Lotta's Progress - Hardcover

Johnston, Norma; St. John, Nicole

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0380973677 ISBN 13: 9780380973675

Publisher: Avon Books, 1997

Synopsis

Their dream of a new life in a land of opportunity shattered by the cruel realities of immigrant life in 1848 Boston, the Muller family sinks ever deeper into despair and poverty, until twelve-year-old Lotta Muller meets members of the remarkable Alcott family.

About this title

About the Author

Norma Johnston is the author of Lotta's Progress as well as Harriet: The Life and World of Harriet Beecher Stowe and Louisa May: The World and Works of Louisa May Alcott, called "A fresh look at the beloved author of Little Women" in a starred School Library Journal review. The author of many other books, Norma Johnston lives in northern New Jersey.

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-7. Carlotta Muller, 12, and her family immigrate to Boston from Germany in the late 1840s. There, they encounter language barriers, unjust arrest, destruction of their home by fire, ethnic bigotry, poverty, and illiteracy. They are befriended by the Alcott family, including Louisa May (Louy). Friendship and support also come from the Callaghans, recent Irish immigrants and neighbors of the Mullers. A few stereotypes aside ("Mither o' God!") and a little melodrama ("sitting bolt upright, coughing, her eyes wells of terror"), the book's sympathetic characters boost reader involvement. The interaction between Lotta and Louy, two temperamentally similar characters with dissimilar backgrounds, reveals the personalities of the two girls on both intellectual and emotional levels. The intrusion of the Alcotts into the story is a bit jarring as, deus ex machina-like, they rescue the Mullers from crisis after crisis. Johnston provides a note that clearly separates the story's factual content from the fictional, and connects the book's characters to Alcott family members and characters in Little Women. Lotta's Progress lacks the complexity of Avi's "Beyond the Western Sea" books (Orchard, 1996), but is more substantial and rewarding than Kathleen Kudlinski's Shannon (Aladdin, 1997).?Liza Bliss, Worcester Public Library, MA
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Avon Books
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0380973677
• ISBN 13: 9780380973675
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 155