Wishing for Tomorrow [Audiobook, CD, Unabridged] [Audio CD]

Hilary McKay (Author), Justine Eyre (Reader)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 5, 2010 | Grade Level: 4 and up

Nothing is quite the same at Miss Minchin’s Select Seminary for Young Ladies since Sara Crewe went away with the Indian gentleman. Lavinia is once again the girls’ leader, but she hungers for a more interesting life. Lottie is still busy making mischief, as is the new neighbor, the red-headed boy. Alice, the new maid, brings a breath of fresh air and slapdash practicality to the school. But Sara is much missed — especially by her best friend, Ermengarde. Can Ermengarde find her own way and be happy? Will she and Sara ever be able to be friends the way they were before? Hilary McKay opens the door to Miss Minchin’s again and invites listeners to take a peek at the new adventures beginning in a beloved tale.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Readers may well approach this sequel to Frances Hodgson Burnett's timeless novel, A Little Princess, with both skepticism and high expectations. McKay quickly dispels the former and more than fulfills the latter. As she did in The Exiles and its companion stories and in her novels about the Casson clan, the author explores family dynamics—in this case those of the close-knit students left behind at Miss Minchin's Select Seminary for Young Ladies after Sara Crewe departs—with humor and insight. Did they not have a story too? What happens next? asks McKay's introduction. Now staying in the south of England with her new guardian and maid, Becky, Sara retains a strong presence in these pages, largely through flashbacks and letters to her best friend, Ermengarde (only once, in an emotional scene in which Sara insists that Becky leave her service to marry her beau, does Sara appear in the present). McKay gives vibrant new life to the school's remaining residents. Earnest, conflicted Ermengarde eases her pain at losing Sara by penning lengthy letters to her—most never posted (writing them was like shedding a heavy cloak. It was like opening a window). At Sara's request, Ermengarde takes under her wing stubborn and unsquashable Lottie, who utters some of the funniest lines; reprimanded for licking the neighbor's cat, she retorts, He licked me first. Additions to the roster include a cheeky but good-humored boy next door and the wise, outspoken maid, Alice. Enhanced by Maland's period illustrations, the novel convincingly evokes the Victorian era, even as McKay interjects a contemporary sensibility. A surprising, dramatic denouement caps this droll and heartwarming tale, a very worthy follow-up to a well-loved classic. Ages 8–12. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From School Library Journal

Grade 4–7—One hundred years after the publication of Frances Hodgson Burnett's A Little Princess, this welcome sequel opens with a quick, smooth retelling of the original story, then launches into the new one as Sara Crewe and erstwhile scullery maid Becky leave the Select Seminary for Young Ladies. Particularly bereft is Ermengarde, who depended on Sara's academic help and moral support and now, in her insecurity, questions whether they were really friends after all. She writes but never sends long newsy letters to Sara, telling of Lottie's mischief; Miss Minchin's mysterious condition; and Miss Amelia's kinder, gentler administration of the school. The big news is that an intriguing boy and his uncle, a university and music tutor, have moved into the vacated quarters next door, bringing stories of Oxford and the intellectual life that have Lavinia fired up for higher learning. It's all a pleasant romp until it turns serious as, late one night, Lottie accidentally sets the Seminary on fire with everyone trapped inside. A dramatic, heart-stopping climax reveals some unexpected heroes and a most satisfying conclusion. McKay has skillfully captured and enhanced the flavor of the original with her droll style and spot-on characterization; despite the insipid title, her lively, absorbing storytelling has left melodrama behind. Her blending of the hilarious with the grave (the fire is truly terrifying) is fast paced and pitch-perfect for the modern reader. With this worthy sequel, McKay has given the classic story new life. Pen-and-ink single- and double-page sketches, reminiscent of the work of Quentin Blake, add a light visual touch to this delightful novel.—Marie Orlando, North Shore Public Library, Shoreham, NY
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio on CD Unabridged; Unabridged edition (January 5, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1441812660
• ISBN-13: 978-1441812667
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 5.1 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (48 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,083,686 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Couldn't Wish for a Nicer Sequel, January 16, 2010

By 

K. Coombs (Utah, United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Wishing for Tomorrow: The Sequel to A Little Princess (Hardcover)

I tend to cringe when I see someone has written a "sequel" of a classic, but this time I didn't: I was pretty hopeful about Hilary McKay writing a sequel to Frances Hodgson Burnett's A Little Princess. Why? Because I'm crazy about McKay's Casson family books and figured that if anyone could do A Little Princess justice, she could. Happily--oh, so happily--hope was absolutely the right emotion for this book, which I read yesterday and then put down with a thoroughly blissful sigh. What a lovely book it is, imbued, not only with humor, but with subtle touches of tenderness.

Have you ever found yourself wondering what happens to the secondary characters after the end of a book? Hilary McKay proceeds to answer that question, mostly from the point of view of Ermengarde, her new heroine. Lumpish, awkward, insecure Ermengarde slowly comes into her own in this book, becoming a lot less lumpish without losing her essential Ermengarde-ness. One interesting story arc is Ermengarde's mixed feelings about Sara leaving her behind. We also learn that Lavinia has a secret and Miss Minchin is being haunted by her own feelings about Sara Crewe, while Lottie makes friends with the cat next door and blithely causes trouble. (McKay's Lottie owes a nod to her marvelous Rose from the Casson books. And perhaps to the irrepressible Posie of Noel Streatfeild's Ballet Shoes.)

Burnett's characters are rich and their encounters sometimes amusing, yet very few people writing today can show off the quirky thinking of children better than Hilary McKay. For example, when Jessica loans Ermengarde her silk dress to wear to see a performance of Peter Pan with her aunt, she warns Ermengarde not to cry because salt water will stain the silk:

"'...but you've got to promise that while you're wearing it you won't cry a single drip!'

'Are there sad bits in Peter Pan?'

'Yes.'

Ermengarde groaned.

'Very sad bits, actually! But you can't cry in them because if you do, you've got to take off your dress--my dress, don't forget! Take off my dress...'

'In the middle of the Duke of York's Theatre?'

'Yes! And watch the rest of the play in your petticoats!'"

The book further offers episodes such as Lottie's antics in church and the deviously hilarious way Lavinia arranges to take "piano lessons" in the house next door. And we are given insight into some of the events that took place while Sara was still at Miss Minchin's.

Hilary McKay is less inclined to believe in Magic than her predecessor, but like Burnett, she finds a kind of magic in people. In addition to developing existing secondary characters such as Ermengarde, Lottie, and Lavinia, the author adds a new and bolder housemaid named Alice and a scholarly gentleman next door whose nephew, Tristram, appears to be a match for the girls at Miss Minchin's. Even the vicar gets a bigger role.

The book ends with a highly dramatic turn, but it seems fitting in the romanticized Victorian setting, and the final pages bring further satisfaction. We do get to see Sara again, in case you were wondering.

After reading Wishing for Tomorrow, I think you'll feel, as I did, that you know and love Sara and her friends from A Little Princess more than ever. Enriching the original while creating a new world in the setting of Miss Minchin's, Hilary McKay has taken the risky, even brazen idea of a sequel to classic literature and written the proverbial tour de force.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Wishing for Yesterday before I read this book, February 24, 2010

By 

Travis Ann Sherman (St. Petersburg, Fl United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Wishing for Tomorrow: The Sequel to A Little Princess (Hardcover)

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WISHING FOR TOMORROW follows the lives of the the girls, Ermengarde, Lavinia and Lottie, that Sara Crew left behind when she came into her fortune at the end of "A Little Princess".

Why I picked it up: I named my middle daughter after Sara Crewe of A LITTLE PRINCESS. My copy has been read to bits. I tracked down Burnett's adult novels in second hand bookstores and read them too. It was with high expectations that I opened this book.

Why I finished it: Grimly, I followed the book to the end. WISHING FOR TOMORROW is indeed a 'sweet and wistful' book, as Joanne Harris describes it. But I loved A LITTLE PRINCESS because of its harsh ugliness, missing form McKay's modern treatment. For example, Becky the scullery maid has gone to be Sara's companion, and Alice is hired in her place. But Alice has the gumption that Becky lacked, cheeks the Miss Minchins on a daily basis and is never, ever scolded by the cook. Out the window goes the cruel truth that life, and the life of young working class girls, was worth almost nothing in turn of the century London. A LITTLE PRINCESS was a cold book; you could feel the damp chill on your bones as you suffered with poor Sara shivering under the thin covers of her narrow attic bed. The strength of A LITTLE PRINCESS was its simple plot: Sara goes from riches to rags and back to riches, all the time remaining a strong and good person. Sara Crewe was a heroine, a little princess because she behaved generously to others in the worst of circumstances, when she was starving and poor, as well as when a carriage was at her disposal.

Ermengarde could have been a heroine too, but she faces no harsh difficulties. The dragon Miss Minchin is having a nervous breakdown; Miss Amelia is entertaining a crush on the vicar; Lavinia is amusing rather than vicious; and Lottie is comic relief. Ermengarde just suffers from angst, flakiness and bad eyesight.

Sweet. Cotton candy, melting away. An aunt appears deus ex machina. A surprise ending jumps out at us. A LITTLE PRINCESS had real bones in it a child could gnaw on. I judge this book harshly. Its author has chosen to write a sequel to a classic, using the fame of A LITTLE PRINCESS to structure her book and sell it as well. It's not enough for her to manufacture a happy little tale. I might have been happier if there were zombies or time travel or some other kind of nonsense in it.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars LPS Video Review of Wishing for Tomorrow, April 10, 2010

By 

Umm Lila "Umm Lila" (Mt. Monadnock USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Wishing for Tomorrow: The Sequel to A Little Princess (Hardcover)

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Length:: 2:10 Mins

A Littlest Pet Shop Cat Reviews a Neo-Classic