Annie’s Life in Lists

Kristin Mahoney's Annie's Life in Lists is a whole novel written as lists, for 8 year olds, about a girl who thinks the family move is her fault.

What happens

Six things we found under the furniture the day the movers came. Eight things I threw into my backpack before getting into the car to leave Brooklyn. Three thoughts I had about my new house when we pulled up in front of it. It's kind of old. It's kind of pretty. It's kind of purple.

Annie remembers everything. Names, what people were wearing, who handed out the granola bars on Halloween. It's the thing she's best at and it's also why she's stopped talking much, because the last time her memory and her mouth worked together she got somebody into trouble back in Brooklyn.

Nobody's told her she caused the move. She's just decided.

The new town is Clover Gap. A leaky roof, a brother called Ted who won't say two words, a dad who keeps announcing how wonderful everything outside is while reading the New York paper on his phone.

School goes better than she feared, because Zora waves her arms and shouts "Annie! Come sit over here!" And then it goes worse, when a pair of polka-dot pants comes flying out of Annie's jeans leg in the middle of a kickball game.

The list format sounds like a gimmick and isn't. You get the joke and the worry in the same breath, because Annie writes both the same way and never tells you which is which. Four things that could have gone worse on the first day sits right next to Three things I didn't tell Mrs Silva that I really want this year. One of those is "For my family to be happy in Clover Gap so they'll stop caring that I made us leave Brooklyn".

There's one conversation your reader may want to talk about afterwards. Annie asks why Charlie's grandmother would mind Charlie liking Zora, and Zora answers "Because I'm black", then tells her about a whole class being invited to a pool party except her mum and one other child. It's told plainly, it isn't tidied up at the end of the chapter, and it's the saddest thing in the book. Good to know it's coming so you can be around for it.

Alongside that, quietly, Annie finds a letter in the attic with Severance Agreement at the top, and starts noticing her mum's haircuts and the coin jar.

What to read next

If your reader likes a narrator who sounds like an actual person, The Extremely Embarrassing Life of Lottie Brooks is a diary rather than lists, and Lottie's best friend has just moved to Australia.