The Next Great Jane by K.L. Going

When it comes to literature, one of my top loves is Jane Austen. I’ve never quite gotten over that first reading of Pride and Prejudice, bought just after Christmas in high school on a visit to friends. I’m always interested when someone is inspired by Austen to create something of his/her own, and The Next Great Jane by K.L. Going is a perfect example.

Jane is a precocious twelve year old who has big dreams of being a novelist like Jane Austen. The only problem is that she and her father live in a tiny coastal town in Maine where nothing ever seems to happen. How can you write what you know when what you know is nothing exciting? But life steps in--her mother shows up from California with a new fiance; her partner for the school science project is the new kid in town, whom Jane loathes; and she and her best friend Kitty are trying to find someone for Jane’s father to date, as they believe a partner would help him win a custody battle. Jane has to learn the truth that in life and in writing, what you love makes all the difference.

The Austen references are numerous and delightful, including a haughty older sister named Caroline and a mixed-up love story that leads the main characters to examine their own prejudices. Overall, it’s a simple and sweet storyline that uncovers deeper truths. What do we owe our family? What perceptions do we put on each other that prevent our knowing even those we love most? What pieces of our own destinies were ever in our control?  

This book is full of the hope that characterizes middle-grade lit, and also characterizes my middle-grade daughter, who is just the right age for this book. When my friend Haley sent it to me, my daughter swiped my copy the day it arrived in the mail and finished it before I could. She described the ending as fantastic, and she was not wrong.

I love reading middle-grade lit not to assure myself that the world is better than I imagined it was, but to remind myself of that hope and that the good things in life--friendship, faith, joy, love, family, and dreams-are still alive and well, and are still available for me too, especially if I’m willing to look around through the eyes of a child.

*Links to products are paid links.