Middle-Grade Review: The Unexpected Lives of Ordinary Girls by J. Anderson Coats

Life in Cold Creek, Colorado in 1910 is very regimented for young Stansislava. She must help out around the house, attend a kolo dance club, and attend church. Going to school and checking out books from the penny library in town are real treats. Her mother is unhappy that the family has had to move from Carniola (present day Slovenia), and spends a lot of her time praying and crying while her older daughter Stina (who is 23), takes care of the younger children, Mari and Domen. Two older brothers and the father work at the smelting plant. At the penny library, Stansislava checks out a book she thinks is King Arthur and His Knights, but is actually Katie Arthur at Knowlton College. She loves the story of young Katie, who is an immigrant just like her. She decides to start calling herself Sylvia, and asks her teacher about going to college. Sadly, when Stina decides to marry someone who is not Slovene and leaves home, Stanislava is no longer allowed to attend school, but must stay home to wash down the walls, change diapers, and do laundry. Refusing to believe that her future holds no more than children and household chores, she takes off to Denver and finds the boarding house where Stina lived. Unfortunately, she and her new husband have moved to Silver Valley, Idaho. Retreating to the local library to regroup, Stanislava is enthralled by the modern, free library, which is having an examination for enrolling students into a library training program. She meets a young Sloven woman, Jelena, whose mother in laws doesn’t believe that the library is free. Stanislava helps explain to her how the library works. She stays at the library overnight, being very careful not to be found, and goes to the exam, only to be told she is too young. Miss Edwards, however, can use Stanislava’s help in reaching out to the Slovene community, and also finds Stanislava a place to live. She gets paid to accompany Anna to the mother’s club meeting, which doesn’t go well. Anna thinks that immigration is a “problem” and has brought civics books instead of picture books for the young. Her attitude and approach don’t work, but Miss Edwards listens to Stanislava’s idea that a party would be a better tool for outreach. When Stina and her new husband show up, Stanislava that she would rather stay in Denver with her new found family. The woman who runs the boarding house, Ursuala, helps Stanislava enroll in high school and work to pay for her room and board so that she can become educated and have a career.