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Thimble Summer
Book by Enright, Elizabeth
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1938
116 people are currently reading
4347 people want to read
About the author
Elizabeth Enright
42 books279 followersElizabeth Wright Enright Gillham was an American writer of children's books, an illustrator, writer of short stories for adults, literary critic and teacher of creative writing. Perhaps best known as the Newbery Medal-winning author of Thimble Summer (1938) and the Newbery runner-up Gone-Away Lake (1957), she also wrote the popular Melendy quartet (1941 to 1951). A Newbery Medal laureate and a multiple winner of the O. Henry Award, her short stories and articles for adults appeared in many popular magazines and have been reprinted in anthologies and textbooks.
In 2012 Gone-Away Lake was ranked number 42 among all-time children's novels in a survey published by School Library Journal, a monthly with primarily U.S. audience. The first two Melendy books also made the Top 100, The Saturdays and The Four-Story Mistake.
In 2012 Gone-Away Lake was ranked number 42 among all-time children's novels in a survey published by School Library Journal, a monthly with primarily U.S. audience. The first two Melendy books also made the Top 100, The Saturdays and The Four-Story Mistake.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 605 reviews
February 16, 2025
This was a read-aloud with my 14-year-old daughter, as part of our current study of America’s “Great Depression.”
We both enjoyed it, very much so, but interestingly, my sole audience member declared that she liked it, but she “thought it was too similar to CHARLOTTE’S WEB, to give it 5 stars.”
Well, this gave us an excellent opportunity to discuss that. Why did she think the two books were similar?
Her response:
-the main characters are both girls, similar in age
-both girls are animal lovers and protest the killing of animals
-both stories take place on farms (new vocab word for her: they both have agrarian settings)
-both girls have a love/hate relationship with their brother
-both stories culminate into the final action that takes place at a county fair
Okay, great points! However, I let her know that THIMBLE SUMMER was the first offering of the two. This juvenile fiction was published in 1938 (and went on to win the Newbery medal in 1939).
E.B. White’s classic, Charlotte's Web (which was published in 1952 and was awarded the Newbery Honor, rather than the medal—I protest!!) featured talking animals and the overarching themes of friendship and self-sacrifice.
THIMBLE SUMMER is a story set during the Great Depression, with a primary focus on the importance of family and neighbors, in good times, and in bad. The animals are less talented. They’re just, you know, animals without the ability to dance or sing.
However, this novel does offer a bonus theme of adoption, and the author makes it clear that the children you adopt do become your own. (Amen and thank you, Ms. Enright!).
What can we say, in conclusion?
Both books are excellent. If it were up to me, I’d declare CHARLOTTE’S WEB the stronger offering, and more likely to make you ugly cry in front of others.
And I’d assess THIMBLE SUMMER as the more literary offering. The writing here is poetry in prose, with many passages that are worth reading twice.
Fun fact: Elizabeth Enright, the author, pointed out in this novel something that no other writer from my 1930s reading project has yet: the girls from this time period were notoriously named after gemstones. The protagonist is named “Garnet,” and many of her classmates are named Opal, Pearl, Ruby and Beryl.
As both of my daughters have a gemstone in their name, we were delighted by this particular circle of life.
We both enjoyed it, very much so, but interestingly, my sole audience member declared that she liked it, but she “thought it was too similar to CHARLOTTE’S WEB, to give it 5 stars.”
Well, this gave us an excellent opportunity to discuss that. Why did she think the two books were similar?
Her response:
-the main characters are both girls, similar in age
-both girls are animal lovers and protest the killing of animals
-both stories take place on farms (new vocab word for her: they both have agrarian settings)
-both girls have a love/hate relationship with their brother
-both stories culminate into the final action that takes place at a county fair
Okay, great points! However, I let her know that THIMBLE SUMMER was the first offering of the two. This juvenile fiction was published in 1938 (and went on to win the Newbery medal in 1939).
E.B. White’s classic, Charlotte's Web (which was published in 1952 and was awarded the Newbery Honor, rather than the medal—I protest!!) featured talking animals and the overarching themes of friendship and self-sacrifice.
THIMBLE SUMMER is a story set during the Great Depression, with a primary focus on the importance of family and neighbors, in good times, and in bad. The animals are less talented. They’re just, you know, animals without the ability to dance or sing.
However, this novel does offer a bonus theme of adoption, and the author makes it clear that the children you adopt do become your own. (Amen and thank you, Ms. Enright!).
What can we say, in conclusion?
Both books are excellent. If it were up to me, I’d declare CHARLOTTE’S WEB the stronger offering, and more likely to make you ugly cry in front of others.
And I’d assess THIMBLE SUMMER as the more literary offering. The writing here is poetry in prose, with many passages that are worth reading twice.
Fun fact: Elizabeth Enright, the author, pointed out in this novel something that no other writer from my 1930s reading project has yet: the girls from this time period were notoriously named after gemstones. The protagonist is named “Garnet,” and many of her classmates are named Opal, Pearl, Ruby and Beryl.
As both of my daughters have a gemstone in their name, we were delighted by this particular circle of life.
August 25, 2017
Ten year old Garnet lives on a farm in the the 1930s. We loved the start of this book, instantly both wanting to live there in Garnet's house and go swimming in water that was too warm! That never happens in England! We enjoyed the characters and the tale of the coral bracelet and the library incident, the story felt like an autobiography. The descriptions of cooking lime in a lime kiln for cement were very interesting and the harvest descriptions were evocative and for all the other differences of ways of life this was exactly the same as harvest time here. The descriptions of Garnet going to the city and looking in shop windows were an interesting snapshot of the 1930s.
This was almost 5 stars, the story did feel unconnected at times, Eric joins the family in one chapter but is not really mentioned again, neither is an old lady who tells the tale of the coral bracelet. We were also waiting for the thimble to have some importance to the story, but this was still a very interesting and enjoyable read and both left us wanting to time travel back to a hot dusty summer on a farm in Wisconsin.
We love the blue and orange cover of our 1960s edition and there are many beautiful, very 1930s line drawings inside that we were very impressed to discover were by the author.
This was almost 5 stars, the story did feel unconnected at times, Eric joins the family in one chapter but is not really mentioned again, neither is an old lady who tells the tale of the coral bracelet. We were also waiting for the thimble to have some importance to the story, but this was still a very interesting and enjoyable read and both left us wanting to time travel back to a hot dusty summer on a farm in Wisconsin.
We love the blue and orange cover of our 1960s edition and there are many beautiful, very 1930s line drawings inside that we were very impressed to discover were by the author.
June 21, 2023
Such a fun and delightful story! It's full of the kind of summer adventures every child who lives in the city wishes for; swimming in the river, helping with the farm and entering a piglet in the county fair. Other exciting things happen too, like getting locked in the little country library one night! Lessons are learned along the way and the characters will have you chuckling at their witty statements and quirky mannerisms. This would be a fun read-aloud for families!
Ages: 7 - 12
Cleanliness:
Children's Bad Words
Mild Obscenities & Substitutions - 6 Incidents: doggone, stupid, durn, darn
Religious Profanities - 22 Incidents: thank goodness, gee, gosh, Pete's sake, gee whiz, Lord knows,
Religious & Supernatural - 5 Incidents: A girl, not entirely serious, thinks a thimble she found must be magical. (She later attributes the summer’s good times and fortunes to the thimble, saying it brought her luck.). Mentions “pigs screaming like banshees.” A girl makes up a fairy tale - there is a witch in it. A girl wants to name her chicken after a goddess. At the fair there is a mystic mind reader.
Romance Related - 1 Incident: A girl makes up a fairy tale and ends the story with a couple getting married.
Attitudes/Disobedience - 5 Incidents: A grandma shares a story about when she was a little girl and got in trouble. The granddaughter who is listening thinks she was mean to be punished it but is corrected. A boy lies because he doesn’t want to be sent to an orphanage. A girl is always cross when she first wakes up. A brother is mean to his sister, telling her that “threshing isn’t anything for girls…; home with a dish towel, that’s where you belong!” The sister gets mad and runs away for the day. Both brother and sister make up and don’t stay mad for long. A man tells about when he was a kid and ran off to the circus for a day. He got spanked and said he “deserved it. But I always kind of felt it was worth it too.”
Conversation Topics - 3 Incidents: Mentions rusted tobacco tins, cigar smoke. I girl wants to go see a moving picture, with “plenty of horses and bloodshed.” At the fair there is a dancing show. “Below the last name, Zara, there was a little notice saying: persons under 16 not admitted. Both Garnet and Citronella were dying to know why not.” Later, they see the older brother walking out of the tent. He says it wasn’t worth it.
Parent Takeaway
A delightful story that holds old time charm. While the children might not always do things right the first time, they repent and learn by them.
**Like my reviews? Then you should follow me! Because I have hundreds more just like this one. With each review, I provide a Cleanliness Report, mentioning any objectionable content I come across so that parents and/or conscientious readers (like me) can determine beforehand whether they want to read a book or not. Content surprises are super annoying, especially when you’re 100+ pages in, so here’s my attempt to help you avoid that!
So Follow or Friend me here on GoodReads! And be sure to check out my bio page to learn a little about me and the Picture Book/Chapter Book Calendars I sell on Etsy!
Ages: 7 - 12
Cleanliness:
Children's Bad Words
Mild Obscenities & Substitutions - 6 Incidents: doggone, stupid, durn, darn
Religious Profanities - 22 Incidents: thank goodness, gee, gosh, Pete's sake, gee whiz, Lord knows,
Religious & Supernatural - 5 Incidents: A girl, not entirely serious, thinks a thimble she found must be magical. (She later attributes the summer’s good times and fortunes to the thimble, saying it brought her luck.). Mentions “pigs screaming like banshees.” A girl makes up a fairy tale - there is a witch in it. A girl wants to name her chicken after a goddess. At the fair there is a mystic mind reader.
Romance Related - 1 Incident: A girl makes up a fairy tale and ends the story with a couple getting married.
Attitudes/Disobedience - 5 Incidents: A grandma shares a story about when she was a little girl and got in trouble. The granddaughter who is listening thinks she was mean to be punished it but is corrected. A boy lies because he doesn’t want to be sent to an orphanage. A girl is always cross when she first wakes up. A brother is mean to his sister, telling her that “threshing isn’t anything for girls…; home with a dish towel, that’s where you belong!” The sister gets mad and runs away for the day. Both brother and sister make up and don’t stay mad for long. A man tells about when he was a kid and ran off to the circus for a day. He got spanked and said he “deserved it. But I always kind of felt it was worth it too.”
Conversation Topics - 3 Incidents: Mentions rusted tobacco tins, cigar smoke. I girl wants to go see a moving picture, with “plenty of horses and bloodshed.” At the fair there is a dancing show. “Below the last name, Zara, there was a little notice saying: persons under 16 not admitted. Both Garnet and Citronella were dying to know why not.” Later, they see the older brother walking out of the tent. He says it wasn’t worth it.
Parent Takeaway
A delightful story that holds old time charm. While the children might not always do things right the first time, they repent and learn by them.
**Like my reviews? Then you should follow me! Because I have hundreds more just like this one. With each review, I provide a Cleanliness Report, mentioning any objectionable content I come across so that parents and/or conscientious readers (like me) can determine beforehand whether they want to read a book or not. Content surprises are super annoying, especially when you’re 100+ pages in, so here’s my attempt to help you avoid that!
So Follow or Friend me here on GoodReads! And be sure to check out my bio page to learn a little about me and the Picture Book/Chapter Book Calendars I sell on Etsy!
February 18, 2008
Why didn't I know about Elizabeth Enright when I was growing up? I read everything by Maud Hart Lovelace and Lois Lenski, but she passed me by. Enright's books are just the type that I adored when I was 9 or 10 years old--a bit old-fashioned, but smart, with characters who were adventurous and curious and made messes and hung out with the coolest grownups.
August 5, 2018
Charming, and great for summer. I love the writing style.
August 4, 2023
Enright's Gone-Away Lake and Return to Gone-Away are two of my favorite books of all time, and I've been eager to read more by Enright. I had read this once years ago, and didn't recall all that much from it. It's a sweet contemporary portrait of Depression-era childhood in Wisconsin. Garnet is an independent heroine, yet deeply connected to her home and family. My grandmother gave me her thimble collection when I was quite young, and one was an extra-small pewter thimble that I used to pretend was Garnet's thimble. (I also relate to Garnet answering to Ruby--people call me Emily, Natalie, anything more common with the same cadence as Melody--and there is a town in this book called Melody!)
After reading Olivia's review I knew I had to give this one a re-read. Luckily I had already checked it out from the library! Now on to the Melendy books...
After reading Olivia's review I knew I had to give this one a re-read. Luckily I had already checked it out from the library! Now on to the Melendy books...
July 8, 2025
A sweet, classic middle grade book. Though I think Garnet should really stay closer to home! 😂
March 6, 2008
I did not care for this book. It was a Newberry winner, apparently, but... I dunno. There wasn't really a connecting plot through the whole story. Each chapter was a totally separate story, if you ask me. The only connection was the characters and they all took place in the same summer. But it could have just as easily been a series of short stories, you know?
For instance, the second chapter is a story where Garnet (the main character) and her friend are listening to her friend's grandmother tell a story about when she was young. The grandmother had really, really wanted this bracelet, and felt that her father had let her down by not getting it for her, and how she eventually got one, though it caused many mishaps along the way. The grandmother later says she lost it. I thought maybe the little girls would find the bracelet or one similar. Or they would learn a lesson from it and later in the book when Garnet really wanted something, she would recall the lesson. But no, neither the bracelet nor the grandmother is ever mentioned again.
In one chapter she sneaks away and travels many towns away without telling anyone. She buys presents for her family, spends all her money and heads home. She decides not to tell them right away where she got the gifts because she didn't want to get into trouble for leaving all by herself. But in the next chapter, everyone has their gifts and no one mentions her leaving, and she apparently gets into no trouble.
And I was hoping some romance between her, or her friend, and the boy who randomly shows up that summer. Maybe they're too young for that.
Even the -point- of the book. The thimble. Many, many pages go by without any mention of it at all, until the very end when she claims that it was responsible for her great summer. You'd think she might have pulled it out during some of those great times.
For instance, the second chapter is a story where Garnet (the main character) and her friend are listening to her friend's grandmother tell a story about when she was young. The grandmother had really, really wanted this bracelet, and felt that her father had let her down by not getting it for her, and how she eventually got one, though it caused many mishaps along the way. The grandmother later says she lost it. I thought maybe the little girls would find the bracelet or one similar. Or they would learn a lesson from it and later in the book when Garnet really wanted something, she would recall the lesson. But no, neither the bracelet nor the grandmother is ever mentioned again.
In one chapter she sneaks away and travels many towns away without telling anyone. She buys presents for her family, spends all her money and heads home. She decides not to tell them right away where she got the gifts because she didn't want to get into trouble for leaving all by herself. But in the next chapter, everyone has their gifts and no one mentions her leaving, and she apparently gets into no trouble.
And I was hoping some romance between her, or her friend, and the boy who randomly shows up that summer. Maybe they're too young for that.
Even the -point- of the book. The thimble. Many, many pages go by without any mention of it at all, until the very end when she claims that it was responsible for her great summer. You'd think she might have pulled it out during some of those great times.
August 2, 2023
{2021(?) Reread}
I remember really liking this when I was younger, and I really liked it again upon rereading it. It's a lovely, very atmospheric book that has a unique and nostalgia-inducing "aura" to it. It reminds me quite a lot of Charlotte's Web, actually, which is High Praise Indeed.
Definitely recommend if you enjoy these kinds of stories. Some of the anecdotes related lost my interest now and then, but then other times I'd come across a phrase or paragraph that was so carefully and accurately written that I was Most Impressed. ;)
A childhood friend that can stand the test of time, this one!
I remember really liking this when I was younger, and I really liked it again upon rereading it. It's a lovely, very atmospheric book that has a unique and nostalgia-inducing "aura" to it. It reminds me quite a lot of Charlotte's Web, actually, which is High Praise Indeed.
Definitely recommend if you enjoy these kinds of stories. Some of the anecdotes related lost my interest now and then, but then other times I'd come across a phrase or paragraph that was so carefully and accurately written that I was Most Impressed. ;)
A childhood friend that can stand the test of time, this one!
June 24, 2009
Elizabeth Enright is one of my favorite authors in all the world. This book exemplifies how she could paint a picture of a child's world with just the right details to make it amazingly clear. Her insight into what makes life interesting to a young mind leads to sentences with startling evocative perfection.
Reading this book makes me feel like a young girl growing up on a Wisconsin farm in the 1930's. I adore this book and cannot recommend it strongly enough to absolutely everyone.
Reading this book makes me feel like a young girl growing up on a Wisconsin farm in the 1930's. I adore this book and cannot recommend it strongly enough to absolutely everyone.
May 13, 2022
A sweet and nostalgic account of 9 year old Garnet's summer adventures. Not my favorite of Enright's books.
May 8, 2025
Featured in Grandma/kids Read To the Very End Sessions. . .
Thimble Summer , by Elizabeth Enright shows us a snapshot of a summer in Garnet Linden's life - one set in a serious drought in their region. Everyone wanted, needed and hoped for a rainfall. This was a read shared by my granddaughter and me which we greatly enjoyed.
Chapters begin and end with the titular thimble, and then there are others on an orphan adopted into her family, a night locked in the library with her friend Citronella (and book mentions from the top reads of middle readers in 1928: The Jungle Book , Duchess Olga; or the Sapphire Signet , Rikki-Tikki-Tavi , The White Seal , and Toomai of the Elephants ), fairs and all that they promise, and running off to a neighboring community when she feels unloved. The characters are safe and endearing.
Time well-spent for me and my own "Garnet."
Thimble Summer , by Elizabeth Enright shows us a snapshot of a summer in Garnet Linden's life - one set in a serious drought in their region. Everyone wanted, needed and hoped for a rainfall. This was a read shared by my granddaughter and me which we greatly enjoyed.
Chapters begin and end with the titular thimble, and then there are others on an orphan adopted into her family, a night locked in the library with her friend Citronella (and book mentions from the top reads of middle readers in 1928: The Jungle Book , Duchess Olga; or the Sapphire Signet , Rikki-Tikki-Tavi , The White Seal , and Toomai of the Elephants ), fairs and all that they promise, and running off to a neighboring community when she feels unloved. The characters are safe and endearing.
Time well-spent for me and my own "Garnet."
August 8, 2015
Elizabeth Enright is one of my favorite writers, but her 1939 Newbery Award winner about one summer in the life of Garnet, an active and sunburned (yet bookish) Wisconsin farm girl, is my least favorite of her novels. I picked it up recently for a book discussion in the Children's Book Group, and although I'd read it multiple times, including once before as an adult, I found very little of it had remained with me, except for the vivid cover illustration (Enright's own work) and the episode when Garnet and her friend Citronella are locked overnight in a library, which is the part I remember most clearly from my childhood reading of the book.
Enright's books are often episodic, but I think this one, the earliest of her chapter books, is more so than the later ones, and because I find it choppy and disjointed, it doesn't make as much of a strong overall impression on me as the others. One of Enright's favorite devices is to insert stories told by elderly people into the narrative. Here, we have barely met Garnet and Citronella (whose name I'm pretty sure we're meant to find amusing - it was the name of a then-popular type of mosquito repellant) before we're made to figuratively plop down on the floor with the girls and listen to a story told by Citronella's great grandmother, a character who's never mentioned again. In the other books, like The Saturdays, the stories that older characters tell are more organically a part of the narrative -- they're usually told by someone the children meet because of what's happening in the larger framework of the story. Also, fairly early on in Thimble Summer, a homeless boy named Eric who's been traveling around the country on the rails as a migrant worker shows up and is more or less adopted by Garnet's family. In most books, one would expect this plot development to become a focal point of the story -- how will everyone adjust to this new circumstance? But after the chapter when Eric is introduced, he kind of fades away into the background. He's mentioned, but we just don't see a lot of him.
While I don't feel the book hangs together as well as it could, I did enjoy reading it. The quality of Enright's writing is wonderful; it's like breathing fresh air. I love this description of some chickens "pausing on one foot and shooting startled glances at nothing in particular."
A last note: on this reading, I was struck by a section near the end, when Eric tells Garnet and her brother Jay about the droughts in Kansas he's experienced. Although we know that Garnet's father has some money worries (one plot point is his happiness when he receives a government grant -- from some kind of New Deal program maybe? -- to build a new barn), that brief mention of the dust bowl is really the only hint in this book that life in the 1930s was a struggle for great numbers of people. When you skim through the reviews here, you see a lot of appreciation for simpler times and the innocent pleasures of a wholesome life-style, and the honest fruits of hard work. In short: weren't those the good old days. Ironically, I bet that to a lot of people who were reading the book in 1938 when it was first published (for example, children in cities whose parents struggled to find work) such a life was just as refreshingly different from their own experience as it is from ours.
Enright's books are often episodic, but I think this one, the earliest of her chapter books, is more so than the later ones, and because I find it choppy and disjointed, it doesn't make as much of a strong overall impression on me as the others. One of Enright's favorite devices is to insert stories told by elderly people into the narrative. Here, we have barely met Garnet and Citronella (whose name I'm pretty sure we're meant to find amusing - it was the name of a then-popular type of mosquito repellant) before we're made to figuratively plop down on the floor with the girls and listen to a story told by Citronella's great grandmother, a character who's never mentioned again. In the other books, like The Saturdays, the stories that older characters tell are more organically a part of the narrative -- they're usually told by someone the children meet because of what's happening in the larger framework of the story. Also, fairly early on in Thimble Summer, a homeless boy named Eric who's been traveling around the country on the rails as a migrant worker shows up and is more or less adopted by Garnet's family. In most books, one would expect this plot development to become a focal point of the story -- how will everyone adjust to this new circumstance? But after the chapter when Eric is introduced, he kind of fades away into the background. He's mentioned, but we just don't see a lot of him.
While I don't feel the book hangs together as well as it could, I did enjoy reading it. The quality of Enright's writing is wonderful; it's like breathing fresh air. I love this description of some chickens "pausing on one foot and shooting startled glances at nothing in particular."
A last note: on this reading, I was struck by a section near the end, when Eric tells Garnet and her brother Jay about the droughts in Kansas he's experienced. Although we know that Garnet's father has some money worries (one plot point is his happiness when he receives a government grant -- from some kind of New Deal program maybe? -- to build a new barn), that brief mention of the dust bowl is really the only hint in this book that life in the 1930s was a struggle for great numbers of people. When you skim through the reviews here, you see a lot of appreciation for simpler times and the innocent pleasures of a wholesome life-style, and the honest fruits of hard work. In short: weren't those the good old days. Ironically, I bet that to a lot of people who were reading the book in 1938 when it was first published (for example, children in cities whose parents struggled to find work) such a life was just as refreshingly different from their own experience as it is from ours.
October 16, 2018
A very pleasant book about a girl growing up in in Wisconsin, with episodes of farming life, the county fair, and hitchhikes to town. I plan to read it to my son next.
September 10, 2023
This book annoyed me to no end. Slightly sexist, a hint of fat shaming, and overall I really didn't like the writing. As much as everyone else enjoyed this, this was definitely not for me. 1 ⭐
June 13, 2008
As most readers know, any book written by Elizabeth Enright (see my book recomendation of Gone-Away Lake; 4-star) is a work of art, but this book is certainly the highlight of her career. Garnet (Enright comes up with the weirdest names) finds a silver thimble by the lake, and she's sure it's magic when the summer proves to be so interesting to her. Her prized runt (this part is thought by some to be a ripp-off of Charlotte's Web) wins a blue ribbon at the fair, and there was the adoption of a boy named Eric, and Garnet and her best friend Cintronella even get locked in the library!
Another no-plotter by Enright, but it is still entertaining to read and is another classic.
Another no-plotter by Enright, but it is still entertaining to read and is another classic.
August 20, 2022
It was the hottest day in the entire history of the world. At least it felt like it to Garnet Linden as she looked out over her family’s dying crops. Where was the rain? If it didn’t come soon, they would have to harvest their oats for hay and wouldn’t have enough money to pay their mounting bills. On top of all that, her father needed a new barn. Her family not only needed rain, they needed a miracle, but all Garnet had was a small silver thimble that she’d found in the damp, sandy flats of the river. What possible good could that ever do?
Elizabeth Enright’s Thimble Summer received the Newbery Medal in 1939. Her book is a culmination of her grandmother’s childhood stories, her mother’s school days, her own experiences, and various memories of her friends and relatives. All told, Enright gives us a nine-year-old’s memorable summer filled with a high-speed bus ride, runaway chickens, a blue ribbon, a new sibling, and an unexpected sleepover in the town library. Thimble Summer is charming, engaging, and the ideal read for a young reader looking for adventure and suspense without any of the tragedy. It highlights the kindness of strangers and reminds us that family is so much more than blood. Although this story wouldn’t translate well today (as a nine-year old hitchhiking to another town would elicit a call from both local law enforcement and child protective services), readers still have to admire Garnet’s hutzpah when it comes to showing her older brother that she isn’t a total failure while looking good doing it!
In her Newbery Medal acceptance speech, Enright noted the joy she gleaned from writing about children for children since “a child sees everything sharp and radiant; each object with its shadow beside it. Happiness is more truly happiness than it will ever be again, and is caused by such little things.” I think through Garnet Linden, Elizabeth Enright is encouraging all of us to hold onto the magic of delighting in the little things that life has to offer so that we too can experience our very own thimble summer.
Elizabeth Enright’s Thimble Summer received the Newbery Medal in 1939. Her book is a culmination of her grandmother’s childhood stories, her mother’s school days, her own experiences, and various memories of her friends and relatives. All told, Enright gives us a nine-year-old’s memorable summer filled with a high-speed bus ride, runaway chickens, a blue ribbon, a new sibling, and an unexpected sleepover in the town library. Thimble Summer is charming, engaging, and the ideal read for a young reader looking for adventure and suspense without any of the tragedy. It highlights the kindness of strangers and reminds us that family is so much more than blood. Although this story wouldn’t translate well today (as a nine-year old hitchhiking to another town would elicit a call from both local law enforcement and child protective services), readers still have to admire Garnet’s hutzpah when it comes to showing her older brother that she isn’t a total failure while looking good doing it!
In her Newbery Medal acceptance speech, Enright noted the joy she gleaned from writing about children for children since “a child sees everything sharp and radiant; each object with its shadow beside it. Happiness is more truly happiness than it will ever be again, and is caused by such little things.” I think through Garnet Linden, Elizabeth Enright is encouraging all of us to hold onto the magic of delighting in the little things that life has to offer so that we too can experience our very own thimble summer.
Want to read
August 16, 2020Lovely. Evocative. A bit beyond my oldest for read-alouds right now so we will put it back for next summer.
July 7, 2020
This review also appears on my blog, Read-at-Home Mom.
Garnet Linden has an ordinary life on her family's Wisconsin farm, but when she finds a silver thimble at the start of the summer, she believes it might have some extraordinary magic in it. Indeed, not long after she finds the thimble, the drought which has plagued the farmers comes to an end, an orphan named Eric finds his way into the Linden family, and Garnet herself begins to experience adventures never before imagined. Though the 1930s bring about hard times that many would choose to forget, Garnet will always remember her thimble summer.
This lovely slice-of-life story, winner of the 1939 Newbery Medal, could make anyone nostalgic for an idyllic small-town summer whether they've ever actually experienced one or not. Garnet's adventures - getting locked in the library, hitchhiking to a neighboring city, attending the local fair - are not necessarily the most exciting things ever to happen in fiction, but they are enjoyable to read about because of the way Enright describes them. By giving Garnet such a stubbornly positive and hopeful disposition, she makes it impossible for the reader to dislike her, and she cultivates in the reader an unshakable desire to follow Garnet wherever she may lead. This love for Garnet as a character is furthered by the way the other characters in the story react to her. Citronella, who is a "wet blanket" type of character always worried about being careful and not getting into trouble, still chooses to spend time with Garnet. Mr. Freebody, the Lindens' neighbor, sticks his neck out again and again to make sure Garnet is happy and healthy. Even Jay, Garnet's brother, and Eric, the orphan who comes to work on the farm. seem to have a special feeling for Garnet, which only makes the reader more intrigued by her every move.
The role of the thimble in the story seems unclear and unnecessary, and there were moments - especially in chapter two, when Citronella's great-grandmother tells a story from her childhood - where it wasn't entirely clear how the whole story was meant to hang together, but even with these minor flaws, this is still a wonderful book. I liked it considerably more than Gone-Away Lake and Return to Gone-Away, which I found tedious and difficult to finish, and I found myself laughing out loud or asking my husband (who read the book aloud to me) to go back and repeat different lines so I could appreciate them a second time. (Especially notable was the moment where Citronella, distraught at being trapped inside the library says, "I wish I'd never learned to read." It was just so like her character to react so dramatically, and I laughed in delight at the perfection of that line.)
Thimble Summer is a quiet book which is likely to appeal to more serious and introverted readers. Though there are vague hints early on that the thimble might have magical properties, this is a product of Garnet's imaginative thinking and not a truly fantastical element to the story. This is a realistic fiction novel through and through and will be loved especially by kids who like to read about the everyday occurrences in the lives of other kids.
Garnet Linden has an ordinary life on her family's Wisconsin farm, but when she finds a silver thimble at the start of the summer, she believes it might have some extraordinary magic in it. Indeed, not long after she finds the thimble, the drought which has plagued the farmers comes to an end, an orphan named Eric finds his way into the Linden family, and Garnet herself begins to experience adventures never before imagined. Though the 1930s bring about hard times that many would choose to forget, Garnet will always remember her thimble summer.
This lovely slice-of-life story, winner of the 1939 Newbery Medal, could make anyone nostalgic for an idyllic small-town summer whether they've ever actually experienced one or not. Garnet's adventures - getting locked in the library, hitchhiking to a neighboring city, attending the local fair - are not necessarily the most exciting things ever to happen in fiction, but they are enjoyable to read about because of the way Enright describes them. By giving Garnet such a stubbornly positive and hopeful disposition, she makes it impossible for the reader to dislike her, and she cultivates in the reader an unshakable desire to follow Garnet wherever she may lead. This love for Garnet as a character is furthered by the way the other characters in the story react to her. Citronella, who is a "wet blanket" type of character always worried about being careful and not getting into trouble, still chooses to spend time with Garnet. Mr. Freebody, the Lindens' neighbor, sticks his neck out again and again to make sure Garnet is happy and healthy. Even Jay, Garnet's brother, and Eric, the orphan who comes to work on the farm. seem to have a special feeling for Garnet, which only makes the reader more intrigued by her every move.
The role of the thimble in the story seems unclear and unnecessary, and there were moments - especially in chapter two, when Citronella's great-grandmother tells a story from her childhood - where it wasn't entirely clear how the whole story was meant to hang together, but even with these minor flaws, this is still a wonderful book. I liked it considerably more than Gone-Away Lake and Return to Gone-Away, which I found tedious and difficult to finish, and I found myself laughing out loud or asking my husband (who read the book aloud to me) to go back and repeat different lines so I could appreciate them a second time. (Especially notable was the moment where Citronella, distraught at being trapped inside the library says, "I wish I'd never learned to read." It was just so like her character to react so dramatically, and I laughed in delight at the perfection of that line.)
Thimble Summer is a quiet book which is likely to appeal to more serious and introverted readers. Though there are vague hints early on that the thimble might have magical properties, this is a product of Garnet's imaginative thinking and not a truly fantastical element to the story. This is a realistic fiction novel through and through and will be loved especially by kids who like to read about the everyday occurrences in the lives of other kids.
July 14, 2017
Oh how I enjoyed this book as a kid that I could never get rid of my copy. I love Garnet, Citrinella, Mr. Freebody, and Erik so much! This is a book I'm hoping my children will read in the future.
April 2, 2023
Cozy and old-fashioned (in a good way).
Newbery Award - 1939
Newbery Award - 1939
October 30, 2020
This is typical of the type of story I most enjoyed when I was in the range of 8 to 11 years old. I know I read this one several times, but I don't know if I owned the book or checked it out of the library.
2017: I just read this book again ... finding the thimble is the only part of the story I remembered. The rest of the story is familiar, but is that because I've read many books that are similar to this one or because I remember this particular story?
Garnet, ten years old, lives on a farm in rural Wisconsin during the 1930s, but her family doesn't seem to be affected much by the depression or the dustbowl anxieties. The weather was hot and drought-dry in the first chapter, but the rains returned in chapter two. Garnet loves her freedom, her family, and the great out-of-doors. Full of energy, she's always thinking up things to do, some of which aren't necessarily good ideas. While much of the story is predictable, young readers will come away with a solid impression of rural family life ... but how many kids like wholesome stories such as this? It is so different from the types of books that are on the best-seller lists today.
I noted a couple of incidents that I haven't seen in other books. This is the only story I've read that describes "cooking limestone" to make lime for cement. (Chapter 3) And Chapter 6 starts with a description of the sights, sounds, and smells of harvest time:
While the men worked on the barn Garnet and her mother had their hands full with the house and garden; for now the garden was yielding in all its abundance.
There follows a description of canning, and all of the accompanying smells. (Enright is sensitive to the smells associated with different times of the year and with particular events.)
And a few pages later, there's a description of a shop window that displays the latest in kitchen appliances:
One big window was full of kitchen articles: a pale green stove and a green porcelain sink; and enamel pots and pans all pale green. Who ever heard of such a thing!
That hits close to home because my mother collects 'cream-and-green' kitchenware from that era. This shade of green was the first color used to define a modern kitchen. (Shades of gray with an occasional touch of blue predominated prior to the greenware.) Apparently housewives objected to the various shades of green that were used by different companies, so the government stepped in to urge manufactures to aim for compatible color tones.
Anyone who likes books by Lois Lenski will like Enright.
2017: I just read this book again ... finding the thimble is the only part of the story I remembered. The rest of the story is familiar, but is that because I've read many books that are similar to this one or because I remember this particular story?
Garnet, ten years old, lives on a farm in rural Wisconsin during the 1930s, but her family doesn't seem to be affected much by the depression or the dustbowl anxieties. The weather was hot and drought-dry in the first chapter, but the rains returned in chapter two. Garnet loves her freedom, her family, and the great out-of-doors. Full of energy, she's always thinking up things to do, some of which aren't necessarily good ideas. While much of the story is predictable, young readers will come away with a solid impression of rural family life ... but how many kids like wholesome stories such as this? It is so different from the types of books that are on the best-seller lists today.
I noted a couple of incidents that I haven't seen in other books. This is the only story I've read that describes "cooking limestone" to make lime for cement. (Chapter 3) And Chapter 6 starts with a description of the sights, sounds, and smells of harvest time:
While the men worked on the barn Garnet and her mother had their hands full with the house and garden; for now the garden was yielding in all its abundance.
There follows a description of canning, and all of the accompanying smells. (Enright is sensitive to the smells associated with different times of the year and with particular events.)
And a few pages later, there's a description of a shop window that displays the latest in kitchen appliances:
One big window was full of kitchen articles: a pale green stove and a green porcelain sink; and enamel pots and pans all pale green. Who ever heard of such a thing!
That hits close to home because my mother collects 'cream-and-green' kitchenware from that era. This shade of green was the first color used to define a modern kitchen. (Shades of gray with an occasional touch of blue predominated prior to the greenware.) Apparently housewives objected to the various shades of green that were used by different companies, so the government stepped in to urge manufactures to aim for compatible color tones.
Anyone who likes books by Lois Lenski will like Enright.
June 7, 2023
A very sweet story about Garnet and the special summer where she finds a "magical" thimble. This thimble seems to instigate all sorts of adventures throughout the warm months, as well as new friends. The writing was lovely and lively.
This is the first book by Elizabeth Enright that I've read and her narration impressed me. It reminded me of a more modern Little House on the Prairie. I'll be looking out for more middle grade books by this author.
Thimble Summer means even more to me now because a wonderful friend of mine Liz (@pony.books on Instagram) gifted this book to me. It's one of her favorites.
This is the first book by Elizabeth Enright that I've read and her narration impressed me. It reminded me of a more modern Little House on the Prairie. I'll be looking out for more middle grade books by this author.
Thimble Summer means even more to me now because a wonderful friend of mine Liz (@pony.books on Instagram) gifted this book to me. It's one of her favorites.
September 20, 2024
Returning to this after reading and watching too many trashy adult books and tv programs which attempt to glamorize dull grown ups who behave badly but look pretty.
Such a nice story and holds up well almost 100 years after written. What is always shocking is how much freedom kids had and correspondingly how many things they knew how to do.
Such a nice story and holds up well almost 100 years after written. What is always shocking is how much freedom kids had and correspondingly how many things they knew how to do.
July 29, 2018
I ABSOLUTELY THINK THIS BOOK WAS H O R I B B L E !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was super-duper- boring. The whole book was HAPPY STUFF. There has to be at least SOME bad stuff, right? If there is no bad stuff, there is no challenge so this whole book was absolutely BORING.
January 23, 2018
Just ok. I listened to the audiobook. The narration was very good, but the storyline did not hold my attention very much.
February 4, 2019
Surprisingly charming.
I wasn’t expecting much, in fact, I was counting on it being downright boring. Much to my surprise, I found myself caught up in the simple adventures of Garnet.
Basically it’s a bunch of anecdotes about a young girl who lives in a small town. There’s not much of a plot that ties everything together but the stories were fun.
Personally, I loved the library story and the bracelet story.
Every other book I’ve ever read about this time has been about wildly morose things like Nazis and the Great Depression so it was novel to read a book about a farming family that doesn’t have anything horribly tragic happen. There’s fairs, rainy days at the library, threshing days, neighbors helping neighbors...it was refreshing.
The worst part was when Garnet was hitchhiking. I don’t know if it really was safe for young girls to hitchhike back in the 1930s but my modern sensibilities were screaming in horror. That’s basically rule #1 in “How to Avoid Serial Killers and Rapists.” Do. Not. Hitchhike.
Not that I would ever seek out other books by this author, but it was a nice and cozy read that I don’t regret at all. The audio was great.
I wasn’t expecting much, in fact, I was counting on it being downright boring. Much to my surprise, I found myself caught up in the simple adventures of Garnet.
Basically it’s a bunch of anecdotes about a young girl who lives in a small town. There’s not much of a plot that ties everything together but the stories were fun.
Personally, I loved the library story and the bracelet story.
Every other book I’ve ever read about this time has been about wildly morose things like Nazis and the Great Depression so it was novel to read a book about a farming family that doesn’t have anything horribly tragic happen. There’s fairs, rainy days at the library, threshing days, neighbors helping neighbors...it was refreshing.
The worst part was when Garnet was hitchhiking. I don’t know if it really was safe for young girls to hitchhike back in the 1930s but my modern sensibilities were screaming in horror. That’s basically rule #1 in “How to Avoid Serial Killers and Rapists.” Do. Not. Hitchhike.
Not that I would ever seek out other books by this author, but it was a nice and cozy read that I don’t regret at all. The audio was great.
August 30, 2019
A beautiful tale to have won the Newbery! Originally published in 1938, this story certainly stands the test of time. The only major difference is at the time this was Contemporary Fiction and now Thimble Summer is clearly Historical Fiction.
Each chapter tells a different story of the summer when Garnet found the silver thimble. I love books where each chapter stands alone but the whole book is connected overall. The writing is compelling and sweet, the characters relatable and realistic, and the overarching story perfect for younger children. The level of detail might have been a bit pedantic in the 30s, but it's nice to have the details on how harvests work and how to use a lime kiln now that such things are done very differently.
Plus, another Newbery winner set in Wisconsin! I love it.
Each chapter tells a different story of the summer when Garnet found the silver thimble. I love books where each chapter stands alone but the whole book is connected overall. The writing is compelling and sweet, the characters relatable and realistic, and the overarching story perfect for younger children. The level of detail might have been a bit pedantic in the 30s, but it's nice to have the details on how harvests work and how to use a lime kiln now that such things are done very differently.
Plus, another Newbery winner set in Wisconsin! I love it.
July 12, 2020
A deceptively simple story -- it took about 1/3rd of the way through before it really reached me how poignant and precious this time was for the young girl (Garnet). It's not told in a sappy way -- very matter of fact, really, but the atmosphere is of a memory of a wonderful special time in her life. The descriptions of events seem very much from her perspective, with all the enthusiasm and sense of adventure and fun -- and yet with a mild tinge of remembrance, as well. It feels like the author is describing her own experiences as a young girl. It's hard to put into words, but I really liked it.
June 20, 2024
A classic old-timey farm kid story. Quite unremarkable if you've read other old time children's classics, but generally satisfying. The drought, the harvest time, the runaway from home episode, the county fair...
A fine shorter audiobook for summer car errands with the kids.
A fine shorter audiobook for summer car errands with the kids.
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