Anna Rose Johnson
Author of The Star That Always Stays
Works by Anna Rose Johnson
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The Luminous Life of Lucy Landry is about a young Ojibwe orphan girl living near Lake Superior around 1912. Her father was a ship’s captain who was lost on the stormy, unforgiving waters of the massive lake. The lady who took her in after her father was lost, has now passed away and Lucy is once again homeless. Fortunately a family steps forward to take her into their home. The family, a dad, mom, and six children, live in a lighthouse on an island in Lake Superior. Lucy, who has been terrified of the lake waters since the loss of her father, is horrified. She can’t stand to go near the lake, much less live on a tiny island in the middle of its angry waves. As there is no alternative, Lucy will have to make some major adjustments to her life. Not only to living on an island, but also fitting into a large family. Lucy has always been a single child growing up in her twelve years. Will she be able to cope with the problems this new home will present. She does have one thing that can take her mind off her problems. Before he was lost in the lake, her dad had told Lucy of an old and valuable necklace that was lost in the ship wreck of the ship, Elva Jane near the island where she is being sent. If only she can find the necklace washed up on the shore. Then she feels she could put up with anything life throws at her. This book was provided for review by the publisher, Holiday House.… (more)
Fourteen-year-old Norvia Ann Nelson dreams of becoming a heroine who attends high school with popular friends and has many suitors. But that’s difficult to do when her father doesn’t seem to value education and then leaves the family altogether. Her now-divorced mother is scraping to get by, and Norvia’s older two brothers are already working so she finds it unlikely that her dreams will ever come true. But then her mother unexpectedly announces that she will soon be remarrying – to a man none of the Nelson children have met and they don’t know what he’ll be like. As the children are whisked away to an unfamiliar home across town and introduced to their new stepfamily, Norvia continues to wonder if she’ll ever live like a heroine in the stories she reads …
This book was so tediously long, despite being just about 300 pages. Norvia is the dullest of protagonists, who basically cries no matter what – actual disappointments, not getting her way (because she didn’t voice it), being shy and scared, or even when being happy! I was so sick of hearing about her tears by the end of the book. Because her father disapproved of them, Norvia doesn’t read novels until her stepfather introduces them to her and then she becomes obsessed with this idea of being a “heroine,” but she hasn’t the faintest idea what that actually means. She continues to be insipid and barely says a word to anyone at home or at school when she does get the chance to go.
She’s frankly unkind and unfeeling as she ignores genuine friends while chasing after popular girls and strings along a boy her age who’s interested in her in the hopes of catching the eye of a more handsome one. For the former, she does two-thirds or so of the way into the book realize the error of her ways, casting aside the shallow, fake friends and deepening her friendship with the true one – but she does so with the most lackluster apology or real understanding of the hurt she’s done. It’s all about her instead. I get this is not that off course for a 14-year-old girl who is still developing emotional intelligence, but it really made it hard to like her as nothing about her character was that thrilling.
In terms of the boys, she never really sees the issue. Here’s a stellar gem from this book:
“What if she did ask Aylmer to the dance? He was no Louis Behren, of course – but she liked him well enough, and Aylmer liked her too, even if it was only because he didn’t know about the divorce. Perhaps Aylmer could provide the happy ending to her storybook dance. In any case, she had to try it – she had no other alternative.”
This after being told that Aylmer “adores” her – she thinks it’s a great idea to ask him to a dance even though she actually likes someone else instead. Granted, Aylmer was kind of annoying too – he was definitely built in that ‘he must like you so that’s why he teases you’ antiquated mold – but this is not good behavior to be encouraging. Also, just for the record, at the end of the book, Norvia is still vacillating between liking the two of them – Louis because she’s actually attracted to him versus Aylmer because he likes her and it doesn’t seem that Louis does. Again, I get it – one thing mentioned in the book was that a young girl shouldn’t decide too soon to get attached to one boy for the rest of her life, but she doesn’t have to be engaged at the end of the book; she could just be firmly telling Aylmer she only wants to be his friend and/or that she’s interested in someone else so he’s not continually strung along waiting for her to like him back.
As referenced in the quote above, the divorce is a BIG deal in this book. As it’s set primarily in 1914, this makes sense. This small-ish Michigan town cannot deal with the idea of a divorced woman, let alone a divorced woman remarrying, so it’s a subject of gossip and a lot of upset to Norvia as a result of girls at her school shunning her. It’s in fact a much bigger deal than the book jacket would lead you to believe, as that focuses instead on the family hiding their indigenous Ojibwe roots on their mother’s side (and at their mother’s request). Their background doesn’t really seem to be much of an issue when it is raised. The same shallow people who didn’t like the divorce/remarriage situation don’t like it too much, but they already don’t get along with the family. I do appreciate that the story does have this diversity in it – both in ethnic heritage and family makeup – but it just wasn’t a good book.
Can I mention again how dull this book was? And how dull Norvia is? She is quiet and reserved ALL the time, even around her family. A big ‘breakthrough’ moment more than two-thirds of the way into the book is when Norvia has a conversation with her mother: “There. She had told the truth and the story in its entirety, and she had been a bold heroine in doing so.” The story in question is that she had a handkerchief from a classmate, forgot to return it to him, and wanted to do so now. It was so benign. To claim she was being “bold” is preposterous. Because she’s still holding back from her mother that she also likes the boy in question. And, again, this is her literal biological mother who is shown as nothing but supportive throughout the book.
Eventually, Norvia finds her own voice a little more – and I should really stress a little – with the help of her stepfather and to a lesser extent, her stepbrother. These two basically just quote Bible verses at her and tell her to trust Jesus, and that magically fixes everything. This, despite the fact that the Nelson family had to change religions (from Catholicism to Presbyterian, but still) after the mother’s remarriage and that former friends from both churches shun the family because of the divorce/remarriage situation. But, sure, quote a Bible verse and everything is magically fixed.
Worse yet, Norvia starts doing that toxic positivity thing of just pretending to be happy: “She plastered a smile on her face and immediately felt just a bit happier.” and “But the strangest thing of all was the fact that acting upbeat had made her feel upbeat – even before Louis arrived.” As much as I was sick of Norvia just crying over everything constantly, this is not really an improvement. She’s a teen-aged girl having a lot of complicated feelings from grief over her dead grandfather, abusive language from her father, her mother’s quick decision to upturn the family’s entire life, the cruel judgment of neighbors and classmates, and so on – before all the normal stuff of being a teen and trying to figure out what you want to do with the rest of your life. She needs to feel her emotions and learn how to regulate them, not hide them away behind a fake smile.
The way the story was presented also seemed disjointed to me. It starts a few years before the main action, showing how there’s already tension between Norvia’s parents. It also highlights the close-knitness of the family overall, especially with their grandparents. This is okay, although a little jumpy when it moves to the ‘present’ of the book and then suddenly explains how the parents are now divorced and the grandfather is deceased. However, then most of the main chapters are followed by shorter stories from earlier in Norvia’s childhood, primarily with her grandfather. These interstitials are often then referenced later in the following chapter, but honestly only a line or two of the preceding pages are relevant. It made the book feel clunky, instead of allowing Norvia to just have a flashback in the moment.
I really don’t know what this book was trying to accomplish but for me, it just led to boredom. I could see how it in theory could appeal to readers of classics like Anne of Green Gables and Little Women, especially with that similar issue of being about teens but technically geared towards a younger audience, but I read those books as a child (and re-read the former as an adult just recently), and this book is not that. The protagonist (who is most certainly not a heroine) is just too flat and dull and insipid to make the book appealing. Some of her siblings (notably Dicta) are interesting, and I felt more could have been built out of the begrudgingly forced siblingship with Vernon. It seemed like maybe the book was trying to follow too many threads and it just wasn’t coming together. Although, somehow it felt like nothing ever happened and the ending is so meh.
According to the author’s note, Norvia was not only a real person but an ancestor of the author. It sounds as though the author did a ton of research on Norvia and her times. And yet, there’s no follow-up about what finally happened. Did Norvia achieve her goals of becoming a bookkeeper? Of getting married and having children? What became of her other family members? Who knows, because there’s no real conclusion to this book, and none of the family members are famous enough to find this information on one’s own without serious effort. And I already expended all my effort finishing this book despite not liking it fairly early on – which was unfortunate because I was really hoping to enjoy it.… (more)
This book was so tediously long, despite being just about 300 pages. Norvia is the dullest of protagonists, who basically cries no matter what – actual disappointments, not getting her way (because she didn’t voice it), being shy and scared, or even when being happy! I was so sick of hearing about her tears by the end of the book. Because her father disapproved of them, Norvia doesn’t read novels until her stepfather introduces them to her and then she becomes obsessed with this idea of being a “heroine,” but she hasn’t the faintest idea what that actually means. She continues to be insipid and barely says a word to anyone at home or at school when she does get the chance to go.
She’s frankly unkind and unfeeling as she ignores genuine friends while chasing after popular girls and strings along a boy her age who’s interested in her in the hopes of catching the eye of a more handsome one. For the former, she does two-thirds or so of the way into the book realize the error of her ways, casting aside the shallow, fake friends and deepening her friendship with the true one – but she does so with the most lackluster apology or real understanding of the hurt she’s done. It’s all about her instead. I get this is not that off course for a 14-year-old girl who is still developing emotional intelligence, but it really made it hard to like her as nothing about her character was that thrilling.
In terms of the boys, she never really sees the issue. Here’s a stellar gem from this book:
“What if she did ask Aylmer to the dance? He was no Louis Behren, of course – but she liked him well enough, and Aylmer liked her too, even if it was only because he didn’t know about the divorce. Perhaps Aylmer could provide the happy ending to her storybook dance. In any case, she had to try it – she had no other alternative.”
This after being told that Aylmer “adores” her – she thinks it’s a great idea to ask him to a dance even though she actually likes someone else instead. Granted, Aylmer was kind of annoying too – he was definitely built in that ‘he must like you so that’s why he teases you’ antiquated mold – but this is not good behavior to be encouraging. Also, just for the record, at the end of the book, Norvia is still vacillating between liking the two of them – Louis because she’s actually attracted to him versus Aylmer because he likes her and it doesn’t seem that Louis does. Again, I get it – one thing mentioned in the book was that a young girl shouldn’t decide too soon to get attached to one boy for the rest of her life, but she doesn’t have to be engaged at the end of the book; she could just be firmly telling Aylmer she only wants to be his friend and/or that she’s interested in someone else so he’s not continually strung along waiting for her to like him back.
As referenced in the quote above, the divorce is a BIG deal in this book. As it’s set primarily in 1914, this makes sense. This small-ish Michigan town cannot deal with the idea of a divorced woman, let alone a divorced woman remarrying, so it’s a subject of gossip and a lot of upset to Norvia as a result of girls at her school shunning her. It’s in fact a much bigger deal than the book jacket would lead you to believe, as that focuses instead on the family hiding their indigenous Ojibwe roots on their mother’s side (and at their mother’s request). Their background doesn’t really seem to be much of an issue when it is raised. The same shallow people who didn’t like the divorce/remarriage situation don’t like it too much, but they already don’t get along with the family. I do appreciate that the story does have this diversity in it – both in ethnic heritage and family makeup – but it just wasn’t a good book.
Can I mention again how dull this book was? And how dull Norvia is? She is quiet and reserved ALL the time, even around her family. A big ‘breakthrough’ moment more than two-thirds of the way into the book is when Norvia has a conversation with her mother: “There. She had told the truth and the story in its entirety, and she had been a bold heroine in doing so.” The story in question is that she had a handkerchief from a classmate, forgot to return it to him, and wanted to do so now. It was so benign. To claim she was being “bold” is preposterous. Because she’s still holding back from her mother that she also likes the boy in question. And, again, this is her literal biological mother who is shown as nothing but supportive throughout the book.
Eventually, Norvia finds her own voice a little more – and I should really stress a little – with the help of her stepfather and to a lesser extent, her stepbrother. These two basically just quote Bible verses at her and tell her to trust Jesus, and that magically fixes everything. This, despite the fact that the Nelson family had to change religions (from Catholicism to Presbyterian, but still) after the mother’s remarriage and that former friends from both churches shun the family because of the divorce/remarriage situation. But, sure, quote a Bible verse and everything is magically fixed.
Worse yet, Norvia starts doing that toxic positivity thing of just pretending to be happy: “She plastered a smile on her face and immediately felt just a bit happier.” and “But the strangest thing of all was the fact that acting upbeat had made her feel upbeat – even before Louis arrived.” As much as I was sick of Norvia just crying over everything constantly, this is not really an improvement. She’s a teen-aged girl having a lot of complicated feelings from grief over her dead grandfather, abusive language from her father, her mother’s quick decision to upturn the family’s entire life, the cruel judgment of neighbors and classmates, and so on – before all the normal stuff of being a teen and trying to figure out what you want to do with the rest of your life. She needs to feel her emotions and learn how to regulate them, not hide them away behind a fake smile.
The way the story was presented also seemed disjointed to me. It starts a few years before the main action, showing how there’s already tension between Norvia’s parents. It also highlights the close-knitness of the family overall, especially with their grandparents. This is okay, although a little jumpy when it moves to the ‘present’ of the book and then suddenly explains how the parents are now divorced and the grandfather is deceased. However, then most of the main chapters are followed by shorter stories from earlier in Norvia’s childhood, primarily with her grandfather. These interstitials are often then referenced later in the following chapter, but honestly only a line or two of the preceding pages are relevant. It made the book feel clunky, instead of allowing Norvia to just have a flashback in the moment.
I really don’t know what this book was trying to accomplish but for me, it just led to boredom. I could see how it in theory could appeal to readers of classics like Anne of Green Gables and Little Women, especially with that similar issue of being about teens but technically geared towards a younger audience, but I read those books as a child (and re-read the former as an adult just recently), and this book is not that. The protagonist (who is most certainly not a heroine) is just too flat and dull and insipid to make the book appealing. Some of her siblings (notably Dicta) are interesting, and I felt more could have been built out of the begrudgingly forced siblingship with Vernon. It seemed like maybe the book was trying to follow too many threads and it just wasn’t coming together. Although, somehow it felt like nothing ever happened and the ending is so meh.
According to the author’s note, Norvia was not only a real person but an ancestor of the author. It sounds as though the author did a ton of research on Norvia and her times. And yet, there’s no follow-up about what finally happened. Did Norvia achieve her goals of becoming a bookkeeper? Of getting married and having children? What became of her other family members? Who knows, because there’s no real conclusion to this book, and none of the family members are famous enough to find this information on one’s own without serious effort. And I already expended all my effort finishing this book despite not liking it fairly early on – which was unfortunate because I was really hoping to enjoy it.… (more)
This debut book is five stars due to the sheer beauty contained within the pages. Our young woman, our Ojibwe heroine Norvia loved books and heroines like Anne Shirley and Jo March. Reading the likes of Bronte and Austen and Alcott. However. I bring this up because it is important to acknowledge that to me, Norvia (and indeed this entire book) reads like a comforting classic. One I can recommend without pause.
Truly, writing style and theme felt like Anne of Green Gables. From calling her new home "North Star" to desiring a special friend, The Star that Always Shines is a sweet read. The unashamed references to Christianity and to Bible/one's faith was very unexpected and yet a delightful one. The way in which Norvia's Ojibwe heritage was intertwined (yet also dealt with underlying racism and colorism) was something I appreciated...let's normalize characters who are different than ourselves.
While some might struggle with a subplot of Norvia's interest in an older boy, I think it adds to the story. Because it's used as an opportunity to draw her closer to her stepfather. Which just makes sense for this book. Community and family were the underlying concepts. Indeed the scenes of family plays (similar to Little Women) made me smile
Truly this book is a delight and it has a place to belong in my heart. And probably on my shelf.… (more)
Truly, writing style and theme felt like Anne of Green Gables. From calling her new home "North Star" to desiring a special friend, The Star that Always Shines is a sweet read. The unashamed references to Christianity and to Bible/one's faith was very unexpected and yet a delightful one. The way in which Norvia's Ojibwe heritage was intertwined (yet also dealt with underlying racism and colorism) was something I appreciated...let's normalize characters who are different than ourselves.
While some might struggle with a subplot of Norvia's interest in an older boy, I think it adds to the story. Because it's used as an opportunity to draw her closer to her stepfather. Which just makes sense for this book. Community and family were the underlying concepts. Indeed the scenes of family plays (similar to Little Women) made me smile
Truly this book is a delight and it has a place to belong in my heart. And probably on my shelf.… (more)
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Premise/plot: The Luminous Life of Lucy Landry is a children's historical fiction novel set in 1912. Lucy Landry is an orphan being sent to live with a new family--the Martins. The Martins live in a lighthouse and Mr. Martin is the lighthouse keeper. The family is already LARGE. They are strangers to one another. Lucy has a vivid imagination--especially when it comes to her identity and story. She is a girl on a mission. She wants to "complete" her father's mission--as best she can. He wanted to find treasure from a shipwreck. (The name of the ship is escaping my memory). Lucy is terrified of the water and not so fond of ships or boats, but her love of her father may prove stronger.
My thoughts: This one was an almost for me. I wanted to love it. I did. In the actual year 1912, one of the biggest trends in children's literature WAS orphans. THIS is the time of Pollyanna and Anne Shirley and Emily (of New Moon) and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm. I'm sure there are dozens more. An orphan with a big imagination sounds like my cup of tea. The opening was giving off big vibes of Emily of New Moon--minus the cats. But I personally failed to bond with the characters. At one point--and I take full responsibility--I blinked and missed a crucial plot point. I spent the last half of the novel slightly confused and out of sorts. Not lost enough to truly have lost the plot. Yet just confused enough to feel something was missing. If I could pinpoint *where* I blinked and missed something, I would go back to the chapter and pick it up again. But I don't know where I lost it. I think I wanted a stronger emotional reaction to this one. I still think this one could largely be all on me--my fault. Your reading experience might be different.… (more)