and hilarious mischief scattered throughout. What a wonderful delight--thank you, Hilary McKay!
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Kareem Between

By
  Kareem Between By Shifa Saltagi Safadi New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2024. Fiction. 324 pages.  Kareem loves football and as he gets ready to start seventh grade he dreams of someday becoming the first Syrian American NFL player. Seventh grade is not off to a great start for Kareem, after football tryouts don't go as he had planned, his best friend moves away, and his mom returns to Syria to help bring his sick grandfather to the US for treatment. So when Austin, the quarterback and coach's son, offers to talk to his dad and get Kareem on the football team in the spring, if he will cheat and do his homework for him, Kareem agrees. Kareem really wants to fit in at school and he is desperate to find a friend, but deep down he knows that doing Austin's homework isn't the right thing to do. And to make things harder, Kareem's mom asks him to be a friend to Fadi, a Syrian Christian refugee. He knows he should stand up for Fadi and help him adjust to the new school,...
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: A World Without Summer

By
A World Without Summer: A Volcano Erupts, a Creature Awakens, and the Sun Goes Out Written by Nicholas Day Illustrated by Yas Imamura New York: Random House Studio, 2025. Informational. 294 pages. In 1815 on a small island in Indonesia, Mount Tambora erupted. The blast was the largest in human history, and one of the deadliest. Though it couldn't be understood at the time, the deadly blast half a world away would lead to catastrophic famine in Europe, prompt westward expansion in America, and inspire the novel Frankenstein  by Mary Shelley. The global climate disaster following the explosion also led to inventions like modern meteorology and the early invention of the bicycle. The people living at the time couldn't have seen how everything was connected, but this fast paced narrative assures that readers will. As he did in 2024's Sibert winner The Mona Lisa Vanishes, Nicholas Day does an impressive job of weaving together different historical events into one single, compell...
Post a Comment
Read more

If You Like...KPop Demon Hunters

By
KPop Demon Hunters has been one of the most talked-about movies of the summer. If you loved this movie as much as I did, you don't want the magic (or the music) to stop. Try reading these books that touch on some of the same topics and themes as the animated hit! Brick Dust and Bones By M. R. Fournet New York: Feiwel and Friends, 2023. Fiction. 247 pages. Orphaned Marius works in the family business--as their cemetery's ghost caretaker. However, Marius also moonlights as a monster hunter in order to earn the costly Mystic currency he needs to bring his mother back from the dead. As the window to bring his mother back begins to close, Marius's exploits get more and more dangerous, and he may have set his sights on a monster too big to handle on his own. Like Mira, Marius longs for familial connection, and his work as a monster hunter will satisfy the thrill of demon hunting for fans the movie. Where's Halmoni? By Julie J. Kim Seattle, WA: Little Bigfoot, 2017. Comics. W...
Post a Comment
Read more