Nelly in the Wilderness [Hardcover]

Lynn Cullen (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 9 and up

Beans, beans, beans! Nelly Vandorn knows that trouble always comes in threes. And now that her ma is dead, and her pa has disappeared, Nelly is just waiting for the third trouble to come along.

When Pa finally returns home with a young city woman as his new bride, Nelly realizes she's just met trouble number three. Margery knows as much about the wilderness as Nelly knows about reading, writing, and schooling -- nothing. In Nelly's opinion, just about the only thing Margery is good for is looking mighty silly trying to be a pioneer woman.

But nothing seems to discourage her from trying to be a pioneer wife. Nelly can't decide if Margery is brave, or just plain crazy for sticking it out. Nelly has never expected much from life, but the longer she's around Margery, the more she begins to see that there is a world beyond her little cabin in the wilderness.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Set in 1821 Indiana, Cullen's (The Mightiest Heart) well-worn tale of a pioneer girl's hardships begins on a grim note and becomes increasingly dismal as characters wallow in their separate woes. Nelly, along with her older brother, is still grieving for their dead mother when their long-absent father, a trapper, returns home with a city bride named Margery. Appalled by her delicate manners and young age, the children make their stepmother's life miserable. The heavy aura of discontent overshadows potentially tender moments. When Pa comes in one day bearing gifts, a catamount pelt for his wife and a catamount kitten for his daughter, more trouble brews. Margery will not accept the fur ("How could I ever find happiness in something that deprived a creature of its life?" she says primly but illogically, considering her husband's work). Nelly, in turn, continues to give Margery the cold shoulder even when she helps save the kitten's life. Characters never do manage to connect with one another. It takes a tragedy to make Nelly realize her stepmother's virtues, and by then, it is too late for her to beg forgiveness. Readers may have trouble feeling compassion for any of the players in this colorless melodrama; while the author succeeds in expressing frontier stoicism and describing settlers' exploitation of animals, her writing here lacks subtlety and depth. Ages 8-12.

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grades 4-6--After her mother's death, Nelly's father takes off and her only companion in the wilderness of the Indiana frontier is her brother, Cornelius. Forced to fend for themselves, the two gradually manage to get by, only to have Pa return with a new wife in tow. Margery is pretty, a citified person, and incapable of doing most of the daily chores. When John Chapman (Johnny Appleseed) comes to call, Nelly begins to hope that he and her stepmother will take a shine to one another and take off together. Determined not to talk to the woman, Nelly gradually relents under Margery's gentle kindness and determination to make things work. The cover art tantalizes readers into thinking that the plot's focus will be the baby wildcat that Nelly clutches, but this is only one of many threads that float around Margery and Nelly's relationship. A rattlesnake bite and a measles outbreak in a nearby Indian camp add a sense of danger but the sense of time and place are not as vividly drawn as in some other frontier tales. When tragedy strikes at the end, readers are not prepared and there is no sense that Nelly and her family fully feel the effects. Far less realistic than Mary Jane Auch's "Journey to Nowhere" trilogy (Holt), this story has little to recommend to readers except a feisty heroine.

Carol A. Edwards, Sonoma County Library, Santa Rosa, CA

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers (March 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060291338
• ISBN-13: 978-0060291334
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,869,292 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating historical details..., August 14, 2002

By 

Karen Anderson (Hastings, NE) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nelly in the Wilderness (Hardcover)

This is a great book to read to a grade school class! Not only is the story interesting and believable, but the historical details make it even more satisfying and worthwhile. Children know when they are being "talked down to," and this book with some of the sad realism it includes does not do that - what it does do is open avenues for discussion about issues children worry about in their own lives.
I loved it!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My favorite book - by Andy Szoke age 8, April 9, 2002

By 

Lori A. Eskridge (Charlotte, NC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Nelly in the Wilderness (Hardcover)

If you love country citizens, you may find yourself in a dimly lit room reading this brilliant book, page by page. I skipped some sentences in other books, but I dare not skip a character on this book `cause if I did, I would have find myself hitting my head.

My favorite part of the story is when Nelly recives Baby, a cantamount. If you are asking what a cantamount is, It looks like a baby tiger. If you look on the cover, nelly is carrying it.

Yes, there are some sad parts, but many MANY joyful and happy emotions too.

This masterpiece made my heart do about 1,000 sumersaults and 15 butterflys floating in my stomach.

How I long to read it again!!!!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars netty in the wilderness, August 18, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Nelly in the Wilderness (Hardcover)

I have just finished the book. I think it is the best children's book I have read for many years. I loved it. I have already recommended it to three friends. Ms. Cullen's descriptions are so graphic and original. I think the book is one of a kind and not to be missed.