REVIEW: Wishing for Tomorrow by Hilary McKay

Review by Sasha

Wishing for Tomorrow is a follow-up story to the children's classic A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett. It's written by Hilary McKay, author of the Casson family series and many other great books.

Following the events that happened in A Little Princess, Ermengarde St. John is alone at the Select Seminary owned by the ruthless Miss Minchin. She is missing Sara, her best friend who has deserted her and escaped to the coast with the scullery maid Becky and the Indian gentleman who discovered her all that time ago. On Ermengarde's thirteenth birthday she realises her longing for her friend when her kind Aunt Eliza sends birthday wishes. Ermengarde recalls the times when she and Sara sneaked up to the attic to feast upon the contents of a treat-filled hamper also delivered by her Aunt Eliza. But life must go on at Miss Minchin's as new friendships are made, rivalries continued, lessons learned and, most importantly, fairytale endings do happen.

There were some positives concerning this book and also some negatives. The positives were that the whole book was written extremely well and it really captured the essence of that era and brought it alive on the page. There definitely was an old-fashioned feeling to the text. I also found it quite enchanting and the negatives involved were definitely not because of the way it was written. I also loved the new characters that featured in the text. I found these characters really strong and clear. I also loved the idea of Ermengarde being the lead character of this book as it was avoiding the obvious choice of Sara, who was the heroine of the classic tale written over 100 years ago.

The negatives were that by the end of reading this, I wondered whether there was any need for a sequel. Nothing important happened until the last twenty pages of this book and I felt quite disappointed at the end, rather than upset that the book finished. The only things described within the text were the day-to-day events at the Seminary. It didn't hook me at all and I didn't think that I'd be missing much if I didn't read it all. Maybe it is just the fact that I'm used to reading YA fiction and this is directed at younger readers.

Well-written and enchanting but, for me, not very gripping.

Review by Sasha, aged 12

Comments

[Amy]

I have not heard of this book. Happy reading!

[Sophie]

I love A Little Princess so I probably won't read this. Great review though!