Caddie Woodlawn

Caddie Woodlawn (Caddie Woodlawn #1)

3.97 of 5 stars 3.97  ·  rating details  ·  21,643 ratings  ·  689 reviews
Caddie Woodlawn is a real adventurer. She'd rather hunt than sew and plow than bake, and tries to beat her brother's dares every chance she gets. Caddie is friends with Indians, who scare most of the neighbors -- neighbors who, like her mother and sisters, don't understand her at all.

Caddie is brave, and her story is special because it's based on the life and memories of

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Paperback, 288 pages
Published December 26th 2006 by Aladdin (first published 1935)
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Amy
Mrs. Klatt, my 5th grade teacher, read this book to us and then we went to visit where Caddie lived (about 30 miles south of where I grew up). I loved the Little House books, but to me, I WAS Caddie. She was a bit older and more aware of what was happening around her. If you want to read about a pioneer gal who lived in western Wisconsin and was as fiesty as her red hair, read this book. You can go see and walk through Caddie's house. It's a rest area south of Downsville, Wisconsin. I try and ge...more
Jen
I read this over a period of about 4 months. I'm not sure I've ever taken that long to read a book. But I was reading it with a 6-year-old, a chapter at a time, sometimes one chapter a week, sometimes none.

I cried more than a few times while reading: a dog is lost, a reformed bully saves the day, the family makes a great sacrifice for the happiness of Father Woodlawn. Each time, my little reading friend would turn around and smile at me and wipe away my tears. I tend to cry freely when I read an...more
Wendy
I saved this for the last of the Newberys (yes! I'm done!) because I was sure I would like it, and I wanted to go out on a good note.

I did like it, though I know I would have liked it a lot more if I hadn't already read so many similar, better books (i.e. Little House). But I can appreciate how rare it was to find interesting, funny books about real children at the time this was written. Still, I'm sort of surprised that so many of you love this so much.

Hard to believe it's by the same author as...more
David
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Ensiform
Winner of the 1936 Newbery, this book centers on the tomboy of the title, the middle girl in a pioneer family of seven children in the open plains of 1860s Wisconsin. Strongly evocative of the Laura Ingalls Wilder books, it's a wide-eyed, child's view of American pioneer life. The Indians are friendly, primitive, and highly mistrusted by the whites. The Civil War is far away; in one of the bits possibly most surprising to those who think of America as a classless society, Mr. Woodlawn has paid s...more
Robyn
There is a lot to like about this book, and some to dislike, but as a child, it enthralled me utterly. In a world of historical children's heroines such as Polly Anna, and Mary Lennox, Caddie Woodlawn was a breath of fresh air. While the others are pointed at for being different, they are still essentially feminine, even trouble making Anne Shirley. Caddie however, is a tom boy through and through, and when I, as a child, tired of reading about proper young ladies, and instead wanted to hear abo...more
Lucinda
This is a classic book and was really fun to read. I loved her spunky, pioneer girl attitude...riding out on a rainy night alone on her horse at age 11 to warn the indians of the danger brewing in her town against them! And, when her uncle almost accidentally drowned her and offered her a silver dollar if she would not tell her mother. She said, "are you trying to bribe a Woodlawn!" She knew who she was and what a Woodlawn stood for! I want my kids to know what a "Foster" is and live up to it!
Libby
Mar 22, 2008 Libby rated it 5 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition
Recommended to Libby by: Ruth Stein, My Bobe
This is one of the books I read on long, delicious afternoons in San Diego in the summers of my childhood. My Bobe and Zade and I would walk to the library and pick out a pile of books, stopping at Thrifty's on the way home for nickel scoops of ice cream (my favorite: rainbow sherbet). I can't even think of this book without feeling a rush of immense love for my grandparents.

One day when my Bobe had first moved to Minnesota (sometime in the late '50s) and she was trying to be a dutiful faculty w...more
allie
The more I think about this book, the more I dislike it.
Melanie
4.5 stars: I read this with my children and they moaned when I first brought it out. A few chapters in, though, they changed their minds. Caddie is quite a character. In 1864, Caddie is 11 and runs around with her brothers, Tom, 13, and Warren, 9. The family lives in Wisconsin and when they arrived, she and her sister Mary, were quite frail. Mary died so her father asked her mother to let him try an experiment. He wanted Caddie to run wild with the boys rather than learn to be a lady indoors. So...more
Kameron
Charming story! I just fell in love with the Woodlawn family, their hard work ethics, family values and trust in the Lord. It was so special to know that the author was writing about her own grandmother. The illustrations by Trina Schart Hyman were just breathtaking - I plan to seek out more of her work.

Some of my favorite quotes from the book:
"She loved both spring and fall. At the turning of the year things seemed to stir in her that were lost sight of in the commonplace stretches of winter a...more
Jill
1936 Newbery award. This is basically a tomboy's version of Little House on the Prairie. It was a good story but not particularly memorable.

"It's a strange thing, but somehow we expect more of girls than of boys. It is the sisters and wives and mothers, you know, Caddie, who keep the world sweet and beautiful...I don't want you to be the silly, affected person with fine clothes and manners whom folks sometimes call a lady. No, that is not what I want for you, my little girl. I want you to be a...more
Anne-Marie
I love these stories! I have really fond memories of all the times I've read them, because I've been re-reading them since fourth grade. This book is about a girl named Caddie Woodlawn. All the stories are true (a few details, such as names, were changed, but basically all the events actually happened), and they were written by Caddie Woodlawn's granddaughter, Carol Brink. When Carol was little, her grandmother told her stories of her childhood as a pioneer in northern Wisconsin and eventually,...more
Robin
Jun 28, 2010 Robin added it
Caddie Woodlawn is a story set in the 1860’s and is about a little girl, named Caddie, who is a tomboy. Caddie is very adventurous and is always with her brothers running wild, instead of in the home with the girls and her mother. Caddie, has also formed a bond with the neighboring Indians. She finds them intriguing and harmless. Caddie does not see color, but rather regular people when she looks at the Indians. Caddie is responsible for stopping a rampage between her family and others against t...more
Malbadeen
I would give this book 5 stars based on 1 chapter alone.
This chapter is Mark Twain hilarious mixed with Flannery O'Connor morbid.

In this chapter the eldest boy tells a story he's made up to amuse his younger siblings while they do chores. The story starts with a farmer accidentally killing his wife then tricking passer-byer that he'd in fact killed the farmers wife by punching her and her subsequent falling into a near by lake and drowning. HA-HA-HA! right? seriously it gets more absurd and hila...more
Treasa
I know I read this book when I was in elementary school, but I had no recollection of it beyond having a vague idea that I liked it. I picked up the audio book for a long drive, and really enjoyed listening to it. We got through slightly more than half of the audio book, and then I finished the rest in print. What a fun book!

Caddie is a spunky eleven-year-old who has been allowed to spend her days running wild with two of her brothers in the woods of western Wisconsin in the 1860s. There are sev...more
Robin Martin
Caddie Woodlawn is a story set in the 1860’s and is about a little girl, named Caddie, who is a tomboy. Caddie is very adventurous and is always with her brothers running wild, instead of in the home with the girls and her mother. Caddie, has also formed a bond with the neighboring Indians. She finds them intriguing and harmless. Caddie does not see color, but rather regular people when she looks at the Indians. Caddie is responsible for stopping a rampage between her family and others against t...more
Julia
We are reading a page from this for MCAS practice!! I loved it! I am also reading it for a book report and also for fun!
Amy
I've always been a devoted Little House books reader: read them several times as a kid and read parts of the series to each of my three kids. That being said, Caddie Woodlawn is the best pioneer/frontier book ever. I regret I never read it as a child, but I am so glad I found a gem like this among the older Newbery award winners. Caddie Woodlawn is a mischievous tomboy growing up in Wisconsin. Her progressive father is running an "experiment" -- he believes that letting girls run around with bro...more
Rhea
Caddie Woodlawn
If you’ve read and loved the “Little House” book series, by Laura Ingalls Wilder, you’ll love the book Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink. This enchanted book follows the tales and adventures of tomboy Caddie Woodlawn, much like Laura Wilder. Each chapter is a new adventure, a new way for Caddie to get into trouble.
Caddie is a pioneer girl born and raised in Wisconsin during the 1860s. She was a nuisance to her mother and older sister, Clara. But she was the apple of her Fat...more
Lindy
Excellent book! Same vein as the Little House books - but I liked it better. (Ssh, don't tell Abbi!)

My favorite quote:

“It’s a strange thing, but somehow we expect more of girls than boys. It is the sisters and wives and mothers, you know, Caddie, who keep the world beautiful. What a rough world it would be if there were only men and boys in it, doing things in their rough way! A woman’s task is to teach gentleness and courtesy and love and kindness. It’s a big task, too, Caddie-harder than cutti...more
Lavender911
Caddie Woodlawn is a real adventurer. She'd rather hunt than sew, plow than bake, and tries to beat her brothers' dares every chance she gets. Her mother and sisters just don't understand why she doesn’t want to be lady-like and sew all day. Her courage and her faith to peace and friendship are so strong that she can eleminate a massacre. Then when her cousin comes over, and she has to make a big decision that will affect her future, she opens her heart and decides to give things a change.

I love...more
Anindyta
Si Merah Energik!

Caddie Woodlawn is a real adventurer. She'd rather hunt than sew and plow than bake, and tries to beat her brother's dares every chance she gets. Caddie is friends with Indians, who scare most of the neighbors -- neighbors who, like her mother and sisters, don't understand her at all.
Caddie is brave, and her story is special because it's based on the life and memories of Carol Ryrie Brink's grandmother, the real Caddie Woodlawn. Her spirit and sense of fun have made this book a
...more
Shawn Thrasher
Where was this book when I was in fifth grade reading the Little House books? I want to see a cage match between Caddie Woodlawn and Laura Ingalls Wilder. Up until I read this book, I would have bet on LIW hands down. But Caddie Woodlawn kicks ass. She's tough, smart, and funny. Now I still like LIW; but Caddie's life is far more interesting and not as sparse and lonely Like Little House, Caddie is based on real stories, this time of Carol Ryrie Brink's grandmother. Unlike LIW, Caddie was raised...more
Linda Martin
Mar 06, 2013 Linda Martin rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: children learning about USA early pioneer life
I read this book out loud to my two homeschooling children in 2001, not long after we moved to a primitive cabin in the woods in Northern California. We read a chapter every evening until the book was finished. It was the second book I'd read set in Wisconsin that year; the first was Rascal, which is about a raccoon.

I believe my children liked reading Caddie Woodlawn more than I did. They always looked forward to hearing another story from her life on the farm in pioneer-era Western Wisconsin. T...more
Stephen
I read this over a couple of weeks to my four year old who loved it. I had searched for this book for quite some time on and off for years. My fifth grade teacher read an excerpt from the novel, the Pee-Wee tale, to our class. I only heard it once, yet I have been retelling that story for twenty-four years now. Just this year I thought I'd give figuring out what book the story was from a go again. I eventually hit the right keyword searches from my memory into google and immediately ordered a co...more
Jeslyn
Memoir-as-children's-book in the style of Laura Ingalls Wilder's writing, Caddie Woodlawn deserves a place on the shelf as well. The Woodlawns live in Wisconsin during the time of the Civil War, and not far from a small tribe of Indians. Caddie and her brothers make friends with the Indians, as does Mr. Woodlawn, and these interactions are some of the pivotal points in the book. Caddie's progression from tomboy to young lady progresses too slowly for her mother's taste, but she finds her way on...more
Tarissa
This story takes place in 1864, on the Wisconsin frontier.
The book follows the adventures of a certain girl, named Caddie Woodlawn. She is a tomboy, who likes to run around wildly with her two brothers, rather than staying inside and doing the tasks that are expected of her, like sewing, knitting, and cooking, with her mother and her older sister, Clara.

Living in territory where Indians are nearby, excitement is always brewing. There are fish to catch, rafts to paddle, fields to plow, and school...more
Natalie
I read this as a child and then later as an older teen or young adult (I can't remember when I re-read it and my Mom probably read it to us the first time. . . ). This book is one of my favorite kinds of books. My first "big kid" books that I read by myself were the Little House books. A lot of the books that I read as a teenager were historical fiction and some of my favorite were set on the American frontier (that is until I discovered Jane Austin. After that England called to me). Historical...more
Jill
Initially, this was to be a read aloud for my younger children, but they lost interest. The story is interesting and engaging, but not gripping with mystery or intrigue. So I lost my audience half way through. I finished it up on my own, and really enjoyed the message of the book: It's a blessing and privilege above the riches of the earth to be an American citizen. Young people, especially women, don't need to grow up a certain pre-conceived civilized way to successfully achieve womanhood.

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Caddie Woodlawn (Paperback)
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Caddie Woodlawn/Newbery Summer (Paperback)
Caddie Woodlawn (Mass Market Paperback)
Caddie Woodlawn (Paperback)

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Born Caroline Ryrie, American author of over 30 juvenile and adult books. Her novel Caddie Woodlawn won the 1936 Newbery Medal.

Brink was orphaned by age 8 and raised by her maternal grandmother, the model for Caddie Woodlawn. She started writing for her school newspapers and continued that in college. She attended the University of Idaho for three years before transferring to the University of Cal...more
More about Carol Ryrie Brink...
Baby Island Magical Melons/Caddie Woodlawn's Family The Pink Motel Two Are Better Than One Family Sabbatical

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“How far I've come! I'm the same girl and yet not the same. I wonder if it's always like that? Folks keep growing from one person into another all their lives, and life is just a lot of everyday adventures. Well, whatever life is, I like it.” 9 people liked it
“It's a strange thing, but somehow we expect more of girls than of boys. It is the sisters and wives and mothers, you know, Caddie, who keep the world sweet and beautiful. What a rough world it would be if there were only men and boys in it, doing things in their rough way! A woman's task is to teach them gentleness and courtesy and love and kindness. It's a big task, too, Caddie--harder than cutting trees or building mills or damming rivers. It takes nerve and courage and patience, but good women have those things. They have them just as much as the men who build bridges and carve roads through the wilderness. A woman's work is something fine and noble to grow up to, and it is just as important as a man's.” 5 people liked it
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