Our Only May Amelia
by Jennifer L. Holm
Middle grade · ages 10–14 · 780L (~4th grade) · 1999
Why we'd hand it over
A Newbery winner that doesn't feel like one—spirited, funny, and genuinely about a girl figuring out who she is against the grain of her family's hopes; the frontier setting and Finnish details feel lived-in rather than researched.