Mable Riley: A Reliable Record of Humdrum, Peril, and Romance [Hardcover]

Marthe Jocelyn (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 10 and up | Grade Level: 5 and up

In the spirit of ANNE OF GREEN GABLES comes this delightful turn-of-the-century journal of a feisty, imaginative young girl who is finding her voice and the courage to make it heard.

It’s the year 1901, and fourteen-year-old aspiring writer Mable Riley is on her way to fulfilling her dreams, or so she hopes. She’s sure that moving with her sister to a faraway town will bring adventures full of peril and romance to write about! At first, it seems that life in the new town is as humdrum as the one she left behind. But then Mable meets a real writer, one who wears daring fashions and enjoys shocking the townsfolk by sharing her opinions. And Mrs. Rattle has a few shocking secrets as well, including a dangerous plan that may soon bring Mable more peril and romance than she bargained for! Designed as a vintage journal including diary entries, letters, poems, and Mable’s own "Romantic Novel," MABLE RILEY is a reliable record of a young girl’s coming of age at a time of women’s early struggles for independence - a charmingly told tale that is as funny as it is inspiring.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-8--Set in Canada in 1901, this gentle tale relates the adventures of a 14-year-old who accompanies her older sister to the small town where she has been hired as a teacher. Mable discovers that very little happens in Sellerton, other than her frequent spats with her sister. Most of her days are spent assisting Viola at school and doing chores on the farm where they are boarding. Her only release is found in her journal entries or in spinning her fantasies into stories that she includes in letters to a friend back home. Wanting to have someone with whom to share her feelings and desires, Mable turns to a town outcast, an eccentric woman who leads a secret group of suffragettes. As she learns more about the injustices carried out in this small rural town, she ignores her sister's warnings and puts herself in the midst of a strike at the local cheese factory. Presented in diary format, this novel is a delightful elixir of Little House on the Prairie and Anne of Avonlea and makes a wonderful introduction to journal-style writing. Although the pace is somewhat slow, the ending is dramatic and satisfying.--Kimberly Monaghan, formerly at Vernon Area Public Library, IL
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Gr. 5-10. When 14-year-old Mable leaves home in 1901 with her older sister, who becomes a teacher in Stratford, Ontario, she keeps a diary of "humdrum" daily life; she also writes a wry, romantic adventure to entertain herself. Of course, the two works comment on each other, and some kids may end up skipping the made-up romance as Mable finds drama in "real life" not only in her first kiss but also in the exciting struggle of the suffragist movement. Mable makes friends with Mrs. Rattle, a neighbor who dares to wear bloomers, ride a bike, and live without a man. She invites Mable to a Readers' Club that is really a front for political action that climaxes when women in the local cheese factory strike against their appalling working conditions. The message is never strident because the funny, poignant diary entries show family and neighbors without reverence, especially the mentor-troublemaker, who refuses to know "her place" and teaches Mable to risk censure, even prison, rather than settle for something less than what she wants and what is right. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Candlewick; 1 edition (February 2, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 076362120X
• ISBN-13: 978-0763621209
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 1 x 7.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,077,951 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Four-and-a-half Stars (if only such a rating existed!), February 15, 2010

By 

M. Knapp "Maggie Knapp" (Fort Worth, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mable Riley: A Reliable Record of Humdrum, Peril, and Romance (Kindle Edition)

Mable Riley, a bundle of original energy, has recently moved to a small community in Canada, in 1901. As the story opens, and much to Mable's delight, she leaves her "crowded" house to accompany her sister on what Mable hopes will be a true adventure. The lively story includes hard work, nosy neighbors, pesky boys, a hint of romance, and a friendship with the local "trouble making" spinster. The story includes passages of Mable's own writings - the melodramatic tale she is posting back to her old schoolmates in segments. I liked the "real" story more, but found the whole book a great escape on a rainy day.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Mable Ri;ey, October 18, 2004

By 

Elisabeth Hegerat (Calgary, AB) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mable Riley: A Reliable Record of Humdrum, Peril, and Romance (Hardcover)

1901, Stratford, Ontario. Mable Riley has been sent off with her sister, Viola, to accompany her to her first teaching post. Mable hopes for excitement and romance, and despite the drag of daily chores and sibling rivalry, finds adventure when she befriends the eccentric Mrs. Rattle and her Ladies Reading Society. For bloomer-clad Mrs. Rattle is a real writer and her reading group are actually (gasp!) suffragists! Women's rights, a mill strike, and Mable's first kiss are all told through Mable's diary, letters home, and the poems she writes for Viola's classes. Comparisons to Anne of Green Gables are inevitable and deserved. Fun, irreverent, and anything but didactic.