Mandy - Softcover

Edwards, Julie Andrews

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0061207071 ISBN 13: 9780061207075

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2006

Synopsis

Mandy, the first children’s novel ever written by the beloved star of Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music, Julie Andrews, is a modern classic.

Mandy, a ten-year-old orphan, dreams of a place to call her own. Escaping over the orphanage wall to explore the outside world, Mandy discovers a tiny deserted cottage in the woods. All through the spring, summer, and fall, Mandy works to make it truly hers. Sometimes she "borrows" things she needs from the orphanage. Sometimes, to guard her secret, she even lies. Then, one stormy night at the cottage, Mandy gets sick, and no one knows how to find her—except a special friend she didn't know she had.

This is the perfect book for ten-year-old girls who love tiny houses and stories filled with hope.

About this title

Review:

For an orphan child whose life is filled with comfortable, predictable sameness, with no particular hardships, life is, well, all right. Really, what does Mandy have to worry about? So it comes as a surprise even to Mandy when a small restlessness begins to grow in her. This lonely ache sets her to wandering farther afield, and leads her to a startling and wonderful discovery over the orphanage wall--a very old, very small, seemingly abandoned cottage. Embarking on a clandestine domestic fantasy involving gardening tools and soap flakes, Mandy finds herself being less than honest about where and how she's spending her days. Holding her secret closer and closer to her heart, this imaginative dreamer inadvertently endangers her reputation--and her life.

For every child who has fallen in love with The Secret Garden or A Little Princess, Julie Andrews Edwards's 1971 novel will be a heartwarming discovery. Any sometimes-lonely child with a giant imagination will recognize Mandy's dreams and rejoice in her ultimate fairy-tale happy ending. Judith Gwyn Brown's Edward Gorey-esque pen and ink drawings (with none of Gorey's sinister air) are quietly memorable. Fans of Julie Andrews Edwards--Sound of Music star of stage and screen--will be thrilled to see her latest children's book, Little Bo: The Story of Bonnie Boadicea, or to an earlier favorite, The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles. (Ages 8 to 12) --Emilie Coulter

From the Publisher:

In this heartwarming story, 10-year-old Mandy searches for a way to put an end to the loneliness of her orphanage bound childhood. Mandy ultimately discovers that her answer lies in the redeeming power of love, and the hope that her dreams will come true. Ms. Andrews reads her delightful story with a keen ability to convey the world as glimpsed through the eyes of a child - capturing the flights of fantasy that brighten all of our dreamy afternoons.

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0061207071
• ISBN 13: 9780061207075
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320