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A New England Girl’s Journal, 1830-32
by Joan W. Blos
Recommended Age: 12+
Framed by letters in which a great-grandmother in 1899 hands over her girlish diary to her thirteen-year-old namesake, this 1980 Newbery Medal winner takes the form of the diary of Catherine Hall, a New Hampshire farm girl in a time of simple, hard country life, growing controversy over the issue of slavery, and changes in her circle of family and friends.
During the year and a half or so of the journal, Catherine records a crisis of morals brought about by a runaway slave’s plea for help; the difficult adjustment to having a new stepmother and stepbrother; the grief of losing someone near and dear; and beneath all, the year’s round of farm work, weather, nature, and school. Juvenile romance blooms--and some of the more mature kind, too. Joys and sorrows take their turn. And a clever, observant girl learns about herself, the meaning of
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Filled with historical details of home, school, labor, and folklore in the early 19th century, this is also a delicate and gently persuasive story that may win its way into your heart.
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