Coming Of Age
Annie starts this novel as a naïve, sweet young girl of ten. She finishes the novel as an independent, strong woman of seventeen about to start her new life in England.
Yessirree Bob: the description of "bildungsroman" fits Annie John like a glove. Or, rather, fits her like the successive pairs of gloves she needs to wear as her hands grow larger throughout adolescence.
Before Boyhood, before Juno and before Bend It Like Beckham there was Annie John. It holds fast the to genre elements of a good old fashioned coming of age story: nostalgia, sadness, fear of the future and the bored-out-of-your-skull hatred of the same ol' same ol' that propels you into the future despite your fear.