The Trouble with May Amelia is the sequel to Our Only May Amelia , a Newberry Honor book that was first published in 1999. This second book can be read as a stand alone so if you're like me and haven't read the first book you will have no problems with the sequel. The story takes place in rural Washington state in 1900. May Amelia is from a Finnish family and is the only girl in a family of boys. With seven older brothers, she is constantly teased for her tomboyish ways. Instead of the proper girl her family wants her to be, she's mischievous and constantly doing something wrong or getting in trouble. All the characters were very likeable. It was a little hard at first to differentiate between the brothers especially because they were all pretty close in age. The family doesn't have much but what they do have, they've worked hard for. There were lots of happy, laugh out loud moments involving May Amelia but some sad moments too as the family fall on some hard times. May Amelia ends up taking all the blame for the family's hardships and it doesn't look like there's much hope for the family to recover when May Amelia comes up with a plan of her own and shows everyone just how much sisu she has. Overall, it was a great read and by the end of the book I was both happy and in tears.