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The Witch of Blackbird Pond

3.89 of 5 stars 3.89 · rating details · 61,815 ratings · 2,870 reviews

Kit Tyler is marked by suspicion and disapproval from the moment she arrives on the unfamiliar shores of colonial Connecticut in 1867. 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 hosti...more

Hardcover, 256 pages

Published December 1st 1958 by Houghton Mifflin Books for Children (first published 1958)

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The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare

On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Best Historical Fiction for Children

2nd out of 109 books — 92 voters

The Cat in the Hat Comes Back by Dr. Seuss

A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond

Brave New World Revisited by Aldous Huxley

Best Books of 1958

7th out of 58 books — 24 voters

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Sep 15, 2012 Anne Osterlund rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Kit, Katherine Tyler, is a free spirit. When her grandfather dies, she sells off his giant home in Barbados and sets sail to find her only remaining family in Connecticut colony. She weathers a storm, avoids seasickness, and even manages to wrangle two entire conversations out of the blue-eyed son of the ship’s captain.

However, the Connecticut mainland has a sharper edge than any of the challenges on board ship. How can Kit bear the insidious patience required to drop cornmeal in a bowl one pinc...more

21 likes · like · see review

Oct 27, 2011 Katy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: childrens

I really liked this book, and have therefore come to the conclusion that books written for children can be higher quality writing than books written for adults because there isn't this pressure to impress with heavy metaphor and poignant statements about life. When adults write for adults there is too much pressure, adults writing for children understand that it is the story and the characters that matter most, and if those two are well written then I think you have a deep, satisfying book.

40 likes · like · see review

Nov 30, 2008 Rose rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Terrible book IMHO

9 likes · like · see review

Jul 30, 2009 Valerie rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classic, historical-fiction

There was nothing WOW STUPENDOUS about this book. I like it well enough. The witch trial was my favorite part, but that was the highlight of the whole book for me. The plot was slow almost the whole time.

Kit was an okay heroine. She does what she thinks is right and stands by it but she didn't have much personality. Her spontaneousness wasn't that spontaneous. Kit was rich so she felt very degraded by all of the work she was told to do. That bothered me because she felt like only servants did th...more

3 likes · like · see review

Feb 10, 2008 Lucy rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I know this is a classic. A Newberry award winner for juvenile fiction, I can hardly criticize such a loved book. Sadly, I did not read this when it was meant to be read, as a youth struggling to know it's more important to do the right thing than to fit in with what everybody else is doing.

Important, worthy lesson, but after reading two young adult novels this week with very similar themes (does this happen to anyone else? I always seem to inadvertently read books in "themes"), I feel there is...more

12 likes · like · see review

Mar 08, 2012 Hayes rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: tbr-challenge-2012, read-in-2012

Written in 1958. I have had this on my bookshelves for many years. I thought I would use it with a class, which never happened, so I never read the book. Finally got to it, thanks to the Mt. TBR challenge.

The political history was interesting and well done: the problems between the American Colonists (in Connecticut, specifically, in 1687) and King James and his governors, divided loyalties, the beginnings of the idea of Revolution. Certainly better than Johnny Tremain.

The idea of witchcraft wa...more

5 likes · like · see review

Feb 11, 2008 Kp rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Barnes&Noble.com says 9-12; I'll go ahead and add girl to that.

"Buy the truth, and do not sell it,
also wisdom and instruction and understanding"
-> Psalm 23:23

A wholly satisfying read (and respectable look at Puritan life)!

(I'm a 23 yr old [in college] guy, and->) Who knew I'd get so emotionally invested??

I certainly didn't.

There were several parts when I was legitimately frustrated, angry, and a little teary-eyed (to level with you...).

My favorite scenes were quite easily John's return home (the teary-eyes; c'mon-> I'm just trying to give you...more

17 likes · like · see review

Jul 09, 2008 Corinne rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: tl-dr-challenge, young-adult

This is a breathtaking book. It takes us to Puritan New England, in the colony of Connecticut. Sixteen year old Katherine (Kit) arrives in America after having been brought up by her grandfather in Barbados. Her liberal Shakespeare-reading, ocean-swimming, silk-dress wearing upbringing did nothing to prepare her for the inflexibility and piousness of her aunt’s family that takes her in. In fact, Kit’s free thinking and outspoken ways create suspicion and irrational fear.

Speare’s characters are f...more

9 likes · like · see review

Feb 15, 2008 _inbetween_ rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A serious favourite from my formative youth, strange and harsh and nearly illicitly romantic so that I reread it, no matter how much Kit's predicament upset and scared me (mobs and trials and institutions are some of my worst fears).
Reading it quickly now - for the first time in English - many decades after first finding it in the small town library, I'm struck by how good a book it is. Many, amongst them the woman who "raised/formed" me as well as Narnia, crumble in retrospect, but there was a...more A serious favourite from my formative youth, strange and harsh and nearly illicitly romantic so that I reread it, no matter how much Kit's predicament upset and scared me (mobs and trials and institutions are some of my worst fears).
Reading it quickly now - for the first time in English - many decades after first finding it in the small town library, I'm struck by how good a book it is. Many, amongst them the woman who "raised/formed" me as well as Narnia, crumble in retrospect, but there was a reason I'd remembered the title and found this book and even wrote a report on it at my brief stint working in a bookshop, a report also decades after having read it.
Due to circumstances I'd like to explain elsewhere, I've been searching romance novels again, tempted by what I know are false reviews and would lead only to more bad, boring and soul-sapping money-wasters. This children's book has more romance than ANY of the official adult romances, even should those have explicit sex scenes. Nat's wiry figure, his hard tanned wrists in the stocks, how Kit sees those glimpses is so much more effective and still to my taste after all those years.
The terror of the mob is lessened, and I took in more of the political situation (Royalists and American rebels), but I'm still surprised that Speare wrote such a liberal book 50 years ago. Of course Puritans today are also positive like Gale portrayed them in "Notes", but to realise it was just Quakers they branded and killed and to see tiny inserts about how the baby son died because he had to be christened in the freezing cold is unusual.
There is a great economy of writing, nothing superfluous, another mark of all the books I wanted to keep and not return to the library, back when I read a lot without it all getting mixed up or being washed out, when I reread; all those books seem so much shorter now, but it's THERE, just as in old movies - more content in less space.
Speare also shows great fairness, shows how the gruff and initially "hateful" uncle is a good man, having fought hard, his grief and load shown in a single simple powerful image, his politics and those of other men balanced to cross over, checkboard, religion and politics and ethics not all given to the "good" or "bad" side.
I had forgotten that the old "witch" was saved, and even the cat, and was glad. I had not forgotten that the beautiful young priest came back and fell into the lap of the crippled girl, or how Kit met Nate again in the bright sunny wheat field, and the pleasant surprise of that at my first read.
It should be public knowledge by now that it's not easier to write for children than for adults. I hope as much care is still paid to YA Lit., because it's missing in romance and fantasy novels, the genres we progress to as "adults". I wish there were adult books like this.

ETA: since the Swedish series Gulla was another formative book before I went into romantic thriller land, I guess there is Puritan in me or my upbringing.(less)

13 likes · like · see review

Sep 21, 2007 Jessica rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: 12 And Up

Shelves: historicalfiction

Forced to leave her sunny Caribbean home for the bleak Connecticut Colony, Kit Tyler is filled with trepidation. As they sail up the river to Kit's new home, the teasing and moodiness of a young sailor named Nat doesn't help. Still, her unsinkable spirit soon bobs back up. What this spirited teenager doesn't count on, however, is how her aunt and uncle's stern Puritan community will view her. In the colonies of 1687, a girl who swims, wears silk and satin gowns, and talks back to her elders is n...more

5 likes · like · see review

Dec 09, 2012 Amy Greenfield rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: beloved-books

A fish-out-of-water story that brought the seventeenth century alive for me.

What did I love about it when I was a teen? Its restless, stubborn, impulsive heroine, Kit. Its confident, outspoken, sea-faring hero, Nat. Steadfast Mercy and shy John — whose story still makes my heart beat a little faster. A historical setting so vivid that my real life paled beside it. And - sigh - one of the most romantic last scenes ever.

Re-reading it now, I can see that it was shaped by the time it was written i...more

2 likes · like · see review

Jun 29, 2008 Sandie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ya-kids

I still like to read children's and young adult books. There are so many good ones out there. This has been on my list for a very long time. I thought the author did a good job describing the puritan lifestyle of pre-revolutionary Connecticut. That the main character comes alone from Barbados to Weathersfild is a bit of a stretch but makes for a nice contrast. As an adult reader, I found the outcome somewhat predictable, but it is one that I think a young woman who is interested in history might...more

4 likes · like · see review

Feb 07, 2013 Flying Sandals rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sugar-coating-shit

Alrighty. . . . . WHAT THE HELL DID I JUST READ?

This book is an insult. It insulted me, the people who died because of the Salem Witch trials, and history in general.

REVIEW TO COME

EDIT:

Now, I was given this to read and learn about the witch trials. Being very excited, I cracked it opened and read it cover to back. I didn't enjoy it. It hurt me. Both physically and mentally.

Oh oh oh, where do we begin?

First off, is this a book trying to take on a serious topic such as the Salem trials or is it a...more

1 like · like · see review

Mar 22, 2013 Lisa (Harmonybites) rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: For Girls from 7 to 12 years old

Recommended to Lisa (Harmonybites) by: Grade School Reading

Shelves: children-s, fiction, historical-fiction, novels, romance, young-adult

The novel's opening pages introduces us to sixteen-year-old Kit Tyler, who is traveling from her native island of Barbados to live with her aunt in Puritan New England. She's a bird of colorful plumage finding herself among crows, an outsider before she ever steps on the shores of 1687 Connecticut. As with another outsider, the Quaker Hannah Tupper, there are soon rumors Kit's a witch. One review complains Kit is basically a modern girl, and there's truth to that. But her outsider status does al...more

1 like · like · see review

Dec 07, 2010 Lizz rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

1 like · like · see review

Nov 02, 2008 Shannon rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was one of my favorite books when I was younger. Despite not being the most flamboyant person myself, it was easy to relate to the main character and her feeling like the only spot of color in a grey, grey world. In the end she's not so much a "feminist figure" as she's just someone who had something to say in a society where what women had to say meant almost nothing.

3 likes · like · see review

Oct 25, 2012 Darla rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, historical-fiction

This is a read-aloud for Samantha's school curriculum this year. I "think" I read it when I was younger, but can't recall. Really enjoying it!
----

Finished it and couldn't help thinking that it was good but not great. I feel like Kit, and even her obnoxious cousin Judith, were just way too modern for New England, circa 1685. I didn't feel "taken back," I suppose. But then again, I'm not a 5th or 6th grader, which is about the reading/ interest level on which I would place "Blackbird Pond."

I will...more

2 likes · like · see review

Mar 18, 2009 Mr. rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The Witch of Blackbird Pond is based in 1687 where a teenager, Katherine Tyler also known as Kitt. She lived with her Grandfather in Barbados, but he died. Kitt is forced to go to Connecticut because when her Grandfather died dept was put on her and she had to get away. She begins the story on a ship named the Dolphin which is going from Barbados to Connecticut. On the way to Connecticut Kitt is having a short conversation with the Caption's son Nat Eaton. The Dolphon arrived on the Saybrook Por...more

1 like · like · see review

Feb 18, 2012 Skylar Burris added it · review of another edition

Shelves: romance, historical-fiction, childrens

I’m not going to rate this because I think I would have rated it much more highly had I read it when I was its intended audience: a 10- to 12-year-old girl. My 2nd grade daughter rather enjoyed it (we read it together), though she thought it ended too soon, on “a cliffhanger.” (When I asked her how she considered the tidy ending to be a cliffhanger, she said we didn’t know what the uncle would say – would he approve or disapprove?) As an adult, however, I was not enthralled. I found the pacing t...more I’m not going to rate this because I think I would have rated it much more highly had I read it when I was its intended audience: a 10- to 12-year-old girl. My 2nd grade daughter rather enjoyed it (we read it together), though she thought it ended too soon, on “a cliffhanger.” (When I asked her how she considered the tidy ending to be a cliffhanger, she said we didn’t know what the uncle would say – would he approve or disapprove?) As an adult, however, I was not enthralled. I found the pacing to be a little slow, but what really grated on me were the adverbs. They were everywhere, no less frequently in dialogue attribution than anywhere else. Maybe it’s only because I was simultaneously reading “On Writing” that they jumped out at me so frequently and seemed so heavy, but let me open to a random page now and see how many I spy: “he said politely,” “Kit shook her head positively,” “William rose deliberately,” and “Judith dismissed the quarrel airily.”

So I’m not a huge fan of the style, but then this is youth literature. I haven’t read that genre in a long time. It seemed formulaic and predictable and stylistically heavy handed, but I could really imagine myself having gotten caught up in the story, the tidy romance of it all, as a 6th grade girl. Other than the advanced vocabulary (even I had to look up a word or two), I’m not sure what makes this book so much more award worthy than the Sunfire historical romances I used to read in 5th and 6th grade. Of course, I haven’t read one of those since elementary school. Maybe they are far more horrible than I remember them being.

The three main female characters fit fairly neatly into three major box categories: (1) the rebellious, headstrong heroine who despite being way beyond her times and shaking up society and revolting at the idea of doing the work her slaves used to do for her still manages to earn and/or maintain the love of her relatives instead of being burned alive by them (2) the vain, boy-obsessed foil to the heroine, and (3) the sweet, quiet, submissive heroine's companion, who in the end is rewarded for her sweetness despite her total lack of self-assertion. Perhaps I should have asked my daughter, "Which of these characters do you most respect? To whom do you most relate? Which would you like to be like, if any, and why?" That would have been good grounds for discussion. Maybe I will ask her that tomorrow.

I do like that “The Witch of Blackbird Pond” was not enitrely black and white; while it certainly portrayed the Puritans as narrow and not a lot of fun, it also made them human and varied, and it certainly gave my daughter and I adequate inspiration for discussion about denominational differences in Christianity. And of course (though written in 1958) it drives home the most popular of modern themes: be tolerant and refrain from judging. This it does, I will credit it, less simplisticaly than it could; it's a two-way street in the book: the judging goes both ways, and our heroine learns that although the Puritains should be less judgmental, she too should have been less inclined to judge them (in particular her uncle).(less)

2 likes · like · see review

Feb 21, 2010 Kaion rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: school, historical, young-adult, feminism

Kit Tyler, born and raised on a Barbados plantation, finds herself forced to live with her Puritan relatives in Connecticut after her grandfather passes away. Among these grave, hard-working, and God-loving strangers, Kit can’t help but stand out, even as she tries to understand and be accepted into their world. I remembered a fondness for The Witch of Blackbird Pond from grade school, just for being a historical school-assigned novel that didn't bore me to tears- so took an opportunity to rerea...more

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Jun 07, 2009 Victoria rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

One of my favorite historical fictions...because it's not boring!

This is the way to travel back in time; follow Kit as she lands on the bleak shores of Connecticut during the Puritan times. Having grown up in Barbados with a loving grandfather, Kit is totally unprepared for the harsh, hard-working, god-fearing life of colonial America. Her new family; an aunt, uncle, and two cousins, have mixed feelings about the new addition to their household.

Kit finds solace with a old hermit woman named Han...more

3 likes · like · see review

Jan 19, 2009 Sarah rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2009, newberymedal

How I missed reading this book before, I will never know. So many historical fiction books have been written about this time period but I loved this one. There are so many facets of colony life brought into this novel. Why are more teachers not using this in the classroom? Some of my favorite parts came in just describing what life was like for Kit in America. The drudgery of preparing food, cleaning, growing food, and the never-ending cycle of work. Makes me very thankful to live in a world of...more

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Sep 10, 2008 Kristen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: novels, young-adult

I just read this for the first time since elementary school. It may as well have been the first time ever, because I remembered nothing about it. Quite frankly, I was blown away.

This is a terrific read - well-written, and it weaves historical events into the narrative seamlessly. The messages of friendship were sweet and the connections between the characters were realistic and affecting.

Something that surprised me was how central romantic intrigue was to the story. I'm starting to wonder if it'...more

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Jun 06, 2008 Leanna rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I’ve been muddling through a few “serious” books for the last several days, so I finally picked up an old friend instead: Elizabeth George Speare’s The Witch of Blackbird Pond.

The book’s protagonist, sixteen-year-old Kit Tyler, leaves 17th-century Barbados to live with her aunt in Puritan New England. Not too surprisingly, Kit does not fit well in her new environment. She has been pampered and spoiled. She is a Royalist and an Anglican. She can swim.

Kit is not the ideal heroine for a 21st-centur...more

3 likes · like · see review

May 26, 2009 CLM rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historicalfiction, childrensbooks, orphans, re-read, 17th-century

In 1687, when 16-year-old Kit Tyler's grandfather dies and she is importuned by one of his debtors, she reluctantly leaves Barbados and sails for Connecticut to make a home with her previously unmet aunt Rachel. On board the Dolphin, she makes friends with the sea captain's son as well as a sober young minister also heading for Wethersfield. Unfortunately, Kit also makes an enemy in her future neighbor, Goodwife Cruff, who is suspicious of Kit's exotic background and impetuous spirit, and warns...more

3 likes · like · see review

Dec 05, 2012 NC rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I loved it as a child and I really loved this the second time around as an adult. I was surprised to find that the character that was Kit's mentor was a Quaker. I became a Quaker as an adult and am constantly surprised by the number of books that I loved in my childhood that had endearing Quaker characters. Characters that I wanted to emulate. Wonderfully researched look into life in colonial America. Good adventure and all of the romance turns out well. I read this for my book group and we had...more

1 like · like · see review

Feb 28, 2009 Sara rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Really I would give this book 3 1/2 stars. I liked it, but it moved a little slow for me. I enjoyed the historical fiction of the new settlements in the "new world" and also of the witch trials and superstitions. I also enjoyed the ending. I guess it was Kit getting into trouble all the time for silly things and the detail of her daily work and the courtships that I grew tired of.

1 like · like · see review

Jan 30, 2008 Talia rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: j-fiction, newberry, j-historicalfic

Newly orphaned Kit Tyler’s world is turned upside down when she comes to live in the Connecticut Colony of Wethersfield. After a childhood in Barbados, Kit does not fit in with new family, nor the colonial way of life with includes difficult chores and frequent church meetings. In a life of loneliness and isolation, the only solace Kit finds is with a kindly old woman living out in a meadow, known to the colony as a witch. However, if the townspeople ever knew of Kit’s secret friendship, she too...more

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Apr 14, 2009 Misha rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: childhood, loved-it

I really tended to love books about girls who were different, who didn't fit into the times or places where they lived. I wonder why that might be? That was sarcasm, by the way. This tale of a girl sent to live in Puritan New England, who chafed against the rules of that society, is one I read again and again in circa 4th and 5th grades.

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Feb 13, 2009 Brenda rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I have always wanted to read this, so I just did... Obviously an easy read, but I was surprised to see I actually enjoyed it! I had little idea of what puritan life was in the 1600s, and the author really makes you understand both them, and the main character, who is nothing like them.

1 like · like · see review

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About Elizabeth George Speare

I was born in Melrose, Massachusetts, on November 21, 1908. I have lived all my life in New England, and though I love to travel I can't imagine ever calling any other place on earth home. Since I can't remember a time when I didn't intend to write, it is hard to explain why I took so long getting around to it in earnest. But the years seemed to go by very quickly. In 1936 I married Alden Speare a...more

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“All the way up the river she's been holding back somehow, waiting. Now you'll both have to wait. I'm not going to disappoint her, Kit. When I take you on board the Witch, it's going to be for keeps.” — 40 people liked it

“There is no escape if love is not there," Hannah had said. Had Hannah known when she herself had not even suspected? It was not escape that she had dreamed about, it was love.” — 24 people liked it

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