The Witch of Blackbird Pond: Module Four Part One

Speare, E.G. (1958). The Witch of Blackbird Pond. New York, NY: Dell Publishing.

Summary: 

We first meet our heroine, Kit, when she is traveling to live with her aunt in Wethersfield, Connecticut.  She is leaving behind the only home she has ever known on the island of Barbados after her grandfather's death.  Once she arrives, it does not take her long to realize that they do things very differently in Connecticut.  She stands out in every way, from her beautiful clothes to her impetuous actions.  Her aunt, uncle, and two cousins take her in, but she never fells truly home.  She feels trapped and lonely, until one day she runs to the meadow by Blackbird Pond for solace and makes an unlikely friendship with a witch.

My Evaluation: 

The Witch of Blackbird Pond gives a terrifying and fabulous view of the real fear that was felt towards "witches." I think that books like this that bring old feelings like these to life are excellent. It is easy enough to read about witch hunts, but this book makes you feel what they felt. This brings that world to life more than any cold, hard facts ever could. It is easy for readers to relate to the main protagonist Kit, and by the end of the book you have a begrudging understanding of the Puritans and why they were the people they were. The story is lively, and I found myself waiting with baited breath to see what happened with Nat and Kit.


Review:

Darlene. (2012, February 1). Re: Book Review: The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare [Web Log Message]. Retrieved from http://darlenesbooknook.blogspot.com/2012/02/book-review-witch-of-blackbird-pond-by.html

I read this book aloud to my children, which won the 1959 Newbery Medal. The story takes place in 1687.

Katherine “Kit” Tyler lived with her grandfather in Barbados on his large plantation. When he died, Kit sold everything to pay the workers and to not leave any debt. Unfortunately, that left her with nothing. She decided to travel by ship to Connecticut to live with her aunt and uncle.

When Kit arrives, she learns that things are very different in the Puritan settlement than she is used to. It is hard for her to become used to this way of life, but she manages because she is a strong and fiercely determined girl!

Kit becomes friends with an old woman named Hannah, who has been ostracized by the Puritan community because she is a Quaker. The Puritans call her “The Witch of Blackbird Pond.” Kit feels a sort of kinship with her and, even though she has been forbidden by her uncle, she visits Hannah as often as she can. The only other person to be brave enough to visit Hannah is Nat Eaton, a sailor who brings goods to Hannah whenever he returns to the settlement. Hannah found Nat in the meadow by her house when he was a young boy in the same manner that she found Kit: sobbing! Just as she had done with Kit, she had invited Nat back to her home for some blueberry cake and to cuddle her cats. The kindly woman was, and continues to be, such a comfort to him!

In the meadow by Blackbird Pond, Kit finds a young girl named Prudence. Just as Hannah had done to her, Kit invites Prudence back to Hannah’s house explaining that it is a safe and loving place for her to visit. Kit was taught by her grandfather to read, although it was practically unheard of at that time for a girl to have learned this important skill. She taught Prudence not only how to read but also to write in cursive.

When sickness befalls the community and the children start dying, the residents decide that the Witch must be to blame! Kit risks everything to get to Hannah’s house before the mob, and she and Hannah hide in the bushes watching while the mob burns down her house and searches for her. Luckily, Nat’s boat returns the following morning and he takes Hannah aboard and brings her to live with his aunt in a town where she will be safe.

Although Hannah escaped safely, Kit was arrested for helping and consorting with a witch and was accused of even being a witch herself! Who will come to Kit’s defense?

We loved this book! Kit is a fabulous character. She faces adversity with such admirable strength. This is our second book by Speare (we previously read The Sign of the Beaver), and we love that Speare’s protagonists are non-judgmental and have acceptance of those who are different.

This book also inspired a lot of discussion about Puritans, Quakers, and the Salem Witch trials.

MY RATING: 5 stars!! We loved it!! Highly recommended!

Glencoe Literature Library. (n.d.). Study Guide for the Witch of Blackbird Pond. New York, NY: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Retrieved from http://www.glencoe.com/sec/literature/litlibrary/pdf/witch_of_blackbird_pond.pdf

The Witch of Blackbird Pond, Speare’s second novel, is grounded in New England

history.  Speare had read stories about English children sent from Barbados to New England for schooling. She researched Connecticut history, especially that of her adopted town

of Wethersfield, to add accurate historical details to the story. She also based one of the characters in the novel on her real-life aunt, who was physically impaired. 

In 1959 she won the Newbery Medal for The Witch of Blackbird Pond. Every member of the Newbery Medal committee voted to award the yearly prize to the novel. Such complete support for one book is rare. In her Newbery acceptance speech, Speare described the philosophy that has guided both her writing and her life: "I do not believe a historical novel should gloss over the pain and ugliness. But I do believe that the hero . . . should on the last page . . . still be standing, with the strength to go to whatever the future may hold."  Speare was once inspired by a writer who said, “History is people.” This “personal approach” to history is apparent in The Witch of Blackbird Pond.  The main character, Kit Tyler, is orphaned when her much-loved grandfather dies. Kit travels from the island of Barbados in the Caribbean Sea to Wethersfield, Connecticut. She hopes to find a home there with her aunt and uncle, settlers from England. Kit finds her new world to be very different from the one she left behind, and she must struggle long and hard to fit in. Her relatives are Puritans who have come to America to live according to their religious beliefs. The novel itself takes place when Wethersfield is still a fairly new settlement and survival is a challenging task. The place where Kit was raised in Barbados was a more established community with different ideas about religion and social behavior.  In reading the novel, you will also “meet”

many other people from the seventeenth century. Some, like “the witch of Blackbird Pond,”

become Kit’s friends and help her to adjust.  Others fear Kit because she is different from

them. Many critics have praised the novel for its portrayal of colonists. One critic says: The strength of this book lies in its . . .well-drawn characters. They are neither wholly good nor wholly bad but a very human mixture.  Other critics speak glowingly of the vividness of the novel’s historical setting. Speare spent over a year researching the novel to make it realistic and historically accurate.  Wethersfield is a real place in Connecticut, founded by Puritans in the 1600s. Other events in the story, such as the colonists’ efforts to preserve their charter, really did occur. Some of the characters in the story are based on real people as well.  For many readers, however, the most interesting part of this novel is its themes.  They include the ideas of loyalty and justice.  As Kit bravely tries to understand her adopted community, she must often ask herself, Whom must I be loyal to? What is the right, or just, action to take?

My Suggestions for Use in a Library Setting:

I would use the Witch of Blackbird Pond as the basis for a Halloween event at the public library.  Excerpts of The Witch of Blackbird Pond would be read each week leading up to Halloween, and on October 30, we would have an event which involved discussion of the book and a look at what the witch craze was truly about.