Module 4 - Witch of Blackbird Pond

Summary:

This is a story of young girl that loses her grandfather and has to be sent to live with some relatives in New England.  The book is set in the seventeenth-century in the time of the Puritans.  Katherine “Kit” Tyler is not well versed in the Puritan ways.  She has to live and work in the fields and she is not aware of their urban legends.  Basically Kit is different and the people that she lives around let her know it.  The fact that Kit can read, write and swim actually categorizes her as a witch.  She does not see the harm in her own education and uses her skills to help others to read and write. She also meets a woman named Hannah in the woods that has been cast out as a witch and becomes very close to her.  Eventually Kit risks her life to save Hannah when the townspeople try to attack her because of an illness that has swept their community.  Kit is also put on trial because a young girl’s name, Prudence, was found all over Hannah’s house along with some other materials belonging to Kit.  Eventually Prudence convinces everyone that she has learned to write her own name and that it had nothing to do with witchcraft.


APA Reference:


Speare, E. G. (1958). The witch of blackbird pond. Boston, MA:  Houghton Mifflin.

My Impressions:

I liked this book to an extent.  This is not my favorite time period to read about.  It is funny that I really love sci-fi and fantasy books but when it comes to vampires, witches and werewolves, I am just not that interested.  Maybe because those were the three types of characters that books and movies literally wore out when I was younger.  The story itself was interesting and showed how the seventeenth-century Puritan mind thought in those times.  This was a very real occurrence and it ruined many lives.  Then there were the relationships.  There were about a dozen and a half relationships that occurred in this book.  Well, not really but it felt like it.  It was so confusing who Kit liked and wanted to date versus who she was actually seeing and who actually liked her.  Then there were the other young ladies that liked some but were engaged to others. There were also other secret loves.  It was exhausting and very confusing. 

Professional Reviews:

Booklist Review

Gr. 6–8. Hurt masterfully reads this Newbery award winner, set in seventeenth-century Puritan New England. Orphan Kit Tyler sails to the Connecticut colony to live with her aunt and uncle, but despite earnest attempts to belong, her behavior is unacceptable by Puritan standards. Criticized by the community, Kit seeks solace with a kindly old Quaker woman. Hurt’s youthful voice and soft New England accent perfectly match Kit’s buoyant personality and well-meaning antics. Hurt’s perception of the story enables her to shift seamlessly among characters, and she ably portrays everyone, including Kit’s soft-spoken aunt and her terse, unforgiving uncle. The villager’s talk of heresy is thick with suspicion, and Hurt’s capable reading accentuates this sense of foreboding. —Anna Rich

Rich, A. (2002). The Witch of Blackbird Pond (Book). Booklist, 99(5), 518.

Library Uses:

a.       This would be an excellent book to teach about the famous Salem Witch Trials because Kit ends up on both sides in this tale and brings the two different perspectives together.

b.      I also think this book would be great for lessons and research on intolerance.  There are many people or groups that are mistreated this is a perfect example.