The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare

As a young girl, I went through a huge historical fiction phase. I loved learning about, and imagining myself in, another time and place. One of my very favorites was The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare. My fourth grade teacher recommended it to me. At first I didn't read it because I thought it was about witches in the Halloween sense. But once I did read it, I couldn't put it down and I read it over and over again. Oh, how I wished to be Kit, and how much I loved Nathaniel Eaton.

Kit grew up with her grandfather on an island, but when she's sixteen he dies and she has to go live with her only living relative, an aunt who lives with her family in Puritan New England. You can probably guess that her free-spirited ways don't mesh well with her new community. And when she befriends an old woman who is thought by some to be a witch, things only get worse for her.

Besides romance and adventure, this book offers a glimpse into Puritan society, New England in the 1600s, and old witch hunts. It's a book about friendship, loyalty, accepting differences, and accepting yourself. I highly recommend it for girls ages 10 and up--including their mothers.

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The Witch of Blackbird Pond
By Elizabeth George Speare
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt: Sandpiper
Year: 1958
Info: Newbery Award Winner
Ages: Middle Grade Books, YA Books
Themes: historical fiction, New England, Puritans