GENRE 5: HISTORICAL FICTION (BOOK # 3)

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Speare, Elizabeth George. 1986. THE WITCH OF BLACKBIRD POND. New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc. ISBN 0440995779

2. PLOT SUMMARY
In this story set in the year 1687, in a Puritan community in Connecticut Colony, a teen aged girl named Kit, originally from Barbados, found it a struggle to live with her uncle and his family. The strict Puritan beliefs in the community were new and stifling to Kit, who was used to freedom. Kit finds friendship with an old Quaker woman who was an outcast from the community and rumored to be a witch.


3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
The setting of this story allows the reader to go back to a time in New England where there was a deep fear of the supernatural and witch hunts were a part of life. Kit's happy and free childhood in Barbados with her grandfather had not prepared her for her new life in New England where everything was solemn and restricted. Kit met Hannah, an old Quaker woman who lived by herself, shut out from the rest of the society because of prejudice and fear. Hannah Tupper was believed to be a witch and everyone was warned to stay away from her. In spite of the warnings, Kit and Hannah quickly became friends and spent time together without Kit's family's knowledge. When the people in the community started becoming gravely ill, the blame was placed on "the witch." The townspeople gathered together to burn her house down.


Kit ran ahead to warn Hannah, and with the help of her friend, Nat, who she had met on the ship that brought her to the town, got her safely out of the town. Hannah sailed to Barbados, where she spent the rest of her days with Nat's grandmother. Because of her friendship with Hannah, Kit was put on trial during this witch hunt. The townspeople believed that Hannah had given Kit all of her powers before she disappeared. Things looked hopeless for Kit at the trial until Nat arrived with Prudence, a little girl that Kit had been teaching to read in secret at Hannah's home. Kit was set free because of Prudence's honesty as to what had gone on at Hannah's house. At the end of the story, Kit and Nat made plans to be married.

The characters in this story were believable and made for an excellent balance of personalities. Kit was as wild and free spirited as her home in Barbados. Nat was steadfast and free in his thinking, as he was always there to help Kit and had been a friend to Hannah for a long time despite the rumors. Hannah was a wise and sweet old woman, who had to live a lonely life just because she was a Quaker. Prudence went from a scared neglected child who was always looking at the ground, to a little girl who could hold her head high and had hope for the future.


The style of writing was easy to read. Hannah Tupper talked using words such as "thee" and "thy", adding authenticity to the story because this was the language used by Quakers during this time period. The theme of the story focused on prejudice and the damage it can do. The attitudes and morals of the time period were reflected in this story, making it very authentic. The Puritan religion was very strict and the religious services were extremely long. Any person in the community who did not attend the services had to pay a fine. There was a great deal of prejudice felt toward any person who had a different religion or was different in any way from the norm of the Puritan society. People that were different were outcasts, tried as witches, and even hung as if they had committed a crime.


In this book Native Americans were not treated in a positive light. During this time period, they were seen as savages to be feared. This story did nothing to correct this belief as some of the characters were captured and some scalped by the "Indians." This part of the story was written in a way that would be offensive to readers of today. With that exception alone, the story is well written and would be good to use with older students.


At the end of the book, there was an author's note in which the author stated that the story was a work of pure fiction. The author also stated that the description of the houses, the meadow, and the river running along the meadow are all something that is real and can still be seen today. The author also stated that some of the characters in the story were real people who lived in the colony in that time period including Sir Edmond Andros (the royal governor), Captain Samuel Talcott (the magistrate), Eleazer Kimberley (the schoolmaster), and Reverend Gersholm Bulkeley. This adds authenticity to the story.

4. REVIEW EXCERPTS
A Newbery Medal Book

An ALA Notable Children's Book

BookHive: "Join Kit as she sails to Connecticut to meet her aunt and see how she saves lives, faces a witch trial, and makes a life for herself in this strange, new land."


5. CONNECTIONS
*This book would be good to use with older students to teach them about Colonial times.


*Other books about Colonial times:
Bond, Douglas. GUNS OF THUNDER. ISBN 1596380136
Smith, Claude Clayton. THE STRATFORD DEVIL. ISBN 0802765440


*Other books by Elizabeth George Speare:
THE BRONZE BOW. ISBN (not listed)
THE SIGN OF THE BEAVER. ISBN 0003300293