A Drowned Maiden’s Hair by Laura Amy Schlitz

Synopsis: Who doesn’t love an orphan story? Anne of Green Gables, the Boxcar Children, or Secret Garden, anyone? This story has all the charm of these stories, as well as an intriguing mystery and refreshing realism. Maud is an orphan who doesn’t fit in well at the asylum, and when the Hawthorne sisters come to adopt a little girl, she is defiantly singing “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” at the top of her voice in the outhouse. Thus begins her unconventional relationship with the Hawthorne sisters. She is to be a “secret child”, about whom nobody is to know. Maud is so desperate to leave the awful orphanage that she doesn’t care that she has to stay inside and hide when visitors come. Only after she has been with them for a while does she discover their secret life that they have been hiding from her.

Rating: Very, very good. I’m not sure why this didn’t get a Newbery honor.

Opinion: I especially enjoyed the quality of writing in this book. The author obviously has a great appreciation of language:

Maud was altogether blissful. For the first time, she
was wearing the white muslin dress that was her best,
and she was drunk with the glory of so much lace.
Hyacinth had tied the bow of her sash and encouraged
her to adorn herself with her new glass beads. Maud
felt almost too fine to breathe. She sat dagger straight,
cut her food into minuscule portions, and ate with
impeccable daintiness. [p. 102]

I really enjoyed the fact that the bad characters aren’t pure evil and the good characters aren’t angels. Maud is basically a good kid at heart, but she’s also stubborn, proud, and willful. Hyacinth appears an angel to Maud, but she is self-serving and doesn’t truly care for Maud or anyone else. Muffet, the family servant, seems slow and unintelligent at first because she is mute, deaf, and makes a moaning noise when she walks (with a limp); however, she is very smart and learns sign language quickly. And while the ending is predicable, it is the resolution that the reader longs for the entire book. This is a very satisfying book to read.

The Shakespeare Stealer by Gary Blackwood

I read this book because a patron recommended it to me. Widge is a boy who has been bought from his master and is apprenticed to a man, Mr. Bass, who wants to steal Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, for his own theater company, and he wants Widge to help him. Widge was taught a shorthand writing by his former master, which Mr. Bass wants him to use while watching the play. Widge is good at the shorthand, but when he goes to the play, he is caught up in the story and misses large pieces of the dialogue. He returns to a second play to get the missing pieces, and on the way out, he discovers that this writing tablet is missing. When Widge returns to the theater to recover it, a player catches him, and to cover his tracks, Widge declares that he is there because he wants more than anything to be a player himself.

Some of the plot is a little predictable (that Widge’s conscience will rule out), but the excitement in the book is in what will happen when his old master discovers him, and there are a few side stories that keep it interesting. The ending is exciting, with a duel between Widge’s two masters, but the very end is a little hokey. Overall, it is a very good book despite those few little things.

Where the Lilies Bloom by Bill and Vera Cleaver

The reason I read this one is that it is the featured juvenile selection for FCPL’s On the Same Page program, and it was excellent. Set in the Great Smoky Mountains in North Carolina, it follows the Luther family in their trials. At fourteen, Mary Call is the responsible one in her family of a dying father, a simple older sister and two younger siblings. She promises her father to keep his death a secret so that her family can stay together. In order to make ends meet, the children take up “wildcrafting”, which is the gathering of plants and roots for pharmaceutical companies. They make enough money just to get by before the winter comes. Mary Call tries to stay strong for her brothers and sisters, but the longer she has to hold it together the harder it gets. The characters, even some of the side characters, aren’t flat. Even the villain of the story will surprise the reader by the end, which is one of the things I loved about the book. Mary Call seems so certain about everything, but by the end, the people around her show her that things do not have to be the way she thought they had to. If that doesn’t make any sense, go and read the book. Ha!

Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink

My husband thinks that this book should be about the girl written from the dog’s perspective. But it’s not. It’s a book about the girl. The dog is involved in the plot, but does not play a major narrative role. Just to set things straight.

Caddie Woodlawn is based on the memories of the author’s grandmother, a girl living on the edge of civilization with her pioneer family. The story is similar in feel to the Little House books, but unlike Laura, Caddie is a tomboy. Caddie spends her time with her two mischievous brothers. Each chapter usually involves the three in some sort of scheme (not always naughty). The writing is somewhat episodic, but there are several larger threads, including the father’s childhood in England, and Caddie’s role in the family. The book is forward-thinking in its gender roles. The mother wants Caddie to settle down and be more of a “lady”, and when Caddie takes some interest in quilt-making, her brothers follow suit and start to learn quilting as well. It’s very well-written. No wonder it won the Newbery.