The Unexpected Lives of Ordinary Girls - by J Anderson Coats (Hardcover)

About the Book

Set in 1910s Colorado, Stanislava, a first-generation American from a Slovene immigrant family, struggles between her traditional Slovene community and her desire to pursue a new life as she navigates self-determination, family duty, and the search for belonging.

Book Synopsis

A child of immigrants feels caught between two worlds and two selves in this powerful, luminous middle grade historical novel about self-determination, community, and what it means to belong--perfect for fans of Esperanza Rising and Katherine Marsh's The Lost Year.

When your family comes from Eastern Europe, you get used to being called a Bohunk--someone who's ignorant, lazy, and still has Old World farm dirt in their ears. Someone from a place that people don't care enough about to learn its real name.

Stanislava feels stuck in her deeply traditional Slovene community in Colorado in 1910. But when she finds a library book about an immigrant girl's college adventure, she discovers a dazzling world of opportunity. She's desperate to be like the book's heroine, Katinka, who starts life anew as Katie and is seemingly living the American dream. So, like Katie, Stanislava adopts an "American" name: Sylvia.

Sylvia fantasizes about escaping her claustrophobic life and going off to college--until her dreams are shattered when her older sister, Stina, elopes with a man their family disapproves of. Now Sylvia finds herself at a crossroads: quit school to fill Stina's role as the family's caretaker or run away from home. Stanislava would do the former. But Sylvia is determined to be free...

Review Quotes

"Brisk chapters, strong character development in the protagonist, nuanced themes related to immigrant identity, and the notion of living in a library will engage young readers, including those who may not generally gravitate to historical fiction. A fresh, feminist addition to historical fiction collections."--School Library Journal

* "Anderson brings lots of threads together with skill, telling a cohesive story that has as much to say about the present . . . as about its historical setting. Sylvia has an effective balance of naiveté and worldliness, making her an easy protagonist to root for, and her quest for independence is resolved in a gratifying but not overly neat way. This is historical fiction at its best, fusing period details with a compelling narrative and challenging assumptions of then and now."--Horn Book, STARRED REVIEW

"Sylvia is an appealing lead: Her conflicted feelings about her background, combined with her sophisticated understanding of subtle and overt prejudice, cultural differences, and her parents' sacrifices, have contemporary relevance. Readers will also admire her sense of adventure, yearning for education, feminist sentiments, and tenacity in living independently. A nuanced and inspiring adventure centering on a valiant tween."--Kirkus Reviews

"An engaging, well-paced plot that also introduces thoughtful themes of Sylvia's immigrant experience as she comes of age in an unfamiliar environment. . . . This will find a charmed audience in any kid who enjoys historical fiction or those who love the library so much they secretly wouldn't mind living there (at least for a while)."--The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

"Stanislava is an inspiring, relatable narrator who steadily matures in thoughtfulness and compassion . . . Coats portrays the challenging family dynamics that immigrant children sometimes navigate while celebrating free-thinking librarians, teachers, and other women who support Stanislava in following her dreams."--Publishers Weekly

About the Author

J. Anderson Coats has master's degrees in history and library science and has published short stories in numerous literary magazines and anthologies. She is the author of the acclaimed novels The Wicked and the Just, The Many Reflections of Miss Jane Deming, R Is for Rebel, The Green Children of Woolpit, and The Night Ride, as well as A Season Most Unfair and The Unexpected Lives of Ordinary Girls. She lives with her family in Washington State. Visit her at JAndersonCoats.com.