The Witch of Blackbird Pond

By Elizabeth George Speare

I first read this book in 3rd grade, and it kicked off a lifelong love of historical fiction. It tells the story of Kit, a girl raised in Barbados who finds herself moving to 1600's Massachusetts when her grandfather dies. She tries to adapt to the rigid Puritan lifestyle of her extended family, but longs for the freedom and color of her former life. Nothing in her upbringing prepared her for the insular community where suspicion and superstition run rampant, and she ends up an outcast and accused witch.

The book provides a striking contrast between Kit's memories of Barbados and her wardrobe from those happy days and the grey, rigid reality of a New England Puritan society. I remember rereading over and over the descriptions of her colorful silk dresses and plumed hats and dreaming of the Barbados Kit longs for. The descriptions of everyday life in Massachusetts also fascinated me, as everyday tasks like baking and teaching young children were vividly described. Ever since reading it, I have loved learning how people in different times did these types of everyday chores and what they believed. This book really grabbed my imagination and I think it would have a similar effect on upper elementary students. Younger students might enjoy the story as I did initially, but would probably not understand the larger plot of group hysteria and scapegoating that I appreciated when I read it again a few years later.

I haven't seen this book available for sale in several years, but I reread it every time I come across a copy. Two years ago, I was lucky enough to finally visit Barbados myself and it was everything Kit described and more! The only disappointment was that I did not have her wardrobe or her love interest (or my own love interest, for that matter) with me.