The Witch of Blackbird Pond

    *Doing things a little different, because of the number of covers I am putting the rest at the end of the post. This is the cover the edition that I have and read for this review.

Speare, E. G. (1987). The witch of blackbird pond. A Yearling Book. (Original work published 1958). 250 pages. ISBN 9780440495963

Primary genre: historical fiction

Other elements: adventure, romance, religion, politics, coming of age

Intended read age: 9 and up

Synopsis:

At 2-years, Katherine, ‘Kit’, Tyler lost both her parents and was left in the care of her grandfather. From that time until his passing 14 years later, Kit lived a privileged life on the island of Barbados learning to read, swim and having her every need taken care of by slaves. In 1687, at the age of 16, Kit is faced with the challenge of settling his debts and seeking out a new life with her only remaining in Connecticut. Kit’s upbringing has not prepared her for the stark lifestyle that awaits her and sets her apart in many ways. It is only with the elderly, shunned Quaker (labeled a witch by the colony) that Kit feels most comfortable and at home. When a devastating sickness sweeps through the colony those differences and her friendship with the Witch of Blackbird Pond are used to make a case against Kit, painting her as a witch in many of the townspeople’s eyes. 

Review:

One thing that reading this book makes me want to talk about is the attempt by the publishers to make this book accessible to different generations. This book does contain content that appeals to the older spectrum of tweens: the main character is 16, there are the politics and religions of the era present in the novel, and marriage and settling-down play a fairly substantial part in the plot. But it is written in such a way that the younger spectrum can understand and enjoy it as well.  I think it is interesting to look at the different covers that have been published because they are pretty well split between appealing to the different age groups. One of the first topics presented to us in the course I am taking introduced the concept of cover art and using it as a way to determine if a book is for tweens or teens. I was able to find 7 different covers for The Witch of Blackbird Pond and while they contain similar elements (usually a girl in the foreground and rolling grass/ trees in the background) the ways that those elements are used vary a great deal. The most recent cover (the last one I have at the bottom) shows the greatest change and I think reflects the publishers attempt to draw in older tweens and even teens to this classic read because of the traditional placement of this title in stores and libraries. This did win the Newbery and does have a listed reading level of 6.1, so it is meant for the tweens. But the older age of the protagonist and those topics I list above do open it that older audience but the older covers did not have that... darkness (although I do not consider this to be a terribly dark book) that is present in the newest cover.

I do feel that this story is written in a way that makes it easy for young, modern readers to make a connection with the main character. The culture-shock that Kit experiences (going from Barbados to colonial America) is very much in line with what modern readers would experience. I have read reviews where people criticized Speare for wringing Kit in such a modern fashion but I think that is what helps readers become invested in her story. It is not assumed that readers will know what goes into taking care of a colonial home because the main character does not even know. We learn along with her through the story and that is what makes it into an accessible book for different aged readers. I know there are some people that are put off by historical novels and feel that there will be more teaching than information in the story.