The Witch of Blackbird Pond

by Elizabeth George Speare

Orphaned Kit Tyler knows, as she gazes for the first time at the cold, bleak shores of Connecticut Colony, that her new home will never be like the shimmering Caribbean island she left behind. In her relatives' stern Puritan community, she feels like a tropical bird that has flown to the wrong part of the world, a bird that is now caged and lonely. The only place where Kit feels completely free is in the meadows, where she enjoys the company of the old Quaker woman known as the Witch of Blackbird Pond, and on occasion, her young sailor friend Nat. But when Kit's friendship with the "witch" is discovered, Kit is faced with suspicion, fear, and anger. She herself is accused of witchcraft!

Genres: Historical Fiction, Young Adult, Fiction, Classics, Historical, Childrens, Middle Grade

223 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1958

About the author

I was born in Melrose, Massachusetts, on November 21, 1908. I have lived all my life in New England, and though I love to travel I can't imagine ever calling any other place on earth home. Since I can't remember a time when I didn't intend to write, it is hard to explain why I took so long getting around to it in earnest. But the years seemed to go by very quickly. In 1936 I married Alden Speare and came to Connecticut. Not till both children were in junior high did I find time at last to sit down quietly with a pencil and paper. I turned naturally to the things which had filled my days and thoughts and began to write magazine articles about family living. Then one day I stumbled on a true story from New England history with a character who seemed to me an ideal heroine. Though I had my first historical novel almost by accident it soon proved to be an absorbing hobby."

Elizabeth George Speare (1908-1994) won the 1959 Newbery Medal for THE WITCH OF BLACKBIRD POND, and the 1962 Newbery Medal for THE BRONZE BOW. She also received a Newbery Honor Award in 1983, and in 1989 she was presented with the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award for her substantial and enduring contribution to children’s literature.

Reviews

[Katy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this book, and have therefore come to the conclusion that books written for children can be higher quality writing than books written for adults because there isn't this pressure to impress with heavy metaphor and poignant statements about life. When adults write for adults there is too much pressure, adults writing for children understand that it is the story and the characters that matter most, and if those two are well written then I think you have a deep, satisfying book.

[Julie G · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good witch is hard to find.

I should know; I've been searching for one my entire life.

So, I went into this read thinking. . . maybe this is her. . . the witch of blackbird pond. Maybe she will finally be the “tatter-haired witch” that Karla Kuskin decribes, or the “magical prognosticator, chanting, canting, calculator” that Felice Holman makes me want to meet.

I wasn't looking for a Bellatrix LeStrange, I just wanted the witch I've been waiting for. . .

And I didn't find her here.

Nope. No real witches here. Just a bunch of those Arthur Miller type “witches” from The Crucible. Meaning, no delightful cleavage or cackle, no orgies by the river. . . no incantation, no levitation, no black tresses or long black gowns.

Just a sad, partially demented Quaker woman who has been ostracized from the town for her religious beliefs.

Oh, and a town with “a pillory, a whipping post and stocks.” All of the proper accoutrements for provoking public humiliation in the village square in Connecticut in the 17th century.

God, I hate Puritans.

I hate 'em, and so does Kit, our protagonist, who is forced to leave wealth and the paradise that is Barbados for the bleak, never ending Puritans and snow.

I think this is known as “hell,” or purgatory, at the very least.

Poor Kit.

And poor me. But once I let go of my attachment to the perfect witch, I allowed this Newberry winner from 1958 and Kit Tyler to capture my attention, and I found an “old school” appealing story and a winning protagonist.

This is good, clean story-telling, and it's a surprisingly romantic coming-of-age story as well.

And, God as my witness, as I finished up the story today, my 9-year-old daughter arrived home carrying a giant, black cauldron from a thrift store.

I retreat to my lair with magical thoughts.

[Kp · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Buy the truth, and do not sell it,
also wisdom and instruction and understanding"
-> Psalm 23:23

A wholly satisfying read (and respectable look at Puritan life)!

(I'm a 23 yr old [in college] guy, and->) Who knew I'd get so emotionally invested??

I certainly didn't.

There were several parts when I was legitimately frustrated, angry, and a little teary-eyed (to level with you...).

My favorite scenes were quite easily John's return home (the teary-eyes; c'mon-> I'm just trying to give you an honest review) as well as the final pages of the book.

Sidenote-> With a character named "Thankful Peabody", how could you possibly go wrong?

Sidenote-sidenote-> Goodwife Cruff was completely (and impressively) unlikeable.

If I'm lucky enough to have a daughter or two, this one'll most definitely have a space their bookshelf.

[Joe · Rating 3 out of 5]

My autumn witch-a-thon continues with The Witch of Blackbird Pond, the Newberry Medal winning novel by Elizabeth George Speare. Published in 1958, I gather this is required reading in some public schools; The Bookman in Orange carries new copies, while a buddy of mine named Steve Green at McClain's Coffeehouse in Fullerton caught me reading this and experienced a bad flashback to his junior high days. I was enamored by the finesse with which Speare propels her narrative and the historical detail she wields, but the story didn't deliver on my wicked witch-a-thon expectations and suffers from issues common to the Young Adult genre.

The drama centers on Katherine "Kit" Tyler, a sixteen-year-old who arrives in the Connecticut Colony in April 1687. Born and raised on a plantation in Barbados with her grandfather, Kit departs for the Colonies after his passing to live with her Aunt Rachel. Aboard the Dolphin as it docks in the village of Saybrook, Kit meets two young men: Nathaniel "Nat" Eaton, son of the vessel's captain, and John Holbrook, a clergyman headed to the town of Wethersby upriver to study with a reverend doctor. When a wooden doll belonging to a put upon child named Prudence goes overboard, Kit boldly dives in to the bay to retrieve it, alarming those who have never known a woman to swim.

Kit continues to make waves by revealing to Holbrook that she can read. Upon finally reaching Wethersby when the winds permit, Kit reveals to the captain that she has not sent word to her aunt of her arrival and her seven trunks must be transported to "town," which Kit is shocked to learn is little more than a church, a square and the scattered homes or fields of the Puritan villagers. Aunt Rachel initially mistakes Kit for her dead sister, but is welcomed, even when Kit notifies her aunt that she has come to live with them. Her uncle Matthew is a taciturn farmer whose word is law, and does not truck to his daughters Judith and Mercy idling the day away trying on the dresses Kit offer as presents.

Her uncle regarded her with scorn. "No one in my family has any use for such frippery," he said, coldly. "Nor are we beholden on anyone's charity for our clothing."

"But they are gifts," cried Kit, tears of hurt and anger springing to her eyes. "Everyone brings--"

"Be quiet, girl! It is time you understood one thing at the start. This will be your home, since you have no other, but you will fit yourself to our ways and do no more to interrupt the work of the household or to turn the heads of my daughters with your vanity. Now you will close your trunks and allow them to get about the work they have neglected. Rachel, take off that ridiculous thing!"

"Even the gloves, Father?" Judith was still rebellious. "Everyone wears gloves to Meeting."

"Everything. No member of my household will appear in public in such unseemly apparel."

Mercy had said no word, but now as she folded the blue shawl and laid it quietly on top of the trunk, Rachel found courage for her only protest. "Will you allow Mercy to keep the shawl?" she pleaded. "'Tis not gaudy, and 'twill keep off the draft there by the chimney."

Matthew's glance moved from the shawl to his daughter's quiet eyes, and barely perceptibly the grim line of his jaw relaxed. So there was one weakness in this hard man!

Kit tries her best to fit in to the Puritan village. Upon learning that her people have no servants, she tries to earn her keep carding wool, preparing meals or making soap. Bossy Judith settles on assigning her cousin corn pudding. To the more sympathetic Mercy, Kit reveals the reason she did not give her aunt prior notice is that her late grandfather's debts made her vulnerable to marriage to one of his creditors. The runaway bride turns heads by attending Sabbath Meeting in silk, the only outfit she has. Kit despairs that the boring service lasts practically all day, but garners the attention of William Ashby, a wealthy young suitor who has never seen anything like her.

The stranger in a strange land begins to find her stride when she assists Mercy in teaching the dame school for young children. Helping Judith weed the onion field out by Blackbird Pond, Kit inquires about a shack out there in the tranquil meadow and is told a witch lives there, a Quaker named Hannah Tupper. When Kit improvises a lesson by involving her students in playacting a Bible scene, chaos erupts and her Puritan observers fire Kit. She flees to the meadow for solace, where she is comforted by Hannah and learns that the woman is no witch, just a misunderstood widow who's persecuted in Massachusetts for her religious beliefs. Kit befriends the old woman.

Kit summons the courage to ask for her job back. William has come courting Kit, with John Holbrook putting in similar family time with Mercy, but Kit finds her thoughts turning back to Nat, who she encounters at Hannah's home delivering her goods and helping with repairs to her roof. Uncle Matthew forbids Kit from visiting the Quaker, which Kit ignores with support from her aunt. She even starts to teach her young fan Prudence how to read in secret, introducing her to Hannah and turning over lessons to the old woman. But when a fever afflicts the youth of the village, Hannah is singled out as the cause and the rebellious Kit's relationship with the woman pulls her into the witch hunt.

"Do you deny that on a certain day in August last, on passing the pasture of Goodman Whittlesley you cast a spell upon his cattle so that they were rooted to the ground where they stood and refused to answer his call or to give any milk on that evening?"

"Goodman Whittlesley, will you repeat your complaint for this assembly?"

Her head reeling, Kit stood helpless as, one after the other, they rose and made their complaints, these men and women whom she scarcely recognized. The evidence rolled against her like a dark wave.

One man's child had cried aloud all night that someone was sticking pins into him. Another child had seen a dark creature with horns at the foot of her bed. A woman who lived along South Road testified that one morning Kit had stopped and spoken to her child and that within ten minutes the child had fallen into a fit and lain ill for five days. Another woman testified that one afternoon last September she had been sitting in the window, sewing a jacket for her husband, when she had looked up and seen Kit walking past her house, staring up at the window in a strange manner. Whereupon, try as she would, the sleeve would never set right in the jacket. A man swore he had seen Kit and Goody Tupper dance round a fire in the meadow one moonlit night, and that a great black man, taller tan an Indian, had suddenly appeared from nowhere and joined in the dance.

Elizabeth George Speare does a wonderful job of not only placing the reader in a working Puritan village in the 17th century but populating her story with compelling characters and leaving the readers with a good message. If it adhered a bit closer to history, it's a story that had the potential for great violence and tragedy, but perhaps due to its young audience, everything turns out happy in the end. I liked how Speare introduces close to a dozen characters, assigning them roles in the village and personalities that distinguish them from one another. Most of the characters remain static, while Uncle Matthew and Nat evolve the more they come to understand and appreciate Kit. The prose is poised and illustrates its setting quite effectively.

What a pity every child couldn't learn to read under a willow tree, Kit thought a week later. She and Prudence sat on a cool grassy carpet. A pale green curtain of branches just brushed the grasses and threw a filigree of shadows, as delicate as the wrought silver, on the child's face. This was the third lesson. At first Prudence had been speechless. In all her short life the child had seldom seen, and certainly never held in her hands, anything so lovely as the exquisite little silver hornbook. For long moments she had been too dazed that the tiny alphabet fastened to it were made up of the same a's and b's that she had overheard through the school doorway. But now, by this third meeting, she was drinking in the precious letters so speedily that Kit knew she must soon find a primer as well.

There's a lot of Drama(!) in The Witch of Blackbird Pond, with the sister who loves the boy who loves the other sister, and parents who just don't understand. I was amused by the suggestion that teenagers were apparently running wild in the streets as far back as the first Thanksgiving. Speare handles her story with class, with language that is poised and vivid, and takes her historical subject matter seriously. That was my problem with the novel: nothing eerie or frightening occurs. Hannah Tupper is easily the most static and forgettable character in the book despite being the title character.



Cover art over the years hints at different types of books. My favorite is Cover #4, from the first Dell printing in 1971. This promises a far out chiller and a thriller featuring a spooky witch haunting the countryside. I love the proportionality of its elements and the beguiling mood it conjures. Cover #1 accurately reflects the YA novel the author wrote, which despite the colonial setting and high level of writing, is in many ways a generic teen book. The Witch of Blackbird Pond is a good book, but not one I'd recommend to get the pulse racing on Halloween.

[Beverly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not anything like my preconceived notion, The Witch of Blackbird Pond is a wonderful young adult novel set in the late 1600s in New England among the Puritans. Kit Tyler has arrived on a ship from Barbados and doesn't fit in from her first moments in Connecticut when she reveals that she can swim. The neighbors think she must be a witch since she can float! Her relatives take her in reluctantly and Kit tried to make herself useful by working hard in this new grim environment, so unlike the tropical paradise she was born in.

Kit comes from an affluent family whose work was done by slaves that they owned. Her hardy Connecticut cousins try to make her understand how wrong this is. Kit's loneliness and despair soon bring her to connect with another outcast from the Puritan's society. This connection may mean Kit's death.

[Bren fall in love with the sea. · Rating 5 out of 5]

“What a pity every child couldn't learn to read under a willow tree...”
― Elizabeth George Speare, The Witch of Blackbird Pond


A book from my childhood and one of the best pieces of Historical fiction..one of the best BOOKS..I have ever read.

PLEASE do not go into this..if you have not read it..thinking it is only for children or young adults. Do you know how many people I know who read this in adulthood? So have I although my first reading of it was in my childhood.

So Kit is a newcomer to the United States. She has come here from Barbados. She knows nobody. She knows nothing of the Puritan culture. Her grandfather has died and her only family left is her Aunt Rachel. She has come in the hopes of living with Rachel and her family as she is bereft and is leaving little behind.

Kit is used to the free spirited way of living that she has always embraced in Barbados. She knows nothing of the customs that guide New England. She knows nothing about how the village people regard women. She does not know that women here don't know how to read, do not know how to swim and most of all she does not know about witch trials and about the rules governing the lands.

It isn't long before Kit befriends two people. One of them is Prudence, a scared little child whose family thinks she is "dumb" and as a result she does not go to school. The other is Hannah. Regarded with deep suspicion and mistrust Hanna is a widow and a Quaker who lives alone. Nobody in the village will speak to her. There is a deep certainty amongst the villagers that Hannah must be a witch.

So this is a bit of what the book is about but I have not even scratched the surface. It is considered a classic and I reread every few years especially when I want to go back in time and touch my childhood. I cannot think of a piece of writing better in the Historical Fiction genre and if you missed it as a kid or an adult, it is one that will stay with you.

Now I have some SPOILERS..just about the ending..so if you have not read it, stop here.

The last scene is among the most romantic and satisfying I have ever read. Likewise the trial and the testimony of Prudence are also written so flawlessly. I often think of Kit and Nat and Mercy and Judith and John Holbrook and Aunt Rachel and Mathew and Prudence and Hanna. They all stepped off the pages and became my friends. Sometimes the smell of New England will bring me back to the book as will apple pie, kittens, boats and the sound of the ocean. Please read this book.

[Anne Osterlund · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kit, Katherine Tyler, is a free spirit. When her grandfather dies, she sells off his giant home in Barbados and sets sail to find her only remaining family in Connecticut colony. She weathers a storm, avoids seasickness, and even manages to wrangle two entire conversations out of the blue-eyed son of the ship’s captain.

However, the Connecticut mainland has a sharper edge than any of the challenges on board ship. How can Kit bear the insidious patience required to drop cornmeal in a bowl one pinch at a time? And the agony of spending her entire Sunday on a hard pew in church service? And the spiteful tongue of her cousin Judith? But there are far greater things to fear in the colonies than boredom.

And when Kit begins sneaking away to find her own happiness.

The real danger begins.

I love Kit! And Nat (the captain’s son)! And Hannah (the Quaker woman who shares soft kittens and blueberry pie). And Prudence (the little girl who needs Kit almost as much as Kit needs her). This is one of my favorite books. Full of wonderful historical detail but also fun, alive characters that you feel as though you would love to meet. I’ve read The Witch of Blackbird Pond at least a dozen times—maybe two-dozen. And now may have to read it again.

[Katherine Arden · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book got me into historical fiction which is the genre perhaps closest to my heart. The conflict between freedom and responsibility, between individual and family and community ring as clear today as they did when I first read this book as a kid

[Werner · Rating 5 out of 5]

My wife Barb had read this back in the 90s, and mentioned to me at the time how much she liked it, which had put it on my radar. So last fall, when I was considering a new book to read aloud to her, I selected this one, guessing rightly that after the lapse of 25 years or so, it would be like a new read. The very short Goodreads description for this edition says it "brings to life the witch hysteria of Puritan New England." That's true as far as it goes, but very incomplete; one plot strand depicts the witch hysteria of that day, rising to an intense climax that evokes considerable drama and suspense, but there's significantly more to the book than that. (The cover blurb tends to be more lurid and Gothic than the book itself justifies, as well.) It's solid historical fiction (the kind that earned a Newbery Award, at a time when quality was required for that) rather than schmaltzy melodrama. The 16-17 year old heroine/viewpoint character will appeal to teens, but adults can thoroughly appreciate the novel as well.

Our setting is the fictional town of Wethersfield in the colony of Connecticut in 1687-88, on the cusp of England's Glorious Revolution, a time when New England history buffs know that royal governor Sir Edmund Andros was pushing the envelope of royal absolutism to its limit. (Speare does an excellent job of working this historical backdrop into the fabric of the story.) But we see it through eyes that can view it with more than slight detachment: those of Katherine "Kit" Tyler, born and raised on Barbados, in a very different milieu. Orphaned young, she was raised by her now dead, wealthy grandfather; but misuse of his trust by a thieving overseer replaced the wealth with a plethora of debts, and after his passing the plantation had to be sold to pay them. As our story opens, Kit's now sailed to Connecticut --without sending any advance word ahead of her!-- without any money except what paid for her passage, to seek a home with her mother's surviving sister, Rachel Wood (whom the niece has never seen), and her family. Both she and the Wood family are in for culture shock galore.

IMO, this is a wonderful novel, without any significant downside that I could see. It's a nuanced and fascinating portrayal of human relationships, across cultural and generational lines; and Speare avoids the pitfalls of caricaturing Puritan society or creating cartoon characters depicted as entirely good or entirely bad. Kit's a basically likable person, free-spirited and kind-hearted, smart and book loving (her grandfather taught her to read, and had an extensive library), appreciative of beauty. But she's also, at 16, got a definite lazy and entitled streak, a product of her upbringing; she takes for granted the slavery-based economy she's benefited from all of her young life, and she views the Crown with a rather naive subservience. (For all that they tend to be more narrow, both religiously and culturally, than Kit, the New Englanders she meets tend to be more on what we would recognize as the right side of those issues.) The author also makes it clear that New England society isn't monolithic; aged Quaker Hannah Tupper, who becomes Kit's fast friend, and seaman Nat Eaton, with his travel-based broader outlook, are also part of its fabric, and even among the Puritan congregation of Wethersfield, there are differences in personalities and attitudes. Most of them aren't genuinely malevolent (though Goodwife Cruff certainly is, and Speare also depicts the insidious way that mob psychology, given a chance, can work); they're just regular people, with the same range of moral and psychological qualities we'd find in a small town today, and most prove to be sympathetic. Speare has also created, in many cases, dynamic characters --that is to say, characters who can learn from each other and from experiences, and change some attitudes and perspectives. And while Kit understandably doesn't relate well to the ultra-long, tedious monologue sermon-centered Puritan church services twice on Sundays, and doesn't support the bigotry against Quakers, there's no anti-Christian attitude on her part, and no anti-religious propaganda in the book.

Speare's plotting is perfectly-crafted, and her prose style felicitous; at just 223 pages, this is an absorbing, fast-paced read that held my interest throughout. If a reader could devote time to reading it without much interruption (Barb and I couldn't, of course), it would actually be a quick read. A lifelong New Englander herself, her love for and knowledge of the beauties of New England's natural world is evident in many places in the text. Finally (and which is an important consideration for this genre) her historical accuracy and faithful reconstruction of the life and ethos of the times are impeccable. This book really gives you an appreciation of the back-breaking, monotonous labor that filled daily life, for both sexes (though the focus is on females), as well as the community spirit and some of the folkways. Some might say I give too many books five star ratings; but in all honesty, I couldn't give this one any less!

[Calista · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite books in a middle grade range. This, Heidi, little princess, Secret Garden, and Little Women are some of the best books the grade level has to offer.

We meet Kit who is on a boat heading to the colonies with a group of Puritans. Her parents died and she is moving to live with her strict uncle. She wasn't a puritan and so the life she comes into is difficult and people don't trust her.

The genius of the books is the old woman who lives next to Blackbird pond. This is a marshy area and it can flood so she lives alone, but the woman loves the area because of the beauty. The rest of the town see her as a witch. So of course Kit finds refuge with this woman.

I can tell you, reading this the first time, I simply hated these puritan people. They just seem so cruel and harsh for no real reason. This story is beautiful and it really touches me.

I should re-read this story this year. It's a fantastic story and is still a great read for modern readers.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

2020 Re-Read

Me: I re-read this book every year!
Also me: * lets 3 years go by between reading*

Considering I own 3 copies you'd think this one would come up more.

Re-read 3.22.17
I've read this book easily over 20, maybe 30, times yet it still remains one of my all-time favorites.
......................

Re-read 2013

I was around 11 years old the first time Mom read The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare out loud to us. That was a good year for read-out-louds. We were studying American history, and that meant Johnny Tremain, Carry On Mr Bowditch, Sign of the Beaver, and Calico Bush. My favorite, though, the book I picked up and read and re-read until I wore out our copy and had to buy a new one…that was The Witch of Blackbird Pond. It is the first book I remember reading over and over and probably remains the story I have read the most. In fact, I just re-read it. I wasn’t sure I could put words to a review. Can something so personal really be explained?

Plot:
For those of you who haven’t read it, The Witch of Blackbird Pond is about orphaned sixteen-year-old Kit Tyler. Raised on the beautiful island of Barbados, Kit is forced to leave her tropical home for the cold, uninviting Connecticut Colony of Wethersfield where her strict Puritan relatives don’t know what to do with her. Where once she knew silks and petticoats and the care of black slaves, she is now forced to work and wear the plain cotton dress considered appropriate to the austere population. Her only comfort is found in the meadows where the old Quaker woman, Hannah Tupper, resides. Will she ever be able to reconcile herself to the stubborn New England population, or will she return to Barbados? And when the unthinkable happens and the mob goes after Hannah as a witch, can she save her in time? And where does the mocking young sailor, Nat Eaton, fit in?

Literary Love:
One of my favorite passages is when Kit first sees the meadows…

"As they came out from the shelter of the trees and the Great Meadows stretched before them, Kit caught her breath. She had not expected anything like this. From the first moment, in a way she could never explain, the Meadows claimed her and made her their own. As far as she could see they stretched on either side, a great level sea of green, broken here and there by a solitary graceful elm. Was it the fields of sugar cane they brought to mind, or the endless reach of the ocean to meet the sky? Or was it simply the sense of freedom and space and light that spoke to her of home?…How often she would come back she had no way of foreseeing, nor could she know that never, in the months to come, would the Meadows break the promise they held for her at this moment, a promise of peace and quietness and of comfort for a troubled heart."

Go and ahead and re-read that. Form each word in your mouth. Taste it. I love the writing in this book.

I also love the characters. Hannah Tupper used to mystify me. Where did she go when the floods came and filled her little cottage by Blackbird Pond? She was homey and wonderful and more then once, I joined Kit and Prudence and Hannah on the sun-warmed floor with the kittens and blueberry cake or sat in the eaves as the roof as Kit and Nat re-thatched it. There is lots of character change, whether Kit learning to love her new homeland or her cousin Judith navigating beaus. I love Kit’s cousin Mercy. I think Nat might have been my first Favorite Literary Guy.

More than anything, though, more than the characters and the writing…I love the time this takes place. When men and women grew up fast and worked hard. When America was tamed by colonist and their fight for the independence. I love the description of the New England men, firm rock. Uncle Matthew, John Holbrook, William Ashby, and of course Nat Eaton. They valued their independence and would not easily submit to a King’s rule, a King’s governor, or extra taxes on the land they tamed with their own hand. This is the true founding of the United States. The beginning steps that led up to Lexington and the Declaration of Independence and on and on….
All in a novel.

It’s books like this one that prove why stories can be so powerful. There is no deeper meaning carefully hidden in the pages, you don’t have to have a doctorate to discern the story. It’s a good novel, comforting and well-written, but it is also a young woman from Barbados, a Royalist, a total stranger coming to understand and love the spirit that tamed the colonies. It was a spirit that fed me as a girl, that formed deep within and taught me to hope and dream. It was a spirit that found strength from the novels I loved and the history I read.

So to understand me, you have to try and understand that part of me. The reason I was probably the only high school girl with a picture of George Washington hanging above my bed instead of a favorite pop-band. The reason the Revolutionary War captures my imagination so. The reason I can get so excited over long dead philosophers like John Locke and Charles de Montesquieu. Because they wrote about freedom. I look out my window, and I see carefully paved roads, solid houses, and trees that have never felt the bite of an ax. But go a little farther and you can see the stone-field farmhouse from the 1800s where my Grandparents live and my ancestors settled many, many years ago. Go a little farther and you can see the one-room school house still standing where my relative many, many years ago taught school to the pioneer children. Go back even farther and watch as my ancestor joined in signing the Mayflower Compact. Go back farther and trace British roots and the sense of personal freedom stretching from the Magna Carta to the book of Deuteronomy and on and on.

Patriotic is sort of a cheesy word these days. Red, white and blue. And yet it is possible for us to be patriotic because of those log cabins and the ships that traded dangerously in wind-tossed sea. It is possible for us to be patriotic because our ancestors so many years ago stood up for their rights and freedom against the King. I love The Witch of Blackbird Pond because that rock that Kit learns to lean on, that stubborn independence, that fight for liberty….that’s in my blood. Our culture may dilute it. Historians may re-write it. The well-manicured lawns outside my window may poo-poo it. But I know, deep down inside, that when the time comes, we must fight for our rights. The United States was an experiment. It was men fighting the charters of their King. And though time may lull us, the experiment is not yet over. That is what I know, and that is why this book is so important to me.




Published on Fernweh's Call
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[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wethersfield, Connecticut Colony, 1687

As the granddaughter of a wealthy plantation owner, Katherine “Kit” Tyler was considered a person of importance in her childhood home on Barbados. Now that Grandfather is dead, Kit has pleaded with her Aunt Rachel in Connecticut to take her in.

Aunt Rachel gladly opens her home to Kit, but Rachel’s husband, Puritan elder Matthew Wood, is less enthused. Kit is very much a part of the mainstream Anglican culture of the day—she’s a fan of playacting and colorful clothing. Matthew is worried that his niece will be a bad influence on his teenage daughters, and that she might draw negative attention to his household.

Matthew’s fears of public disapproval are not entirely baseless. Wethersfield is peopled with paranoid gossips. Like all New England residents in the seventeenth century, they must constantly strive against the elements for survival and have almost no leisure time. But as Puritans particularly, they have left themselves almost no amusements save fomenting mistrust of any neighbor who’s even a bit unusual.

Kit is sheltered and spoiled, but naturally kind and brave. She tries admirably to adapt to her new home. But on a particularly trying day, she meets elderly Hannah Tupper, a Quaker widow cast out of the community. Hannah’s house becomes a hideout for local misfits, including Kit, abused little Prudence Cruff, and handsome Nat Eaton from the neighboring settlement.

A foul wind is starting to blow through New England…

Content Advisory
Violence: Hanging mentioned but doesn’t happen.

Sex: Nothing.

Language: Nothing.

Substance Abuse: Nothing.

Nightmare Fuel: Nothing.

Politics & Religion: Kit has an alarmingly cavalier attitude about the African slave trade, which surfaces once or twice. Nat disagrees with her rather vehemently on the subject, and it’s implied that he may be able to change her mind in the future.

The people of Wethersfield have ostracized Hannah because she’s a Quaker. She is not a witch in any sense of the word, and nor is anyone else in the book. At Kit’s trial, common accusations against alleged witches are tossed about, including that she was seen conversing with the Devil.

Conclusions
The Witch of Blackbird Pond has been a favorite of mine since I was about eleven.

While often used in social studies classes to reinforce lessons on the Salem Witch Trials, the book itself is set in a different colony, a few years before the Salem hysteria began, and its accusers are not that notorious group of girls. It’s a precursor to those events, but on a smaller scale, and luckily ends with Hannah, Nat, Kit and Prudence all alive and well. But while the sword does not fall on the main characters, Speare does a fine job establishing a tension in the novel’s atmosphere that lingers even after they’re vindicated. These individuals were spared, but others will not be so lucky.

There’s also a lot of subtle foreshadowing of the American Revolution in the dialogue of Uncle Matthew and some of the other town council members. They bristle against the high-handed behavior of the King toward the colonists, and they predict that this discontent will eventually turn bloody, although they are not sure they’ll be alive to see it happen. The event they foresaw finally arrived ninety years later, and while they were long-dead, one can imagine that their descendants were at the head of it. You can tell that Speare took great pride in her fiery New England ancestors.

A big part of this book’s enduring appeal is how relatable its heroine is. Poor Kit. She’s impulsive and rather spoiled, but always means well, and strives not to make waves except when she needs to. She is misunderstood by most and reviled by many. The only people who understand her are an elderly person, a child, and an attractive male peer who doesn’t fit neatly in the Puritan youth box either. Kit learns that the quantity of friends one has means nothing, but the quality of those friends means everything.

Speare is also quite adept at conveying a lot of interpersonal drama with a large cast, in a comparatively short book, without making it seem crammed. Like The Bronze Bow, there’s a lot of young characters here struggling to balance their ideals with families and courtships. It adds a great deal of human interest to the story without ever tipping over into soap opera territory. I cared about how the little dance between Kit and Nat, Judith and William, and Mercy and John would resolve itself—because they were all likeable enough, they all had lives outside of their romantic travails, and the book’s main focus was elsewhere.

I wish more authors these days remembered how to do this…I love a good romance, but it seems like every book these days forgets its real object as it ruminates upon the raging hormones of its characters. Who cares about saving the world when we have love triangles to solve? It’s like the authors are writing their own fanfiction. The attitude of Blackbird Pond, among other YA offerings from this earlier era (The Sherwood Ring, The Perilous Gard, The Bronze Bow, Johnny Tremain, etc.) was that your relationship angst would take care of itself if you prioritized it behind more pressing matters, such as defending the defenseless and protecting one’s homeland.

This book has moments of bleakness and dread, balanced with cozy hearthside family scenes that still acknowledge the darkness outside. It saturates you in the world of the characters, riddled with ignorance and fear but shot through with hope, courage, and the serenity that comes from doing the right thing. Worth reading no matter your age.

[Madelyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

FULL REVIEW HERE:
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"She ​snatched at the dream that had comforted her for so long. It was faded and thin, like a letter too often read."

A search of identity, belonging, friendship, and breaking social class boundaries, this book is uncharacteristically deep for young adult novels. Not only is the time period historically accurate, but Elizabeth George Spear incorporates easy to read, yet distinct and complex, accents. From the Quaker 'witch', to the Barbados Kit Tyler, to the Connecticut colony residents, each of the many characters has a personality that can't be mistaken.

Don't be put off by the title. There is absolutely no witchcraft involved in the book. It's basically a Salem Witch Trial book that takes place in another New England coastal town, Wethersfield.

A few major themes in The Witch of Blackbird Pond include the political issues of the 17th century, religious differences from protestants and Quakers, how education differs from country to country ("What a pity every child couldn't learn to read under a willow tree..." -Kit, who learned in Barbados), judgement and how it affects culture... these are just a few of many elements. See? Didn't I say it was deep for a YA novel? ;)

If you're into history, you'll love the richly detailed depiction of day-to-day life in 17th century America. Even if you're not (like me) you will still definitely enjoy this Newberry Medal-winning classic.

We'd love to hear your thoughts! Please feel free to comment on the blog!
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[_inbetween_ · Rating 4 out of 5]

A serious favourite from my formative youth, strange and harsh and nearly illicitly romantic so that I reread it, no matter how much Kit's predicament upset and scared me (mobs and trials and institutions are some of my worst fears).
Reading it quickly now - for the first time in English - many decades after first finding it in the small town library, I'm struck by how good a book it is. Many, amongst them the woman who "raised/formed" me as well as Narnia, crumble in retrospect, but there was a reason I'd remembered the title and found this book and even wrote a report on it at my brief stint working in a bookshop, a report also decades after having read it.
Due to circumstances I'd like to explain elsewhere, I've been searching romance novels again, tempted by what I know are false reviews and would lead only to more bad, boring and soul-sapping money-wasters. This children's book has more romance than ANY of the official adult romances, even should those have explicit sex scenes. Nat's wiry figure, his hard tanned wrists in the stocks, how Kit sees those glimpses is so much more effective and still to my taste after all those years.
The terror of the mob is lessened, and I took in more of the political situation (Royalists and American rebels), but I'm still surprised that Speare wrote such a liberal book 50 years ago. Of course Puritans today are also positive like Gale portrayed them in "Notes", but to realise it was just Quakers they branded and killed and to see tiny inserts about how the baby son died because he had to be christened in the freezing cold is unusual.
There is a great economy of writing, nothing superfluous, another mark of all the books I wanted to keep and not return to the library, back when I read a lot without it all getting mixed up or being washed out, when I reread; all those books seem so much shorter now, but it's THERE, just as in old movies - more content in less space.
Speare also shows great fairness, shows how the gruff and initially "hateful" uncle is a good man, having fought hard, his grief and load shown in a single simple powerful image, his politics and those of other men balanced to cross over, checkboard, religion and politics and ethics not all given to the "good" or "bad" side.
I had forgotten that the old "witch" was saved, and even the cat, and was glad. I had not forgotten that the beautiful young priest came back and fell into the lap of the crippled girl, or how Kit met Nate again in the bright sunny wheat field, and the pleasant surprise of that at my first read.
It should be public knowledge by now that it's not easier to write for children than for adults. I hope as much care is still paid to YA Lit., because it's missing in romance and fantasy novels, the genres we progress to as "adults". I wish there were adult books like this.


ETA: since the Swedish series Gulla was another formative book before I went into romantic thriller land, I guess there is Puritan in me or my upbringing.

[Sarah Mac · Rating 4 out of 5]

So. I read this for the first time since 5th grade.

As a kid, the romance between Kit & Nat gave me great anxiety. I really wanted them to end up together. The idea that they might not was excruciating because it was SO OBVIOUS!!! that they were the OTP of this book...so when I picked it up again after so many years, I remembered little else about the story.

But as an adult, two things stand out: the relationship between Kit & her uncle Matthew, & the complete lack of sexual menace in a period rife with that particular issue.

I really liked the way Kit & Matthew's interactions developed. They butt heads over huge differences in ideology, both religious & political; Kit makes no apologies for having owned slaves in the past (which is great -- no overly sanitized 21st century disease) & she doesn't understand her uncle's Puritan obsession with work, work, work for the enjoyment of working. Matthew, meanwhile, thinks Kit is too lazy & needs supervision to finish basic chores (which she does); her religious training is lax (which it is); her flouting convention sometimes goes too far (which it does). But for all that, he's clearly a good man. He takes her in, treats her as equal to his daughters, & stands up for her in public -- all of which Kit gradually comes to appreciate. Reading between the lines, we also see how Matthew comes to esteem her 'wild' instincts of charity & inclusion, & I thought they were very realistic in terms of guardian & ward. By the close of the book they still don't agree on everything, but they do respect each other.

That said, this is clearly a book for younger readers. None of the male characters ever thinks or behaves in any way improper, no matter their age or role in the story. There's no exploration of the sexual jealousy that was so important to the Salem-area paranoia -- particularly with young, pretty 'witches' like Kit, who were frequently charged with wantonly tempting the so-called upstanding male citizens. It's not that there wasn't plenty of room for these elements in the storyline -- rather, they were nonexistent. Likewise, Kit's adventures could well be the outline for an excellent bodice ripper -- but the author glossed over much of the peril inherent in her story. It's a book which would take only a small nudge to turn into a gripping ripper-style novel for adults...but it's a young adult read from 40+ years ago, so that nudge is simply not there.

It's not that I demand every book flaunt a score of hardcore ripper themes, but when the plot presents SO MANY opportunities & ignores them...well, that's disappointing to my sophisticated eyes of adulthood.** Certainly I loved this book as a 5th grader. Nowadays I call it an enjoyable light read & give 3.5 stars, but I'm rounding up for the sake of nostalgia. (I still love that beautiful red cover, though. It's one of my favorites.)


**Says the girl who will never give up her Ghostbusters dvd. Never, dammit. That's a big twinkie.

[Corinne Edwards · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a breathtaking book. It takes us to Puritan New England, in the colony of Connecticut. Sixteen year old Katherine (Kit) arrives in America after having been brought up by her grandfather in Barbados. Her liberal Shakespeare-reading, ocean-swimming, silk-dress wearing upbringing did nothing to prepare her for the inflexibility and piousness of her aunt’s family that takes her in. In fact, Kit’s free thinking and outspoken ways create suspicion and irrational fear.

Speare’s characters are fleshed out and conflicted and it is a pleasure to watch them learn and grow throughout the book. Kit’s constant impulsive decision making and the inadvertent consequences never felt contrived. The time period and its rigid culture played a huge part in the plot of this novel – where seemingly harmless gestures and friendships can somehow make a person seem like a Satan-worshipper and be put on trial for witchcraft. It was a tremulous and frightening time, where politics were a constant topic of conversation as the colonists were just beginning to decide that they no longer wanted a king.

Kit’s indecision about what and who she loves, and where she belongs, rang so true to me. The descriptions of New England itself and of the traditions and chores of the time were expertly woven into the prose. The sprinkling of romance throughout the story fit just right and I loved the ending. If you are a lover of young adult historical fiction, this Newberry Award winner is a must-read.

[The Captain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ahoy there mateys! This being Banned Books Week and having just finished a historical fiction about witchcraft in England, I thought it be high time to read the beloved favorite. I reread this in one delightful sitting.

This book is a young adult historical fiction about a girl named Katherine, i.e. Kit, who is forced to leave her home in Barbados and move to Connecticut to live with her Aunt and Uncle. She goes from a care-free rich island lifestyle to a hard-working Puritan one in America. It is a tale about growing up, change, and family. And it has witchcraft. Or better yet it doesn’t.

The two people accused of witchcraft in the book are not witches. However this book has been banned because of promoting witchcraft and violence. Huh? What is shown instead are the consequences of gossiping, fear, and ignorance. The book dispels the notions of witchcraft using proper proof. Instead the book promotes hard work, good relationships, and education. I find the idea of banning this book to be ludicrous.

The book certainly stood up to the passage of time and I found meself happily rediscovering old details that had been clouded over. Kit is strong, intelligent, and above all changes for the better. The other characters are equally well drawn and compelling. I love that Kit is challenged over her ideas of politics, religion, slavery, and class. It is still fast paced and engrossing. The love and friendships and bonds formed by Kit and her family and neighbors made me happy. I also think credit goes to this novel for teaching me to call kittens “tiny balls of fluff.” I believe that it completely deserved winning the Newbery Medal of Honor.

If ye haven’t read this one then hoist those sails and get moving!

Check out me other reviews at https://thecaptainsquartersblog.wordp...

[Andrei Bădică · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unul dintre cele mai frumoase romane pe care le-am citit vreodată!

[Heidi (can’t retire soon enough) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember reading this as a 9-year-old— a few years before moving to Connecticut. Funny. As much as I remembered loving this book, I had forgotten so much of the story, including the fact it took place in Connecticut!

It is a book that has aged beautifully. Well-written, filled with solid characters and a young heroine perfect for any time. Puritans. Scary accusations of witchcraft. And finding a place or a person that fits. Timeless!!

I’m so glad I revisited this childhood favorite. It was a step back in Connecticut’s history as well as my own.

(Reviewed 7/1/19)

[Duane Parker · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my 9th Newbery Medal book and maybe the best so far. Well written with good characters, especially Kit Tyler, the young lady who is the heroine of the novel. There is a bit of a history lesson here also since the setting is 1687 in Wethersfield of the Connecticut Colony where the heavy handed Puritan's are dispensing their brand of religion and law. You can get an idea of the plot from the book description, but it plays out on the pages so well with such a strong, young female character that it's just a pleasure to read.

1979 Newbery Medal winner.

[Kaylin (The Re-Read Queen) · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

The problem with re-reading childhood favorites, is they very rarely live up to my memories. I still really liked this one, but I'm not sure if I found the ending a let-down because of the high expectations nostalgia had cultivated, or if it's actually a let-down.

[Susan's Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this as a teen and can't remember the plot to save my life now. I remember loving this author, though.

[Kris · Rating 5 out of 5]

April 2025 Review
I'd forgotten much of it, and this was lovely to revisit. For the most part, it held up. The writing is skilled and the characterization is rich. Speare even gives even the side characters depth, somehow with just a few words. The descriptions of the seasons, along with few vocabulary words unique to the time, give this a great atmosphere.

This time, the contrast in worldviews stuck out to me, the attitude of: Those stuffy Puritans with their Bible judge everybody and just want to follow rules. Instead, the kind woman says "Look for answers in your heart." It's the usual "look within" and "follow your heart" Disney advice. Why couldn't we instead contrast the Puritans with a different version of Christianity? The author's overall unfriendliness to Christianity was off-putting to me.

Also from Speare:
--The Sign of the Beaver
--The Bronze Bow

September 2014 Review
Masterful. Unhurried and understated. Simple, yet deep enough for a young child to appreciate the first layer, while sensing something more... Beautifully done. Highly recommended to anyone looking for a good children's book.

I haven't read a children's book this deep in a long time. Every character had inner conflict and multiple layers... enough to keep the interaction new and spontaneous, their character traits growing, the plot diverse and unpredictable.

It was a breath of fresh air not to be able to see what was coming next. I was surprised by the simple and understated ending -- yay for subtext in a kids' book! Even though this isn't really a favorite setting or writing style for me, as a fan I wished the author would have written even more between Nat and Kit! Sequel please?!

I can see why my dear friend Amy loves this book to pieces. There are true political and cultural undertones, and while they don't overshadow the plot or characters, they're a part of everyday life. Wonderful piece that was moving, yet still realistic.

Newbery Medal winner in 1959.

[Obsidian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Now I recall why I wasn't a huge fan of his book while I was a kid. Between the main character lamenting every single moment that she's being worked like a slave and the Puritans sounding scarily familiar about people being evil if they don't worship as they do, I was over this book almost as soon as I started it.

Taking place in 1687, we get a sneak peek at the colonies prior to the American revolution. The main character Kit who has lived in Barbados her whole life with her grandfather as her only guardian sets off to live with her aunt that lives in the Connecticut colony. We find out that Kit has just shown up without writing her family because she's penniless and without a home after her grandfather dies. That should have made me more sympathetic, instead I was just as irritated as her uncle when she shows up and has disdain for the town and how no one else dresses like she does. Trying to make friends with her two cousins, Kit is set to work and we quickly find out she's not that great at doing anything besides feeling self righteous and angry that she's being treated worse than a slave.

I wish we had more time to study the other characters, but we don't. We know Mercy is very generous and good and that Judith is selfish and vain. We know that Uncle Matthew is hard and religious and Aunt Rachel is a doormat.

We could have explored the Quaker faith, but we don't. We just hear from other characters what occurred to Hannah and why she's seen as being a witch. There was no outrage about what was done to her and the fact that she had to flee her home because of this backwards town.

The only reason why I gave this book three stars was the fact that at least Speare takes time to explain how the town, seaport, and other areas look. It was an interesting time she took the reader back to, so I was actually interested in seeing the first seeds of discontent among those who lived in the colonies.

The dialogue was just okay and the flow was fine. I think i just wanted more set up since we just randomly have every character getting a happily ever after and considering that we know how the Salem witch trials went, I find it hard to believe that there would have been no further repercussions towards Kit's family due to her hanging out with a "witch".

[Lucy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I know this is a classic. A Newberry award winner for juvenile fiction, I can hardly criticize such a loved book. Sadly, I did not read this when it was meant to be read, as a youth struggling to know it's more important to do the right thing than to fit in with what everybody else is doing.

Important, worthy lesson, but after reading two young adult novels this week with very similar themes (does this happen to anyone else? I always seem to inadvertently read books in "themes"), I feel there is something lacking when an adult reads young adult literature. Innocence, perhaps. It's too simple. The protagonists don't fit inside the story. They are almost always ahead of their times and privy to understanding that their peers don't seem to have access to. Where did Kit come from? Barbados, yes...but possibly from the 20th century as well? As modern readers, we have the hindsight to see and learn from the foibles of our ancestors and their limited understanding, but the author gave this sort of vision to Kit immediately.

I don't know if this is ever argued (and why am I arguing, didn't I promise not to?) but part of me feels like there is an anti-obedience theme in this book. Kit is almost always disobedient, and her disobedience always turned out to be the right thing to do. Because it's young adult literature, everything turns out fine in the end, but there is a difference in doing the right thing and doing what you want to. This is a much deeper discussion to be typed out here, and I won't blaspheme this good book any more. I know it's a favorite.

[Natalie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, my heart. I have a new favorite. <3 <3 <3 (Thanks to Olivia for mentioning it in a recent blog post, for that is what inspired me to pick it up at the library. :))

(I want to do a real review at some point but no promises because I'm bad at keeping them when it comes to blogging and such. :P)

[Jody Hedlund · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVED this book! Is my new favorite! I'd give it six stars if I could! But then again, I love Elizabeth George Speare's writing. It's beautifully lyrical and riveting at the same time. Love.

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

YA History Lessons

The Witch of Blackbird Pond is one that I read when I was very young, and even though I didn’t really remember anything besides enjoying it, this is tagged a re-read.

Kit Tyler is an intelligent and spirited young woman who was raised by her wealthy grandfather in Barbados. When it becomes apparent that she can’t live alone when her grandfather passes, she moves to Connecticut to stay at her uncle’s house.

Things are very different in America from the life she knew in Barbados. Kit was raised with the privilege of fine clothes and others who did all the work of cooking, growing food and keeping her house. At her uncle’s home, she was expected to card wool, pull weeds, and if they wanted a sweet dessert on Sunday, they needed to save their sugar for the entire week.

Besides the fact that Kit could swim, her fine clothes and attitude, set her apart from the people of Connecticut. She did not comfortably tolerate the Puritan church and their desire to sit through two long services every Sunday.

Kit went for a walk alone one day and met Hannah Tupper, a woman the locals suspected of witchcraft because she was a Quaker and not a Puritan. Quaker’s believed that you could pray and God would hear you, and Puritans believed in reforming the Church of England. The politics of the time are also interspersed throughout the story and I almost felt transported to 17th century New England.

I’m not sure quite why I like this so much the first time I read it, because although the writing is excellent, I found the story sad or dark set as in was in a less enlightened time. The story had a happy ending and had many light and joyful moments, as well as very stressful ones. Kit is an admirable character, even though some of her beliefs made her less than perfect. I still had to give this “history lesson” five stars for great writing and solid storytelling.

[Amy Greenfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fish-out-of-water story that brought the seventeenth century alive for me.

What did I love about it when I was a teen? Its restless, stubborn, impulsive heroine, Kit. Its confident, outspoken, sea-faring hero, Nat. Steadfast Mercy and shy John — whose story still makes my heart beat a little faster. A historical setting so vivid that my real life paled beside it. And - sigh - one of the most romantic last scenes ever.

Re-reading it now, I can see that it was shaped by the time it was written in (the 1950s) as well as by the time it's about (the 1680s). But I'm also struck by Speare's sure sense of pacing. She knew how to get the most out of every scene. Even in quiet moments, the stakes get higher and higher.

[Lata · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Read this forever ago, and enjoyed it a lot then.