Rose O' the River

by Kate Douglas Wiggin, George Wright (Illustrator)

Kate Douglas Wiggin, nee Smith (1856-1923) was an American children's author and educator. She was born in Philadelphia, and was of Welsh descent. She started the first free kindergarten in San Francisco in 1878 (the "Silver Street Free Kindergarten"). With her sister in the 1880s she also established a training school for kindergarten teachers. Her best known books are The Story of Pasty (1883), The Birds' Christmas Carol (1887), Polly Oliver's Problem (1893), A Cathedral Courtship (1893), The Village Watchtoer (1896), Marm Lisa (1897) and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1903).

Genres: Fiction, Classics, Romance, Historical Fiction, Audiobook, Young Adult, Americana

88 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1905

About the author

Kate Douglas Smith Wiggin

Kate Douglas Wiggin, nee Smith (1856-1923) was an American children's author and educator. She was born in Philadelphia, and was of Welsh descent. She started the first free kindergarten in San Francisco in 1878 (the "Silver Street Free Kindergarten"). With her sister in the 1880s she also established a training school for kindergarten teachers. Her best known books are The Story of Pasty (1883), The Birds' Christmas Carol (1886), Polly Oliver's Problem (1893), A Cathedral Courtship (1893), The Village Watchtoer (1896), Marm Lisa (1897) and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1903).

Reviews

[Elisabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is such a charming little old-fashioned romance. Rose Wiley, the prettiest girl in her little Maine village, seems on the way to marriage and happiness with a fine young man, Stephen Waterman, but she is not quite contented. Rose is a sweet girl, but she has a few things to learn about life—she doesn't quite realize just what an admirable man Stephen is, or how much it means to be loved by him. She has qualms about being a farmer's wife, having dreams of tasting city glamor, so when a neighbor's city-dwelling nephew begins paying his attentions to her she is drawn away from Stephen. By the time she realizes her mistake, will it be too late? It's a simple story, but so beautifully told, with memorable characters, touches of humor and a lovely portrayal of life in the Maine countryside.

[Alisha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fairly short. Readable if one has nothing better to do, but there was too much that didn't interest me about the moving of the logs down the stream, and I didn't care that much for Rose's grandparents' querulous ways.
Rose is not quite twenty, and is the beauty of the region. She doesn't think too deeply about things. When Stephen, who has loved her for as long as they've known each other, keeps proposing marriage, she finally says yes because she is convinced of his goodness and kindness and she knows it would be nice to live with someone like that. She's fond of him, but in a pretty mild way. And she can't help but pine just a little bit for the opportunity of spreading her wings and living somewhere exciting. All she's known has been this rural area, and she's convinced that things might be better elsewhere. When the opportunity comes, how will she react? How will Stephen react? Will she grow up and learn to be grateful for what she's got?

[Hope · Rating 3 out of 5]

Vintage novella about a beautiful, but shallow, young woman who learns what really matters.

[Theresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

You never know what to expect from an old forgotten book. Let me tell you that what I got was an adorable story that I wish was a hundred pages longer.

Its the story of Rose and her long languished love Stephen. He has loved her forever and in her girlish behavior always turned him down for silly reasons like the clothes he wears. Finally one day she accepts and says yes when he proposes.

But Rose still isn't as grown up as she needs to be to appreciate the love in front of her.

So when a fancy guy from Boston comes and flirts and chases after her, her little heart goes pitter pat. But all she really wanted was the tragedy of it. She wanted him to leave pining for her and a brief lovers spat with Stephen and then all would be well. Unfortunately Stephen didn't read her dream like she did and breaks off the engagement before she can.

In Boston Rose realizes that city life holds nothing for her. But she has lost Stephen forever. He put their home up to let and planted a corn field where her flowers went.
Then she overhears a conversation and quickly puts together a plan!

This book is short but so unfailingly sweet!

[Sophia Bossio · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was written in the 1800’s so everything makes sense. The pacing sucks, characters have no depth or dimension, sexist, racist, and pretty boring in general. The best part of this book is its vintage and that’s exciting for anyone who enjoys classics. There’s something to be enjoyed from reading a book this old and the nostalgia of the time period. The aura and environment of this book is charming. But applying this book to the standards of today, it sucks ass I’m ngl.

If you are a fan of love triangles, classics, or time period pieces PLEASE read The Bride’s House by Sandra Dallas. It is one of my all time favorite books and is everything this book should’ve been. Both books have to same basic storyline, but The Bride’s House has depth, intrigue, and character.

[Tee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rose O’ the River is a quick and pleasant read about love, folly, and logs. In fact, the first portion of this book is so much about logs you may struggle to see it through. Ultimately, however, this story is a sweet reminder that things we search far and wide for are often right in front of our eyes. The descriptions of the Saco river and surrounding woodland are beautiful and atmospheric - the perfect backdrop for a simple romance.

[Hannah Mozingo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I do like Kate Douglas Wiggin. She writes such sweet little stories that feel like summer and home and hope and the countryside all wrapped up with a ribbon of romance.

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This isn't really a 'kids book' but it doesn't qualify as adult-reading either. These are my comments from when I read this book quite a few years ago:

• It's worth skimming, but it's too verbose to read carefully.

• A romance with lots of discussion on floating logs. (Obviously a poorly phrased comment. I assume I was referring to logs floating in a river or on a lake, perhaps the timber industry.)

• And this was a fun reference to the game of jackstraws.
p 52 The delicate little lengths of polished wood or bone were shaken together and emptied on the table. Each jackstraw had one of its ends fashioned in the shape of some sort of implement,--a rake, hoe, spade, fork or mallet. All the pieces were intertwined by the shaking process, and they lay as they fell, in a hopeless tangle. The task consisted in taking a tiny pickpole, scarcely bigger than a match, and with the bit of curved wire on the end lifting off the jackstraws one by one without stirring the pile or making it tremble.

[Kjirstin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a nice little story about a country girl who thinks she might want more than the country -- and her fiance -- offers. I like this sort of thing, from this time period, though the author used rather too much "dialect" in her characters' conversation for my taste. I know it was a convention of the time, but it makes it hard to read as one puzzles out the phonetic spellings. I'm glad we've mostly done away with this convention in contemporary fiction, because it's annoying.

Anyhow, once we got past the large blocks of description and humorous (in dialect) dialogue, the simple love story was quite satisfying, and it was interesting to have a glimpse into the world of a logging community in New England around the turn of the (20th) century.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

This short story is about a young, beautiful girl with all the choice of men at her feet. Through the story she grows out of her selfish desires and vain idols and realizes what is truly important and beautiful in another's character and to a better understanding of what love really means. It is also the story of a young man, though not the most handsome man around, yet the one with the most handsome and self-sacrificing character and love around. There are some flaws in the story concerning other characters, but they don't detract too much from the beauty of the story.

[rayken · Rating 4 out of 5]

sweet