The Witch of Blackbird Pond, by Elizabeth George Speare

At its most basic, The Witch of Blackbird Pond, by Elizabeth George Speare, follows the pattern of a fairy tale. The main character is forced to wander from her home, enters a world where all the rules are different and strange (to her), undergoes trials and tests, grows up a lot, then resolves it all in a happily-ever-after marital conclusion.

The fairy tale ending was a bit disappointing, given the imaginative setting and wonderful characterizations of this book, but seems appropriate for a book published in 1958. In fact, for 1958, the hero of this book is wonderfully imagined--her inner life is rich and she faces the epic conflicts of all great heroes--sacrifice vs. safety, self vs. community, self vs. family, right vs. wrong, freedom vs. duty, and so many more. This book reads as current--I had many ideas as to when it was written. It's a fine book--interesting and, in the best sense, sweet.

Blackbird Pond follows Kit Tyler as she flees her home in Barbados--colorful, urban, lush--and arrives in cold and stony colonial Connecticut, home of her only living relative, an aunt. The discovery of the New England landscape, its charms and perils, is one key feature of the book. A second key feature is Kit's introduction to the culture of Puritanism in the 1680s--diametrically opposite to almost all she has been taught. The third key feature is Kit's submersion in self-subsistance (work, in other words). These three strands are interesting all in themselves. Seeing the landscape, culture, and work through Kit's new eyes illuminated it for me, made the Puritan period way more three-dimensional than I had viewed it before.

And then there's witchcraft. Kit is first suspected of being a witch as her ship from Barbados comes into port. A child drops her doll into the water and Kit jumps in and swims out to get it. Scandalous. People in New England, apparently, do not swim. Kit, if she fears not the water, might be a witch. Witches float. Kit is a peculiar bird in the Connecticut aviary. For example, she has no work clothes, she can't cook or sew, and she doesn't understand silent obedience. Against her uncle's direct order, Kit develops a relationship with an old woman considered to be a witch in the community, which casts yet more suspicion upon her. The old woman is a Quaker (another peculiar bird).

Anyway, Kit's characteristics put her at odds with the community; her actions put her and others in danger. The fairy tale ending is a bit of a cop out because Kit's marriage will remove her from the Puritan community and give her back most of the freedoms she had been denied. So, did she change and grow? Yes. And this is a children's book, so a portrayal of a lifetime as a questionable outsider is not feasible. I just worry that the fairy tale ending short circuits Kit as a true hero in the hero journey sense. The book is weakened by this, I think, made ordinary when it could have been great.

I don't think I've ever read a book set in this time period before, depicting village life in a Puritan community. It is interesting to see the seedlings of independence being sown, grown, and nurtured. The Puritans feared they would lose their autonomy when Charles II restored the British monarchy and actively prepared to resist. I never understood that before...that tradition of self-determination. And I never understood that Puritans and Quakers pretty much hated each other, resulting in severe persecution of Quakers. Kit's friend in the story had been branded.

This book is a Newbery Medal winner for good reason. You'll feel, like I did, like you've traveled through time and space to an alien land where the shape of the nation to come is just beginning to emerge.