Misfits and Miracles

Ann Moynes Smith is a high-school English teacher in Toronto.

The two latest novels in the Road to Avonlea series are again set in
turn-of-the-century Prince Edward Island, in the town of Avonlea. The
familiar cast of characters of the Stanley and King families reappears,
and 12-year-old Sara Stanley is the heroine of both novels. Their plots
hinge on disruptive visitors to Avonlea—visitors with mysterious or
long-ago connections to Avonlea residents, visitors who will temporarily
shake up the placid life of the town, visitors who will reveal their
stories to and through Sara.

While both novels are very readable, It’s Just a Stage presents the
less challenging style and language. It follows a simplistic,
adaptable-to-TV formula that ploughs the plots bluntly onward, though
with some surprising and welcome flushes of humor. (“His intention was
to march right over to Theodora to propose. He might as well do it now,
he figured, since he already had his suit on.”)

Misfits and Miracles offers a more complex development of plot and
subplot. Sara learns more substantial life lessons here—the value of
competition and compromise, the joy of friendships renewed, the miracle
of birth, the power of love.

It’s Just a Stage will appeal to young readers who are happy with
direct action and superficial meanings. Misfits and Miracles will appeal
to those who prefer subtle plot development and character growth, and
gently revealed multi-layered meanings about lessons learned.
Recommended.