The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare

“If only patience were contagious like mumps!” Join Kate and Sheila as they meet an impatient 17 year old, Kit Tyler, who was transplanted from her native land of Barbados to a strict Puritan community in Connecticut. She landed unexpectedly on her aunt and uncle’s doorstep with 7 trunks! After the death of her grandfather Kit had nowhere else to go but she’d neglected to give her relatives a heads up. The Witch of Blackbird Pond was Elizabeth George Speare’s first Newbery award and it does not disappoint. Readers are transported back to a time in our nation’s history that is often a big question mark. When settlers held witch trials where an accused woman had to do the swim test, if she could swim she was a witch, if she couldn’t swim she was free from suspicion, but sadly, dead. From beginning to end, readers wonder what the impulsive Kit will do next. She jumped off the boat to save a child’s wooden doll, she befriended an old widow that the townspeople believed to be a witch, and she started a schoolroom brawl by having students reenact the Good Samaritan parable. However, when her cousins got sick, she worked tirelessly day and night following the doctor’s orders to pull them through. When the widow is blamed for the town’s sickness Kit runs to her rescue. Who will run to Kit’s rescue as she is put on trial for being a witch? Her suitor, William Ashby, who is building a house for his bride to be (he never asked Kit, he just thinks he is too good of a catch to turn down) or the impetuous son of Captain Eaton, Nat, who is also a friend of the lonely widow, Hannah Tupper? When a young girl named Prudence asked Kit why the people didn’t like Hannah she replied, “Because they have never tried to get to know her. People are afraid of things they don’t understand.” What a powerful statement! Reading can transform and broaden our world, it helps readers understand in an up close and personal way the lives of people in the past, present and even the future. Jump in and enjoy this classic with us!