Shelly's Book Blog

The Witch of Blackbird Pond, by Elizabeth George Speare, won the Newbery Medal in 1959. The story is set in Connecticut in 1687. When her grandfather and guardian dies, 16-yer-old Kit sails from her home in Barbados to New England to live with her aunt and her family in a Puritan community. Kit was brought up in a very different environment, one where she was free to read a variety of good books, swim in the warm ocean, and enjoy the services of slaves. In her new home, she finds that she must help her new family with difficult, menial work, leaving little time for leisure. She meets a woman who lives on the outskirts of the settlement with whom she finds a kindred spirit. This woman, however, is shunned by the rest of the community and suspected of being a witch. Her association with "the witch of Blackbird Pond" soon lands Kit in deep trouble.
There is a touch of the romance novel here, with quite a bit of time spent on figuring out which young lady will marry which eligible bachelor, so it might be one girls will enjoy more than boys. There is also much period detail, such as talk of the "water trial" in which suspected witches are put in water to see if they float or sink (witches float, while the innocent sink like a stone). I enjoyed reading this book very much.