Anna's World [Paperback]

Wim Coleman (Author), Pat Perrin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 31, 2009

The United States of America in the late 1840s--a nation torn by the crime of slavery and a war of conquest in Mexico. Fourteen-year-old Anna Coburn doesn't want to grapple with such terrible issues. Just growing up seems awful enough. Forced from her home and away from her beloved father, Anna is sent to live among the stern people called Shakers. Their strange ways and strict lifestyle are both appealing and difficult for the bright, headstrong Anna. When reunited with her father, Anna is then plunged into upper-class Boston life, where she faces a troubling mystery, new responsibilities, and events that will affect not just herself and her loved ones, but a country about to come apart at the seams. With a cast that includes Henry David Thoreau, a perceptive Shaker schoolmistress, and a murderous false friend, Anna's World is a powerful coming of age story, widely praised for its vivid characters, gripping plot, and moral stature.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 8 Up—This story accurately portrays life in a Shaker community and the fabric of America during the 1840s. Anna's world has been very different since her father's business was destroyed by a flood. When he leaves to build a new business in Boston, the 14-year-old is sent to live in a Shaker community. There she leads a restrictive life, with too much work and too little fun. Still, she manages to bend the rules and get into mischief, such as helping a friend elope. She also discovers that the storekeeper is stealing from the West Family Shakers. Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Nathaniel Hawthorne make cameo appearances, and Anna, through her teacher, is introduced to them. When she finally leaves for Boston to live with her father and his new wife, she is overwhelmed. She attends a lecture by Thoreau and learns about the war with Mexico and American slavery. As time passes, she begins to understand the orderly conventions of the Shakers and longs to return to their rule-bound but idealistic life. The story is well written and has good character development. The overall themes of abiding friendship, growing up, and personal moral choices are strong but not didactic. An excellent ancillary choice for social-studies classes.—Sharon Morrison, Southeastern Oklahoma State University, Durant, OK
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

From the Publisher

TWO NATIONAL AWARDS: Anna's World is the top Award-Winner in the "Fiction & Literature: Young Adult Fiction" category of the National Best Books 2008 Awards, sponsored by USA Book News.

Anna's Worldis a Silver Medal Winner in the "Young Adult Fiction" category of the Moonbeam Children's Books Awards. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Chiron Books (July 31, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1935178067
• ISBN-13: 978-1935178064
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,689,109 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Wim Coleman and Pat Perrin are widely recognized authors of essays, plays, nonfiction, and fiction in many genres for all ages--mostly written collaboratively. In addition, Coleman's one-act drama collection Nine Muses appears on middle and high school curricula, and plays from it are performed by school drama departments. Perrin's picture book The Secret World of Unicorns has sold over 12,000 copies and entertains young readers everywhere.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "To live means nothing but to grow", August 26, 2009

By 

Linda Bulger (United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Anna's World (Paperback)

Anna's World is a historical novel aimed at the young teen audience, but there's plenty here to make an adult smile too. Young Anna Coburn's life is turned upside down in 1845 when floods destroy her father's store and bring typhoid to her town. Needing to focus on rebuilding their future, he places Anna in a Shaker community where she finds life restrictive and longs for the day when he'll take her away again.

Authors Wim Coleman and Pat Perrin paint a rich picture of this strange and self-contained religious community, during the decade that saw it reach its highest numbers in the United States . Though Anna at 14 is considered a woman, not a child, she is able to attend school as well as share in the herb-processing work and other activities. The traditions and history of the Shakers are presented with respect and, as far as I know of Shakers, with accuracy. The authors portray a few of the Shakers as very real people who had real lives in the world before sequestering themselves in this celibate community.

The story deals with moral choices, but the public and private dilemmas are presented with a clever hand and never sound preachy. I was delighted to find Henry David Thoreau as a character in the book, introducing the themes of slavery and the Mexican War. When Anna's father eventually sends for her and brings her to his sumptuous new Boston home, these worldly issues have a surprising impact on her and, young as she is, she has to make some adult choices about how to live her life.

If you think a book about an all-but-defunct religious community sounds dull, read it for yourself and you'll be pleasantly surprised. Anna is a well-rounded main character, mature but not beyond a bit of mischief when the occasion arises. Her courage in the face of danger, her commitment to living the life that's right for her, provide a model for growing up that's as fresh as a new day.

I took one star off because of a concern that's admittedly subjective: in the epilogue, Anna reminisces about her father's position of conscience during the Civil War. I felt that his stance ws introduced with too little discussion, so that her acceptance of it was not well-grounded. This could (and should) be an opportunity for thoughtful discussion in the family if you bring this book home to a teen.

Linda Bulger, 2009

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars YA fictional account of life among the Shakers in the 1800s, August 17, 2009

By 

R Schmidt (Honolulu, HI USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Anna's World (Paperback)

When a book of fiction brings history to life, the reader always benefits!

Anna is sent to live among the Shakers after a flood destroys her hometown and her father's store, and while she is recovering from typhoid fever. She is 14, and wants to rejoin her father, who is trying to build a new life in Boston.

The Shakers have firm rules organizing their society, and Anna slowly adapts to these conventions, learning the ropes of Shaker life and worship. Eventually, she is reunited with Papa, but the bright lights of Boston do not turn out to be as attractive as she may have wished. People are not always who they seem.

Anna's World, by Wim Coleman and Pat Perrin, was written to be an entertaining story for young adults (YA) as well as a tribute to the Shakers, a religious group that currently has, in 2009, three remaining members. Known for their plain dress, their commitment to do their jobs well, their religious songs and dance, their opposition to slavery and war, and their dedication to producing fine herbs and stout, well-made furniture (particularly chairs), Anna goes from observing their customs first as an outsider, then as an insider. She evolves with them and, in some small ways, they evolve with her.

Authors Coleman and Perrin clearly are enamored by the Shakers, and in Anna's World they are assisted with the fictional presence of Henry David Thoreau, who takes time away from his lone contemplations at Walden Pond to visit the Shaker community and meet Anna, and later see her again in Boston as he delivers his famous polemic against the Mexican-American War. Readers of this book will become more familiar with both Shakers and Thoreau, although the story itself is wrapped around the typical YA literature themes of growing up, looking for understanding, making hard decisions, friendship, and fitting in.

This isn't an overly religious book. Discussions of God the Father and Mother come through Anna's discussions with the female leadership. As far as I can tell, the authors did a nice job with issues relating to historical accuracy.

I have to admit a bit of rolling the eyes as I started reading this book, but I ended up being captivated by Anna's story. What was she going to accomplish with the Shakers, and in Boston? Does Papa ever listen to that wise (now) 15 year old? Is Eldress Clara a dictator or not? Does Brother Seth have a memory problem, or something more sinister?

I would suspect that any new visitor to a Shaker community, even in 1840, would get an orientation to the history of this church. This would have been helpful to share with the reader, since few kids today would have any sense at all as to what a "Shaker" was. Alas, in a few years, the extinction of Shakers from this planet will make this book a reflection on a different time and culture... that one can only read about. Hence, the value of Anna's World in our school libraries.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book for the Tween to learn about this period of history, August 15, 2009

By 

Barbara Rhoades "Jackie of all Trades" (O'Fallon, MO USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Anna's World (Paperback)

This book is written with the Tween reader in mind, yet as an adult, I found it enjoyable. I always like a book that can teach me things and this one did just that. I have known about Shakers and their wonderful woodcrafts but I never knew they were versed in herbs and what they could do for medicine. I also didn't know they were Separatists in that they did not live as husband and wife or that they took in orphans.

Anna Coburn, age 14, is left by her father with the Shaker Community after her town suffered a horrific flood. She doesn't want to be there with all the rules the Shakers have. Life is dull to Anna.

She makes friends with another young girl, Sally who is a monitor in the Shaker school. Yet, there are some things that happen in the community like Henry David Thoreau speaking at their school and this catches Anna's interest.

Sally talks Anna into helping her to run away so she can marry the boy she loves and Anna's father finally sends a servant to get her. Her father has been able to start a new business in Boston and has married and is now able to have Anna with him. Anna goes willingly but soon finds Boston is not the town or the life for her.

ANNA'S WORLD tells of life in the late 1840's, the war with Mexico and the lifestyle of the Shakers. It is written in easy to understand language. It is a good book for the Tween in your life to learn about this period of history in America.