the witch of blackbird pond

Reader Response to The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare

The inside front cover reads:
"Kit Tyler is marked by suspicion and disapproval from the moment she arrives on the unfamiliar shores of colonial Connecticut in 1687. Alone and desperate, she ahs be forced to leave her beloved home on the island of Barbados and join a family she has never met. Kit's unconventional background and high-spirited ways immediately clash with the Puritanical lifestyle of her uncle's household, and despite her best efforts to adjust, it seems that Kit will never win the favor of those around her. Torn between her quest for belonging and her desire to be ture to herself, Kit struggles to survive in a hostile place, and just when it seems she must give up, she finds a kindred spirit. But Kit's friendship with Hannah Tupper, believed by the colonists to be a witch, proves more taboo than she could have imagined and ultimately forces Kit to choose between her heart and her duty."

My Rxn:
Holy crap, batman! A good historical novel for kids. deals with the whole witch burning thing. The plot was ok... a free spirited girl from Barbados is (not surprisingly) bogged down by the weight of the Puritan religion. It is kind of an adventure story... but a little too mild for my taste. A good book, but I'm not turning backflips or anything... besides that, there are words that I had to look up.... words like obstreperous and consternation... I'd guess that the intended audience age was about 12-16.... and maybe kids knew those kinds of words back in the 50s when this was written... but it just kind of threw me off. Speare makes a weak attempt at colonial dialect, and throwing in quadrisyllabic words doesn'r really help all that much. The story is dry... but not boring. I've read it somewhere before.

I would read this in conjunction with My Brother Sam is Dead.... not exactly identical on the timeline, but they have the same kinds of rebellious themes.