The Witch of Blackbird Pond (1959)--Elizabeth George Speare

So, I started off with an old favorite--or at least one I remember liking a lot when I was ten or so.

I particularly remembered this part, toward the beginning: our heroine, Katherine "Kit" Tyler, is confronted by a New Englander about the evils of slavery. Her reaction? Total bewilderment. It's 1687, slavery is normal to her, and she's never even remotely considered the rightness or wrongness of it before. This made an impression on me as a kid, because not many historical fiction authors for children allow their protagonists to hold any misguided or prejudicial ideas whatsoever. And that always bugged me, because I knew mustache-twirling villains weren't the only ones who accepted slavery, child labor, sexism, segregation, etc. in the past. I appreciated a book that respected my intelligence enough to show that.

After rereading it as an adult, I'd still say The Witch of Blackbird Pond does a pretty admirable job of handling the 17th century subject matter without sugar-coating too much. 16-year-old Kit grew up on her wealthy grandfather's plantation in Barbados; after falling on some hard times, she goes to live with Puritan relatives in Connecticut. She's a stranger in a strange land--dressed in silk instead of homespun, used to reading and lounging instead of grinding cornmeal and carding wool. We're given a pretty balanced portrayal of the Puritans. Pluses: their work ethic, familial closeness, literacy, and resourcefulness. Minuses: their church services each last about 5,000 hours, they don't have much of a sense of humor, and--oh, yeah--they're convinced anyone who's different is a witch deserving of exile or possibly execution.

I will say the ending of this book is way, way too pat. Everything works out perfectly for everyone! They're all happy! Yay!! It's not at all plausible. I'm not saying I would have preferred to see the main characters end up swinging from the gallows…but something showing the lasting effects of a witch hunt on the community would have been a lot more interesting.