Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
The Unexpected Lives of Ordinary Girls

The Unexpected Lives of Ordinary Girls

Coats, J. Anderson

Hardcover

General Juvenile FictionHistory

Publisher Price: $17.99

ISBN10: 1665968613
ISBN13: 9781665968614
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Published: Sep 23 2025
Pages: 272
Weight: 0.70
Height: 1.10 Width: 5.70 Depth: 8.50
Language: English
A child of immigrants feels caught between two worlds and two selves in this nuanced and inspiring (Kirkus Reviews) middle grade historical novel about self-determination, community, and what it means to belong--perfect for fans of Esperanza Rising and Katherine Marsh's The Lost Year.

When your family comes from Eastern Europe, you get used to being called a Bohunk--someone who's ignorant, lazy, and still has Old World farm dirt in their ears. Someone from a place that people don't care enough about to learn its real name.

Stanislava feels stuck in her deeply traditional Slovene community in Colorado in 1910. But when she finds a library book about an immigrant girl's college adventure, she discovers a dazzling world of opportunity. She's desperate to be like the book's heroine, Katinka, who starts life anew as Katie and is seemingly living the American dream. So, like Katie, Stanislava adopts an American name: Sylvia.

Sylvia fantasizes about escaping her claustrophobic life and going off to college--until her dreams are shattered when her older sister, Stina, elopes with a man their family disapproves of. Now Sylvia finds herself at a crossroads: quit school to fill Stina's role as the family's caretaker or run away from home. Stanislava would do the former. But Sylvia is determined to be free...

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