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Nov 02, 2007

Lily rated it:

This is one of my favorite novels from my elementary school days when I was infatuated with Native Americans and their customs. The novel is based upon the story of Susanna Johnson (although the story is centered around her younger sister, Miriam) a captive of the Abenakis Indians. Along with her family, Miriam is taken away from home and traded from the Indian society into an elite French community. I picked this one up again because I recall how taken by it I was when I first read it; though i More...

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Sep 15, 2007

Wendy rated it:

Problematic portrayal of American Indians, though it seems quite in keeping with the real feelings of the captives--based on the historical narrative--for what that's worth. I read this over and over as a child, especially savoring the descriptions of life in Montreal--the dishes, the furniture, the food, the hot chocolate, and especially the clothes. I really didn't understand, at age 10, why (SPOILER) Miriam wouldn't want to marry Pierre and stay at home in a fine Montreal mansion while he e More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Oct 18, 2007

Krystal rated it:

Loved this book. Its written for the younger crowd and based on a true story of a family captured by Native Americans and sold into slavery to the British. Before I read this book, I didn't have a clue that this was apart of the history. It's incredible, the lack of my knowledge, I know.

A family of white settlers survives the Indians capture, sold into British slavery, half are thrown in the stockades, and then their journey home. It held my attention several reads through, and More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Sep 03, 2010

Angie rated it:

All right. We're stretching back a ways this time around and featuring a book written by a very well-known author but oft overlooked in favor of its famous big sib. I know there are plenty of you The Witch of Blackbird Pond fans out there. I am one of you. How could you not love wonderful, brash Kit Tyler? And Hannah and Nat and Mercy? I loved it back when I was a little girl and my mom read it to me and I love it now when I re-read it for myself. In fact, after I finished it the first time, I More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 10, 2010

Lars rated it:

There's a good reason why 'Sign of the Beaver' and 'The Witch of Blackbird Pond' are so frequently assigned (over-assigned) in elementary school. Historical fiction is a staple of language arts classes. Elizabeth George Speare is at the top of the field. Besides teachers finding merit in the two books, kids go for them.

Which makes it all the more shameful that Speare's two other novels (in print, anyway) are virtually ignored.

I read 'The Bronze Bow' a few years ago, More...

1 comment like (4 people liked it)

Feb 13, 2010

Laura rated it:

This is one of those books (like Johnny Tremain) that I read as a kid, and while I never did own a copy, I checked it out from the library so often it was at my house more often than at the library.

It follows the story of Miriam, a young English colonial, who is captured by Indians during the French and Indian war. She's sold as a slave to some French Quebecoise, where she begins to make a name for herself as a seamstress.

However, Miriam was not the only one captured More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jun 05, 2009

Emily rated it:

Calico Captive was Elizabeth George Speare's first novel. Another one you might recognize of hers was "The Witch of Blackbird Pond." Calico Captive was inspired by the journals of Susanna Willard Johnson, who was captured by Indians in 1754 (during the French and Indian War). Susanna was captured, along with all her family, including a 14-year-old sister that became Miriam in the story. The book details their capture, and captivity in the indian settlement St. Francis. They were later More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 19, 2009

Annette rated it:

This is the beautifully written first novel of Elizabeth George Speare. Although I enjoyed all of her other books, this one is my favorite. I am completely baffled as to why this is the only book by Ms. Speare that did not win a Newbery award.

I love all of the characters! I love the high-spirited, red-haired main character, Miriam Willard, as well as her delightful, and good natured, best friend, Hortense. I couldn't help but admire her sister, Susanna's quiet, steady strength More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

May 14, 2009

Melinda rated it:

This book is based on a true story of a family living in Connecticut during the French and Indian war. The family is kidnapped by Indians who had sided with the French. They are forced to march north and then are at periodic times turned over to the French. The family is scattered and must work hard to try to find their way back to each other. The original book was written by the older sister--Susanna years after the ordeal (and was actually made into a made for TV movie years ago). Speare More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 01, 2007

Michelle rated it:

I read this in fifth or sixth grade, and loved it. I appreciate fiesty heroines, of course, but my favorite parts where when the French suitor buys Miriam a cup of real hot chocolate, and when the French governor's wife offers her a luxurious bolt of fabric and she gives it to her good friend Hortense. Oh! I love this book. Where is my copy? Gotta read it again...

3 comments like (2 people liked it)

Apr 27, 2011

Melody rated it:

This is not my usual fare, not by a long shot. It somehow ended up on my To-Be-Read shelves, probably a leftover from one of the book exchanges. I was pleasantly surprised to find it a well-written and deeply engaging story. The romance was... well, romancey enough, but easy to ignore. The portrayal of the Natives who captured the English family of the protagonist was fairly one-sided and prejudicial- but rang quite true from their point of view. I wish they'd been captured longer because that w More...

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Aug 10, 2007

Lara rated it:

Reread it because Rose reminded me that part of it's set in Montreal. We haven't visited that part of the city yet.

It's classic Elizabeth George Speare--well-researched and thoughtful, and at least attempts to give the "Indian" characters a fair shake. Still, it's no Witch of Blackbird Pond.

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Jan 23, 2008

Laura rated it:

Such a romantic book! I first read it in Junior High, and I liked it as well the second time I read it twenty years later! For those of you who love historical, romantic fiction that's wholesome - it doesn't get much better.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Oct 24, 2011

Laura rated it:

A very interesting book, really. Miriam Willard, the Calico Captive, is kidnapped along with the rest of her family by hostile Indians. After a hazardous journey and a close shave at an Indian camp, Miriam and her family are sold as slaves to a French settlement in Canada. While Miriam's brother is trying to arrange for their ransom, the French and Indian War breaks out complicating matters and throwing Miriam and James' wife Susanna on their own abilities. Will Miriam and her family ever escape More...

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Dec 16, 2009

Grace rated it:

This book was pretty good. I generally like EGS books. It is about colonial America as well as about France and Native Americans. It has action and a trace of romance

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Oct 23, 2007

Kaysie rated it:

I really enjoyed this one too! Elisabeth Speare is a really great author. I only wish she would have writen more then four books!

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 05, 2009

Charity rated it:

This was a good historical fiction set during the French and Indian war. It brought alive the difference between tribal practices, the religious perspectives and prejudices that existed, and the different philosophies of the French and the English. The protagonist and her family are captured by a group of raiding Indians. She survives hardship, runs a gauntlet, is sold to the French (who hold her in hopes of ransom), becomes a seamstress to survive when she is turned out on the street, and ev More...

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Sep 14, 2011

Jael rated it:

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

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May 15, 2008

Kristi rated it:

Loved it. It's an upper grade school level book about the French and Indian time period. What I liked most about this book is that it gives details about indian capture, but not in gorey detail for a 10 year old girl to read. It also gives many perspectives because the main character is captured by the indians, then ransomed and held as a servant in a rich Frenchman's home, befriended by the French daughter who is her age. Then when the ransom is paid (but she isn't picked up by her father y More...

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Jan 31, 2009

Kjirstin rated it:

Calico Captive is one of my favorite books from childhood; I picked it up in the library when I was 9 or 10 and consistently returned to it over time.

The story is set during the French and Indian Wars before the American Revolution; the main character, Miriam, lives with her sister, Susannah and her husband and several small children. They are taken captive by Indians, then eventually traded to the French to live in Montreal, where they serve as domestic staff to a wealthy family.
More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 12, 2010

Lacy rated it:

I really like Historical Fiction books. This read was a bit clumbsy for me. I wasn't quite sure if it was me or the book. Either way it didn't flow as well as I liked. However, I still liked it. In some ways it was just "o.k." but I did read it in one night so I must have liked it.

A young colonial girl and her pregnant sister and her family get taken captive by a Native American tribe. This book takes place during the French and Indian War.

yeah, lame review, oh

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Jan 27, 2010

Rusticgirl rated it:

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

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 21, 2011

Sarah rated it:

Like many other readers I had this book over and over from the library when I was growing up. Some 40 years later I got myself a copy (ex library to my delight) from abebooks and re-read it. Oddly my memories of the book have hardly been touched by the later reading - I can still remember how I felt about it 40 years ago (identifying deeply with quite a few of the characters, not just the main girl) but hardly remember how I felt a few months ago reading it again.

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Apr 28, 2009

Lee rated it:

A young adult fiction based in a true story. This story was based in the time of the French and Indian war beginning in America when a family is kidnapped by Indians and taken from their home in New England to Canada. It is a great adventure showing the ingenuity of a young woman who against all odds survives and thrives in the wilderness and then in the unfriendly French town of Montreal. I have read other books by this author and would willingly read others.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 12, 2011

Jesse rated it:

I really liked this book. It was cute and also had some scary and intense moments. There were things I did not like but other things I enjoyed. I had an age for each character and I liked being able to have that In my brain so when I read I could picture the whole story. The author described everything very well which I enjoyed. I would recommend this to anyone in sixth grade or up. Younger children would probably not understand it as well.

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Jun 02, 2009

Sarah rated it:

A younger read than I realized when I first bought the book. But probably partly because of that the book flew by pretty fast. An easy read. And obviously interesting enough because I read it in one sitting. About a girl and her family abducted by Indians and sold into slavery to the French in Canada. Historical fiction but based on true events. I was disappointed in the ending. Wrapped up too abruptly and unbelievably.

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Aug 05, 2010

Rachel rated it:

While most people know this author best for her book The Witch of Blackbird Pond, I’ve always liked this one of hers best. Based on the true story of English settlers captured by the Abenakis and sold to the French as prisoners of war, it is told from the perspective of Miriam, a young woman who is a little too spunky for her own good, as she learns how best to survive as both a prisoner and a foreign seamstress in Montreal.

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Nov 29, 2010

Lissa rated it:

I wish I had read this book as a fifth or sixth grader, because it would have been my favorite (just like The Witch of Blackbird Pond). I loved how feisty the heroine is, even when she gets wrapped up in wanting to be glamorous, and I really didn't expect the ending, but it was definitely believable. Also, because I am super nerdy, I went from liking it to loving it when I found out it was based on a true story.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 11, 2011

Amblingbooks.com marked it as to-read

"The constant shifts of locale and situation present narrator H�bert with an excellent showcase for her range of talents....But the very best part is the realistic, almost insider's, view of early American war, class structure, and prejudice." - AudioFile

Listen to Calico Captive on your smartphone.

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Oct 05, 2010

Sheralyn rated it:

Hard for me to say how I felt about this book. It has taken me several months to finally sit down to read it. It was well written, but unfullfilling. After so much upheaval all that is left is a simple epilogue, as if the author was tired of telling the story. Not very captivating (no pun intended) in the beginning, I found my interest near the middle only to be let down at the finish.

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