Our Only May Amelia

Holm, Jennifer L.. Our only May 
Amelia. New York: HarperCollins
Publishers, 1999. 


By Jennifer L. Holm

Copyright:  1999

Publisher:  Harper Collins Publishers

Reading Level:

• Lexile:  900L

• Grade level:  6

Genre:  Fiction

Description:  Families and Social structures, Hardships, Growing up

Suggested Delivery:  Independent reading, Discussed in groups

Summary:  May Amelia is a spunky 12 year old growing up in a house of seven older brothers.  She is the only daughter in the entire area of the Nasal River.  May Amelia is always ready for adventure and feels the need to prove her toughness to her brothers.  Her father is always reminding May Amelia to act like a proper young lady, however.  Her mother is pregnant and May Amelia wishes for nothing more than a baby sister to share her secrets with someday and play with like sisters do.  When Grandma Patience moves in, she is constantly badgering May Amelia about the way she acts and the things she does.  May Amelia proves her ability to become a woman when she takes on the role of caring for the new baby.  However, May Amelia and her family are faced with the unexpected and this young girl struggles through the pain of loss and confusion.

Electronic Resources:

• Map of Washington State (Pacific county) for teacher to locate specific area of Astoria along the Nasel River that the main character, May Amelia, grows up on.

• Summary questions to help check the students' understanding of the book once they have finished reading.

Key Vocabulary: Confederates, ambush, reluctantly, Finnish, exasperated, unison, confiding, kin, moping, gillnets, proceedings

Teaching suggestions:

• Use this book to portray the significance of gender during this time period and the specific gender roles that existed.
• Discuss the author's tense in the book (written from May Amelia's perspective in first person) and what effect this has on the story.
• Read other fiction books like this one with a theme of the "pioneer" and growing up in the late 1800s, such as Little House on the Prairie. 

Comprehension Strategies:

• Before Reading:  
• Discuss the setting with the students.  Locate Washington State on a map using an overhead projector or SmartBoard and show where the Nasel River is located.  Specifically label the town of Astoria in Oregon where May Amelia and her family live.  This will help the students better visualize the area that the main character is describing as she tells her story.  Explain that the setting is a very important aspect to the story and May Amelia's upbringing.

• During Reading:  
• Have the students mark specific pages that they would like to further discuss in their groups after finishing the book.  Provide them with sticky notes and instruct them to write down important themes and ideas they come across.

• After Reading:  
• Have the students generate a list of questions that they will ask to create constructive conversation in their discussion groups.  Divide the students into groups and have them discuss the significant ideas they found in the book, referring directly to their essential questions and having them bounce their ideas off of each other.
• Students can also create Venn Diagrams comparing and contrasting their lives to that of May Amelia.  Tell them to analyze character traits, household tasks, etc.  This activity will help them to see the relationship between themselves and this young girl growing up during the late 1800s.

Writing Activity:  

Have the students write alternative endings to the book.  They may have found themselves wishing for the story to have finished a different way, so giving them a chance to brainstorm and develop their own ending could be an interesting and exciting assignment for them.  Have them share these writing pieces with the class when they are done.