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: A Strange Thing Happened in Cherry Hall

By
A Strange Thing Happened in Cherry Hall By Jasmine Warga New York: Harper, 2024. Fiction. 211 pages. A painting has been stolen from the Penelope L. Brooks Museum and sixth-grader Rami Ahmed is worried he's the main suspect. His mother works at the museum as the lead custodian and Rami spends a lot of time hanging out at the museum while she works. On the day the painting went missing, the only people there were the security guard Ed, the cleaning crew, and Rami. Then, a mysterious girl appears in the museum. She floats around from room to room and only Rami can see her -- and she looks exactly like the girl from the missing painting. To prove his innocence and help figure out who the floating girl is, Rami partners up with an aspiring sleuth at school named Veda and the two dive into unexpected situations as they try to solve the mystery. This is a cozy mystery that is focused mostly on characters and ambiance and only a little on the mystery itself. Don't read this book if yo...
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: The Factory

By
The Factory By Catherine Egan New York, NY : Scholastic Inc., 2025. Fiction. 306 pages.  Thirteen-year-old Asher Doyle has been invited to join the Factory, a secretive research facility in the desert which ostensibly extracts renewable energy from the electromagnetic fields of its young recruits. But Asher soon realizes something sinister is going on. Kids are getting sick. The adults who run the Factory seem to be keeping secrets. And the extraction process is not only painful and exhausting, but existentially troubling. Asher makes a handful of new friends who help him with an investigation that turns into a resistance, which turns into...a cliffhanger! The Factory is a page-turning sci-fi with multidimensional characters, an intriguing plot, and refreshingly straight-forward writing. Egan weaves in detail about climate crises and social unrest, making the story's dystopian setting feel rich and plausible. With its sophisticated themes and accessible storytelling, I would recomm...
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: The Amazing Generation

By
The Amazing Generation: Your Guide to Fun and Freedom in a Screen-Filled World Written by Jonathan Haidt and Catherine Price  Illustrated by Cynthia Yuan Cheng New York: Rocky Pond Books, 2025. Informational. 226 pages.  In a kid-friendly adaptation of his best-selling book, The Anxious Generation , Jonathan Haidt teams up with Catherine Price, author of How to Break Up With Your Phone , to bring the power of good information directly to the hands of those that this issue affects most directly — kids on the cusp of getting their own smartphones. The book presents information about the drawbacks of having a smartphone and social media too soon in clear and easy-to-understand language, with eye-catching graphics and pop-outs. Throughout the book, quotes from real teens and young adults, called screen "rebels" by the authors, emphasize the points the authors are trying to make. Fictional characters are featured throughout in a graphic novel story, which further emphasizes the po...
Post a Comment
Read more