Just read again, this time aloud with my daughter who is studying the early colonies in school. This is a great curriculum enhancing book. ( )

1959 Newbery Medal Winner

When Katherine "Kit" Tyler's grandfather dies in 1687, Kit moves from the Caribbean island of Barbados to her only other living relatives, an uncle and aunt in the Puritan colony of Connecticut. Needless to say, she doesn't fit in and trouble ensues.

I first read this book when I was thirteen, and, being a bookish misfit myself, at the time I couldn't process it beyond "Kit amazing, Puritans bad."

Listening to the audiobook as an adult and considering how I feel about it now was rewarding. It's an even better book than I remembered. It speaks to those of us who don't fit as well as showing understanding toward the cultural clash between Kit and her new community.

Now I can see that the author does a great job of showing some of the Puritans as well-rounded characters with positive attributes among all of the strictness and occasional superstition. Kit is not perfect as a character either. Her grandfather owned black slaves, which is normal to her. She was used to wealth and leisure in Barbados, so when she first arrives in Connecticut, she appears clueless and somewhat spoiled despite her best intentions.

Having lived in another culture myself, I found Kit's adjustment to this essentially foreign culture believable and relatable. I recognized that as an only child, I was also spoiled when I was younger and, although not to the level that Kit would have experienced in the 1600s, have had to struggle as an adult to learn many domestic tasks. So, I could relate to Kit's crankiness about that kind of work as well.

While Kit's recklessness ultimately turns out for the good, she learns to think more about how her behavior affects the people around her and has consequences for them. It didn't seem like she was planning to change her personality to accommodate the new culture by the end of the story--that would not have suited her character anyway, but I was glad that she developed as a character in becoming less self-centered.

The book is well-paced and as far as I could tell has wonderful historical details. There are a couple of nice twists. Add a dash of romance and the act of reading saving the day, and you've got me.

I loved the exploration of reasons why people get married and whether all of them are good reasons or not, and even that is all part of the story and never insults the reader with what they should think.

The audiobook version, narrated by Mary Beth Hurt, felt very smooth to listen to. While she wasn't the best character voice actress I've heard, she distinguished them well and her voice allowed the story to step forward and the narrator to take a back seat. She had very pronounced "L"s, which I thought would bug me at first, but I got so into the story that after a while I didn't even notice.

Beautiful book. Highly recommended. I was glad for the chance to "read" it again ten years later. ( )

This was one of my favorite books as a young girl. Reading it again now, almost 60 years later, I remember why! ( )

#1255 in our old book database. Rated: Good.
Adele rated: Good. ( )

Read this aloud with the kids. For a novel with a female protagonist, and a relatively feminist theme, it barely even manages to pass the Bechdel Test. And (very slight spoiler) that female protagonist is saved by a man much more frequently than she manages to save herself. Furthermore, the quality of the writing itself isn't that great—about what you'd expect from a YA novel, I guess.

That said, there were redeeming qualities. Matthew Wood, for instance, is an interesting character, and his relationship with Kit is intriguing. And Kit herself follows a character arc that's not overly predictable or simple. It's not a terrible book, but it's certainly not among the best we've read as a family. ( )