Genre: Children’s Historical Fiction
Length: 272 pages
Audiobook Length: 6 hours and 33 minutes
First Published: 1958
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Rachael’s Review
In 1687, Kit Tyler is marked with suspicion as soon as she arrives to live with her aunt and uncle in colonial Connecticut. The Puritans don’t know what to do with a vivacious girl from Barbados. Torn between trying to fit in and wanting to be herself, Kit befriends an old Quaker woman. But the colonists’ prejudice and distrust lead to Kit being accused of witchcraft in this enjoyable Newbery Medal-winning historical fiction story.
Publisher’s Description
In this Newbery Medal–winning novel, a girl faces prejudice and accusations of witchcraft in seventeenth-century Connecticut. A classic of historical fiction that continues to resonate across the generations.
Sixteen-year-old Kit Tyler is marked by suspicion and disapproval from the moment she arrives on the unfamiliar shores of colonial Connecticut in 1687. Alone and desperate, she has been forced to leave her beloved home on the island of Barbados and join a family she has never met.
Torn between her quest for belonging and her desire to be true to herself, Kit struggles to survive in a hostile place. Just when it seems she must give up, she finds a kindred spirit. But Kit’s friendship with Hannah Tupper, believed by the colonists to be a witch, proves more taboo than she could have imagined and ultimately forces Kit to choose between her heart and her duty.
About Elizabeth George Speare
Elizabeth George Speare was an American writer of children’s books, best known for her historical fiction novels. She won the Newbery Medal twice for her books The Witch of Blackbird Pond and Bronze Bow and won the Newbery Honor Award for The Sign of the Beaver. Speare lived her entire life in New England and died in 1994 at the age of 85.
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