Hello Book Lovers!!!
I've finished Annie by Thomas Meehan and I have to say I have a lot of thoughts on this book as it is quite a bit different to the film and I really didn't expect that!!! There are some parts I loved about the book that weren't included in the film and there were some bits in the film that I loved that unfortunately weren't included in the book. Anyway, lets get to it!!!
Annie is a little orphan girl who has spent most of her childhood growing up in a girls orphanage. Miss Hannigan, the owner of the orphanage is a nasty woman that treats the girls horribly. All Annie wants is to find her parents and get out of the orphanage.
After thinking about this properly, Annie realises she's never going to find her parents if she's stuck in the orphanage, so sneaks into the laundry basket the day it's due to be picked up. She escapes and finds herself on the streets of New York with no money, food etc.
After wandering the streets, she follows a guy who has been selling apples all day and finds a group of homeless people camping out under a bridge. She decides to stay with them but eventually gets caught by the police and taken back to the orphanage.
A young lady visits the orphanage who works for Oliver Warbucks, one of the richest men in the world and tells Miss Hannigan he would like to have an orphan stay with him over the Christmas period. Annie is the chosen orphan and when she arrives at Mr Warbucks' house she can't believe her eyes!!!
Annie and Mr Warbucks build a strong friendship and soon Mr Warbucks decides he wants to adopt Annie. But Annie tells him before he has chance to tell her the news, that she wants to find her parents. Mr Warbucks sends out a search party for Annie's parents and offers a $50,000 award for the finding of Annie's parents. Unfortunately only frauds come forward, including Miss Hannigan's brother and his friend/girlfriend, as they are only interested in the money.
Later on Annie discovers that her parents died just after she was taken to the orphanage. This upsets Annie greatly but after hearing about Mr Warbucks' offer to adopt her, she can't believe it. Miss Hannigan along with her brother and his friend/girlfriend get arrested and Mr Warbucks' makes sure the other orphans get adopted and live a happy life.
As you can see, the book follows the storyline we all know and love, but there are a few differences, such as in the book we see the orphans in school and the trouble they have there. We also don't read about the famous scene in the film where Annie gets chased up the bridge. That isn't included in the book at all.
Overall I really enjoyed the book in terms of seeing Annie and the orphans in school and how they dealt with the bullying. I also liked the characters of the orphans and thought they were described really well. I knew which orphan was which as they were described well early on in the story.
I didn't however like how little they were in the book. I loved how much they were in the film and how they escaped to go looking for Annie when she got kidnapped by Miss Hannigan, her brother and his friend/girlfriend. As Annie didn't actually get kidnapped in the book, that whole section of the film wasn't written out and therefore the famous bridge scene didn't exist.
I would still definitely recommend this book as I really enjoyed the different take on the story, and it's a quick read so you can fly through it :)
Rating /5
4
Happy Reading!!!
xHannahx
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