Read this when
Annie John
She was your whole world. Then one day she wasn't. Annie John is for every daughter who loves her mom and needs to leave her. 🌧️
Who it's for
Annie adores her mother until, around twelve, the closeness suddenly ends, and the book captures the confusion, rage and longing of that rupture from inside a sharp, funny and unreliable girl.
Feelings it meets
What it is
Jamaica Kincaid's 1985 novel, made up of linked chapters first published separately in The New Yorker and narrated by Annie John, a girl growing up in Antigua. Annie and her mother are extremely close and alike, but as Annie moves into adolescence the two grow apart, and the closeness gives way to distance and conflict.
Where to find it
In print (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), in libraries (Libby/Hoopla). Not public domain.
Before you start
Heads up: Children's deaths; a mother's harsh words.
Age: Ages 14+
Man is a born child, his power is the power of growth.Rabindranath Tagore, Stray Birds, no. 25
