Mandy (Julie Andrews Collection)

Mandy (Julie Andrews Collection)

4.22 of 5 stars 4.22  ·  rating details  ·  4,751 ratings  ·  573 reviews
For ten-year-old Mandy, the old stone orphanage was the only home she remembered. Matron Bridie was kind to her, but there were thirty children to look after, and sometimes Mandy felt there was something missing.

One day Mandy climbered over the high orphanage wall and found a tiny, deserted cottage int he woods. Here at last was her very own home. All through the spring, s...more
Paperback, 288 pages
Published April 4th 1989 by HarperTrophy (first published 1971)
more details... edit details

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.
This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Add this book to your favorite list »

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 3,000)
filter  |  sort: default (?)  |  rating details
Mimi
Sep 25, 2008 Mimi rated it 4 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition
Recommended to Mimi by: Dipika
As of ten minutes ago I finished this book by Julie Andrews. Even though I work in a book store I came across this title in a back door sort of way. A couple of months ago I was boasting to my friend that I have a really good success rate with finding books for customers when there is almost nothing to go on. Taking me up on the challenge she asked if I knew about this children's book...details: main character is Mandy and she has her own world beyond a big wall. It was fairly easy to find - the...more
Alex Lemmer
The book Mandy by Julien Andrews is a classic good book. It is about a girl Mandy, who lives in an orphanage. She is very lonely and has no friends. One day she was outside and saw a big brick wall and wanted to know what was behind it. Her curiosity got the best of her and she climbed over. A magical beautiful awasis of land was right in front of her. As the book goes on she continues to sneak off to the magical land. This experience changed Mandy as a person because when we first met her chara...more
Marci
Julie Andrews Edwards of Mary Poppins fame grew up to be an author. Who would have thought? This charming, lovely tale is very reminiscent of The Little Princess or The Secret Garden. Mandy, an orphan, one day peeks over the orphanage wall to discover a seemingly abandoned cottage and is soon embarking on an adventure that will enthrall readers young and old. Mandy, Ms. Andrews-Edwards 2nd novel, is a beautifully written, joyous story.
Lisa Vegan
I bought and read this book because I’m a huge Julie Andrews fan. I also love orphan stories; I’ve even designated a Goodreads shelf for orphan books. Anyway, this one really touched my heart and it’s a really well written and interesting story. Deserves to be a classic.
Nicole
In the last five minutes, I finished Mandy.
I loved the words that Julie Andrews Edwards used to describe the house. Example: Smashing. I love that word, especially with an accent.
Overall, the book seemed a bit too predictable. I had the feeling that (view spoiler)[Bill Fitzgerald was going to adopt Mandy (hide spoiler)] at the end. It seemed quite fitting. And, not to mention, but (view spoiler)[the doctor predicted himself that Mandy was going to get pneumonia and... BOOM! Mandy gets pneumonia!...more
Tara
I loved this Book as a kid I read it like 20 times! So sweet and imaginative!
P.ko
I think I first read this book in elementary school. I couldn't recall the plotline or the secondary characters or really anything, but all I remember was that I really enjoyed it at the time. A few months ago during my peds rotations, 1/2 price came and donated all these children books for grabs and I found it in one of the book crates and snatched it up.

Reading it a second time, I can see why I was so moved and enthralled by it in my former years. It's about an orphan who longs for a place and...more
03whitneyr
Have you ever dreamed of a different world were you could do anything you want and there was nobody to bug you about it. A house of your own that existed for only you. This is what the Cottage was for Mandy. I loved this book because just like Mandy I always wanted a place of my own. As a little kid I would build forts in my basement and stay in them for hours. I liked the way Julie Andrews Edwards wrote the story in a way that made you want to find a place of your own and read. Later in the boo...more
Francesca
This review was originally posted on my blog, The Reading Hammock (readinghammock.blogspot.com).

I have loved this novel ever since I read it when I was little. Since this book is only around 260 pages, with big text, it is perfect for younger readers, who are beginning to read longer novels. This is a cute story about a young girl, living in an orphanage, who makes a place of her own in an abandoned cottage over the stone wall of her orphanage. Edwards uses nice descriptive language of Mandy’s...more
Stephanie
Taken from a couple of Read-Aloud Thursday blog-posts:

Right now, our current chapter book is Mandy by Julie Andrews Edwards. (Yes, that Julie Andrews). This was a favorite childhood book that I recently remembered and rediscovered and N1 chose this for our first read-aloud of 2011. Mandy discovers an abandoned cottage behind the orphanage that is her home and she is consumed with the desire to fix it up and make herself a little secret hideaway. Unfortunately, as you read the story, you find tha...more
Jenny
So, apparently Julie Andrews writes kids books. I’m not quite sure how I managed to miss that.

Mandy is a sweet, independent ten-year-old living with other girls in an orphanage in England under the kindly eye of Matron Bridie. Despite the matron’s efforts and the companionship of the other children, Mandy feels discontent, wanting a place she could truly call her own.

So one day, Mandy climbs the old stone wall and ventures into the country beyond, where she finds a dilapidated old cottage. No...more
Treasa
Mandy, a ten-year-old orphan, has lived all her life in the large St. Martins Orphanage run by Matron Birdie. While she has many friends and is happy at the orphanage, she can't help but wonder what else is out there, especially what is over the stone wall at the back of the orphanage's orchard. Upon climbing the wall, Mandy discovers a cottage and a whole world that she makes her own.

What a beautiful book. I had read it years ago, when I was little, but hadn't read it since then. I came across...more
Sara
Not long ago, I went on a nostalgia kick, rereading favorite books from my younger years. Many of them still entertained and enchanted me despite my being now far older than their intended audience. Mandy, unfortunately, did not.

I think I may have gone just a little too young this time. The book has a sometimes-irritating “written for a child” tone to it. It’s not the age of the protagonist, exactly; Mandy is ten, but Maggie would have been about the same age (she was in fifth grade, so ten or e...more
Irene
Apr 20, 2013 Irene rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Elementary school aged kids
Shelves: children
I came across this book at my uncle's house. He had two boxes of books to be donated, and we rummaged through them looking for keepers. It was actually Isabelle who salvaged this book. She liked the cover and read on the back that "Julie Edwards" the author is the same as "Julie Andrews" from The Sound of Music and Mary Poppins! I think I vaguely knew that she wrote children's books, but I imagined them to be picture books for young children, not novels. Anyway, what a find!

As it turns out, thi...more
Susie G
Feb 11, 2013 Susie G rated it 2 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition Recommends it for: Girls age 8-12, Parent-child read alouds
One of my favorite books, ever, is " The Last of the Very Great Whangdoodles" by Julie Edwards (aka Julie Andrews, yup, THAT one). As a child I read this book (Mandy) because I had enjoyed the other so much. As I recall, I didn't like it as much but still thought it a lovely, magical story.

I recently purchased a copy to read with my 10 year old daughter and I was very disappointed. It's a sweet story and the description of Mandy's discovery of the cottage, her dreams for it, and her fierce desir...more
Shannon McEwen
This was a favorite book from childhood and I had this overwhelming urge to revisit it this past week; alas it is not available in ebook format so I had to wait TWO WHOLE DAYS to receive the copy I ordered from Amazon. But it was well worth the wait. The story of a plucky 10-year-old orphan girl who finds a secret cottage in the forest and eventually a family of her own, it has everything I loved in a book when I was a kid: orphans, British accents, a large manor house, and a happy ending. I rea...more
Gretchen
The 11-yo has joined a book club, and chose this as her first contribution. I was concerned it might be too young for the girls (she had read it over a year ago) so decided to do a quick reread.

I'm amazed when rereading childhood books at how quickly I can recapture that time. I can tell you which shelf in the GS Library had this book, and by page 5, I could smell Mrs. Anthony's classroom. So it's hard to review this book as there is so much nostalgia for me.

I will say, as an adult reading this...more
Sarah
I remember really loving this book as a child. I wasn't an orphan like the main character, but I was a fairly lonely child and I identified with Mandy's desire for a place to call her own. Rereading it as an adult I find it to be a somewhat sentimental storyline composed in a workmanlike writing style with a rather British approach to emotions (they happen, but they interfere with everyday life and need to be solved so one can back to soldiering on). This approach does allow the simplistic writi...more
Christina Sesok
This is one of my favorite books. When I say I've read it a dozen times, I'm not lying, I really have read it upwards of twelve times. It had been a while since I'd read it, so I decided to set aside an afternoon and take a trip down memory lane.

The dialogue of the main character, Mandy, seemed a little bit childish, but then it is important to remember that she is a ten year old girl, so that should not be held against her, as the dialogue of the rest of the characters is equally as age appropr...more
Terri Lynn
I wish I could give it 10 stars. This is one of the most warm, comforting, emotionally moving stories for kids and if you are smart to toss aside meaningless labels, for adults as well.

Mandy is 10 years old and something of a loner at the orphanage where she has lived most of her life. The Matron and staff are kind to the children and try to make a real home for them but Mandy longs for something more. She has a friend and room mate named Sue who she frustrates by wanting to be alone so much she...more
Alison
Even though she is loved and taken care of, ten-year-old orphan Mandy sometimes has a nagging feeling that something is missing in her life. One day, she stumbles upon a deserted cottage in the woods. As she secretly repairs the cottage and garden, it almost seems like having a place to call her own may fill the emptiness inside of her—even though she sometimes has to lie and steal to keep her project a secret. But when she gets seriously ill with no one to find her, Mandy discovers that a house...more
Kimberly
I always loved this book as a kid. I found it fascinating and desired my very own hideout. This book inspired my own "adventures" and search of that place to turn into my own secret. It also helped foster my love of flowers. Although I now may not think the writing is the best, I loved it for what it taught me and inspired within me.
Susie
One of my favorite books, ever, is " The Last of the Very Great Whangdoodles" by Julie Edwards (aka Julie Andrews, yup, THAT one). As a child I read this book because I had enjoyed the other so much. As I recall, I didn't like it as much but still thought it a lovely, magical story.

I recently purchased a copy to read with my 10 year old daughter and I was very disappointed. It's a sweet story and the description of Mandy's discovery of the cottage, her dreams for it, and her fierce desire to kee...more
Rae
Aug 05, 2008 Rae rated it 5 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition Recommends it for: everyone
Recommended to Rae by: Mrs. Saunders-my 2nd Grade teacher
My second-grade teacher Mrs. Saunders read this out loud to the class. We were stationed in Germany around 1978. This and the Whangdoodle book became my favorites. As an adult with my own daughters I searched for this book to no avail. It finally became available again & they love it as much as I do!
Helena
Apr 20, 2011 Helena rated it 4 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition
Recommended to Helena by: Cricket McRae
Shelves: children-s, fiction
After I got this from the library I hesitated to start it. I knew it was about a little girl living at an orphanage, and I just wasn't in the mood for anything depressing. And then I said to myself, "how depressing can a book by the woman who played Mary Poppins really be?" I'm so glad I did. I loved this story--no idea how I missed when I was of an age to be reading Anne of Green Gables for the first time, but I'm glad I found it now. Better late than never. Mandy is, I thought, an enchanting s...more
Denisat.
Mar 11, 2009 Denisat. is currently reading it  ·  review of another edition
I started reading MANDY a couple of weeks ago. Its very interesting and every time i read it i want to know whats going to happen next. MANDY is a ten year old orphanage, but she is interested to know what is on the other side of the orphanage. She one day climbed the wall and she found there a small cottage empty, no one lived in there so she decided its hers now. The next day she asked a guy jake who worked there if she can borrow some tools, went to a flower shop, and the lady that works at t...more
Jackie "the Librarian"
This is my favorite book from when I was a kid. Mandy was so determined to make a place of her own, she went too far sometimes. When Mandy refuses to talk to the Fitzgerald family on the phone, because it hurts too much, still puts a lump in my throat.
Stephanie
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Katie
Mandy--By: Julie Andrews Edwards

Mandy is a ten-year old orphan, who dreams of having a place to call her own. One day she ventures over the orphanage wall and finds a cottage in the woods. She fixes it up and starts to visit there everyday during playtime. But one day while at the cottage she falls ill during a big storm, but somebody rescues her and her life changes for the better.

“She was looking at a whole new world: hundreds of trees stretching as far as the eye could see--most of them with...more
Riley
This book was very emotional. Mandy is a young orphan who discovers the joy of having something to call your own-she discovers a cottage off-limits to the orphanage girls. The author is realistic when she writes of Mandy's feelings. Even though the reader may not have ever experienced the feelings that Mandy has, the author is able to describe the feelings so that you can relate. There are times when the book is gloomy and depressing and times when it is joyful and sweet. As you read the story...more
« previous 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 99 100 next »
topics  posts  views  last activity   
Good or no good? 25 50 Jun 16, 2013 02:10pm  
Mandy (Hardcover)
Mandy (Paperback)
Mandy (Paperback)
Mandy (hardcover)
Mandy

6781
Dame Julie Elizabeth Andrews Edwards, DBE is an award-winning English actress, singer, author and cultural icon. She is the recipient of Golden Globe, Emmy, Grammy, BAFTA, People's Choice Award, Theatre World Award, Screen Actors Guild and Academy Award honours. Andrews rose to prominence after starring in Broadway musicals such as My Fair Lady and Camelot, as well as musical films like Mary Poppi...more
More about Julie Andrews Edwards...
Home: A Memoir of My Early Years The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles Dragon: Hound of Honor Little Bo Book with CD: Little Bo The Very Fairy Princess: Here Comes the Flower Girl! (The Very Fairy Princess, #3)

Share This Book

Your website

No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »