Anna on the Farm [Hardcover]

Mary Downing Hahn (Author), Diane de Groat (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 19, 2001 | Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 4 and up

Anna is thrilled when she receives an invitation to leave hot, sticky Baltimore and visit her aunt and uncle on their farm, where she’ll be able to go barefoot, swim in the pond, and drink fresh-squeezed lemonade. But when she arrives, she’s greeted by an unpleasant surprise: her uncle’s nephew, Theodore, who delights in teasing her mercilessly about her city ways. Anna refuses to let Theodore get the best of her, though, and in a series of suspenseful adventures and hilarious mishaps she proves that she isn’t just a city slicker, after all.
In this lively sequel to Anna All Year Round, award-winning author Mary Downing Hahn again draws on her own mother’s childhood experiences just before World War I. The result is a gathering of humorous, heartwarming episodes filled with both the delights and difficulties that have always accompanied the journey of growing up.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this sequel to Anna All Year Round, set just before WWI, nine-year-old Anna is happy to spend a week at her aunt and uncle's farm in Anna on the Farm by Mary Downing Hahn, illus. by Diane de Groat. All runs smoothly until she meets Theodore, who calls her a "stuck-up city slicker" and spurs her to prove that she's just as clever and brave as he is.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 3-5. In this sequel to Anna All Year Round (1999), nine-year-old Anna travels to spend a week in the country with Aunt Aggie and Uncle George. She is ecstatic (since all her Baltimore friends have left on vacations) until she discovers that her aunt and uncle have taken in a young orphan named Theodore. The rivalry between the children results in a series of pranks, but eventually the children become good friends. Unlike the earlier, more episodic title, the action here is better focused and the characters more fleshed out. Particularly interesting is the contrast between Anna's mother (a rigid woman with definite Old World ideas about ladylike behavior) and Aunt Aggie, who allows Anna to wear overalls for play and encourages her to have fun. The details in the setting (early-twentieth-century Baltimore, Washington, and rural Prince Georges County) add to the richness of the text, as do the illustrations by Diane de Groat. A good choice for easy-chapter-book readers, especially those who have met Anna before. Kay Weisman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Clarion Books; None edition (March 19, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0618036059
• ISBN-13: 978-0618036059
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 6.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #677,937 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Mary Downing Hahn, a former children's librarian, is the award-winning author of many popular ghost stories, including Deep and Dark and Dangerous and The Old Willis Place. An avid reader, traveler, and all-around arts lover, Ms. Hahn lives in Columbia, Maryland, with her two cats, Oscar and Rufus.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A charming book, April 13, 2001

By 

Benji "schoollibrarian" (Las Vegas, Nevada USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Anna on the Farm (Hardcover)

Hahn has another winner with this gentle and wise novel of a city girl who finds freedom and friendship during a summer visit to her aunt and uncle's farm. Dramatic tension comes from Anna's encounters with Theodore, an orphan boy who has been taken in by the farm family. Theodore and Anna begin as jealous rivals, but are as close as brother and sister by the book's end. Readers will cheer for Anna as she leaves her stuffy, urban life behind (if only for a while) and becomes a scrappy and happy mud-caked farm girl. I was genuinely sorry to see the book end, and hope Ms. Hahn has more books about Anna in the works.