Books with author A.D. Cameron

"If Julian has not already won readers' hearts with his [earlier] exploits, he will here when he tries to find out his father's secret dream for a birthday present. Surprised at hearing his father mumble 'two snakes,' Julian duly catches and presents them, only to discover that snakes are his father's recurring nightmare. Cameron's style is elegantly smooth and the characters come alive through easy dialogue and involving action."--Bulletin, Center for Children's Books.

The Secret Life of Amanda K. Woods was written by Ann Cameron. I really enjoyed this book and I recommend it to people of all ages. This book is especially enjoyable because of its characters and its extremely powerful theme, be yourself and don't allow other people to change you. The Secret Life of Amanda K. Woods takes place a while ago more or less in 1954, in Rome, Wisconsin. Amanda is a 12-year-old girl who faces many problems to discover who she really is, what she should be, and why things are the way they are. Some of the problems she encounters will maybe never be clarified or solved. Like why her mother loves to change people and make them what she wants them to be, or why her sister is always depressed and mean to her. Although Amanda faces problems that make her sad she also deals with situations that allow her to discover her real self. The whole plot of this book revolves around the characters. In this book you find out about many different characters and their characteristics. I really liked reading about the characters, it is one of the reasons I enjoyed this book. Like Lydia Woods, Amanda's mother. She wants people to be who she wants them to be, especially her two daughters, Amanda and Margaret. Lydia wants her daughters to be everything she wasn't when she was growing up. She obligates her daughters, especially Margaret who is older, to do whatever she wants. She doesn't allow her daughters to give opinions on what they want to do. Lydia also excludes people if they are poor or not as socially high as they are. Margaret was raised by her mother, so she grew up to be who her mother wanted her to be and not what she wanted to be. Margaret gets depressed when she lets her mother down, she blames it all on Amanda. Margaret is all very insecure and she won't stand up for her opinions only when it is against her little sister.