Ad Lit Outside Text (Mandy)

Mandy by Julie Andrews Edwards (1935-)
Publication year: 1971
This text dealt with the issues many teens faces regarding loneliness, the desire for more and wanting to belong. It is a story of a ten year-old orphan girl, Mandy, who is feeling lonely. She decides to go wandering in the meadows and the country and she stumbles across a cottage. She decides to make this her own cottage and keeps it a secret from the head of the orphanage and everyone else she knows. She begins to lie and steal things for her cottage. The only person that ever finds out about her cottage is her friend, Sue, who happens to follow her without Mandy's permission. Mandy becomes ill and after a challenging journey to her cottage, she becomes very ill and cannot make it back to the cottage. Eventually, Sue tells the elders where she may be and Mandy is rescued by the owner of the land. After recovering at his house, she falls in love with the family there and does not want to go back to the orphanage, which she must do after some time. She becomes sad again, but a month or so past and the family asks her to be part of their family. She now knows that what she needed to be happy was to share love and she decides to give the cottage to the rest of the orphanage girls to show them what it feels like. It is a charming story that shows adolescents how to deal with loneliness, wanting to belong, and the desire for more.

Krista :)