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Thimble Summer
A few hours after nine-year-old Garnet Linden finds a silver thimble in the dried-up riverbed, the rains come and end the long drought on the farm. The rains bring safety for the crops and the livestock, and money for Garnet’s father. Garnet can’t help feeling that the thimble is a magic talisman, for the summer proves to be interesting and exciting in so many different wa...more
Paperback, 144 pages
Published
April 29th 2008
by Square Fish
(first published 1938)
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Another Elizabeth Enright book--and another perfectly charming, great-for-summer novel. I love the writing style and the way the simple things are described in such a beautiful way. It also gives a neat glimpse at 1930s farm life, and I loved the descriptions of the town Garnet, the protagonist, visits. A lovely book!
5 likes · like · see review
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Jun 24, 2009
Leah
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
everybody
Shelves:
fiction
Elizabeth Enright is one of my favorite authors in all the world. This book exemplifies how she could paint a picture of a child's world with just the right details to make it amazingly clear. Her insight into what makes life interesting to a young mind leads to sentences with startling evocative perfection.
Reading this book makes me feel like a young girl growing up on a Wisconsin farm in the 1930's. I adore this book and cannot recommend it strongly enough to absolutely everyone.
Reading this book makes me feel like a young girl growing up on a Wisconsin farm in the 1930's. I adore this book and cannot recommend it strongly enough to absolutely everyone.
As most readers know, any book written by Elizabeth Enright (see my book recomendation of Gone-Away Lake; 4-star) is a work of art, but this book is certainly the highlight of her career. Garnet (Enright comes up with the weirdest names) finds a silver thimble by the lake, and she's sure it's magic when the summer proves to be so interesting to her. Her prized runt (this part is thought by some to be a ripp-off of Charlotte's Web) wins a blue ribbon at the fair, and there was the adoption of a b...more
Jun 18, 2013
Ann Carpenter
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
historical,
newbery
It seems funny to mark this one as historical when it was clearly a contemporary book at the time it was written in 1938.
This was a sweet book, and exactly the sort of thing I enjoyed when I was a child: an episodic tale of a young girl in a historical setting going about her daily life and getting into various scrapes along the way. There's not much in the way of a plot, although there is enough continuity from one chapter to the next to keep it from being a series of short stories (like A Lon...more
This was a sweet book, and exactly the sort of thing I enjoyed when I was a child: an episodic tale of a young girl in a historical setting going about her daily life and getting into various scrapes along the way. There's not much in the way of a plot, although there is enough continuity from one chapter to the next to keep it from being a series of short stories (like A Lon...more
“Can there be Magic in a Simple Thimble?
This is a gentle, quiet read about life on a Wisconsin farm in the 1930’s, when great grand-parents still recall tales about local Indian. Ten –year-old Garnet Linden reminds us of Laura Ingalls, for she is plucky, mischievous and strong-willed. It was a milder age to be a child back then, back there, with simple pleasures: safe hitchhiking, swimming in the creek, barn-raisings, quilting bees, home-made ice cream and County Fairs. But farmers had it toug...more
This is a gentle, quiet read about life on a Wisconsin farm in the 1930’s, when great grand-parents still recall tales about local Indian. Ten –year-old Garnet Linden reminds us of Laura Ingalls, for she is plucky, mischievous and strong-willed. It was a milder age to be a child back then, back there, with simple pleasures: safe hitchhiking, swimming in the creek, barn-raisings, quilting bees, home-made ice cream and County Fairs. But farmers had it toug...more
Winner of the 1939 Newbery Medal for Children’s Literature, this is a delightful & heart-warming story of nine-year-old Garnet Linden and one perfect summer on her family’s Wisconsin farm. It’s set in what was in some ways a much simpler time, in a self-sufficient rural environment (her father fired his own lime to make his own blocks for the foundation of his new barn).
In one of many adventures that summer, Garnet makes a trip on the bus by herself to the next town (imagine that happening t...more
In one of many adventures that summer, Garnet makes a trip on the bus by herself to the next town (imagine that happening t...more
As I slowly muddle my way through the Newbery award winners (starting with the 1920s and working my way to present day), I find that there are a few gems scattered throughout that seem to align with my reading tastes, and this is definitely one of them.
I'm generally game for the farm setting, whether it be something bleak like Tess of the D'Urbervilles or something more lighthearted and positive like Thimble Summer. Plus, with a projected high of only 16 degrees today, I think I've needed a litt...more
I'm generally game for the farm setting, whether it be something bleak like Tess of the D'Urbervilles or something more lighthearted and positive like Thimble Summer. Plus, with a projected high of only 16 degrees today, I think I've needed a litt...more
2 likes · like · see review
One unusual thing about this book is the fact that the author describes some stories that are told in great detail by the characters, allowing the full ambience of life in the country during the time periods represented to stand tall in all its flavor. This is something that I liked quite a bit, as detailed stories from all ways of life (especially ones that date back to older times) really appeal to me.
Elizabeth Enright has done a very good job in the writing of this Newbery Medal winner, bri...more
Elizabeth Enright has done a very good job in the writing of this Newbery Medal winner, bri...more
This is "light" fare for readers in late elementary to older age groups. Nothing "really bad" happens, although there is some suspense in the characters' actions. It won the Newbery Award in 1939 and I think it provided an "upbeat" view of life at a time when everything bad was happening--the Great Depression still going on, World War II starting, the Dust Bowl era, epidemics, etc. The silver thimble which main character Garnet, a young midwestern girl, finds supposedly starts the run of good lu...more
Sep 20, 2010
Jill
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
9+ or younger for read-aloud
Shelves:
newbery-medal
This won the Newbery in 1939. After I read The Cat Who Went To Heaven (1931 Newbery winner) I was a little gun-shy about the 1930s winners. I was starting to think all the early Newberys were duds but this book proved me wrong! It's a quick read and a nice feel-good story. The author has a way of describing things that reminds me of my relatives in Western Pennsylvania--descriptive and colorful but no frills language that gets to the heart of what's going on. I love that kind of story telling. T...more
Apr 27, 2012
Timothy Marks
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
newbery-award-honor,
juvenile-fiction
Thimble Summer is about one special summer in Garnet Linden's life. Garnet is a young girl who meets the world with wide-eyed, naive wonder. However, at the beginning of the summer, her small farming community is facing a terrible drought, tough growing season and her family is having financial difficulties. Despite her innocence and optimism Garnet is not unaware of these problems. But as a child, she doesn't feel there is anything she can do. The story does not linger on this point, but the re...more
Garnet Linden, a nine-year-old girl who lives on a farm in Wisconsin with her two brothers. After finding a silver thimble, a drought ends, and she begins to have delightful adventures: being accidentally locked in the town library; hitchhiking to the nearest city, New Conniston; entering her prized pig into a regional fair.
This 125-page book, with charming line illustrations by the author, won the 1939 Newbery. It’s told in clear, bright-eyed prose, with the wonder of a farm girl seeing extrava...more
This 125-page book, with charming line illustrations by the author, won the 1939 Newbery. It’s told in clear, bright-eyed prose, with the wonder of a farm girl seeing extrava...more
Winner of the 1939 Newbery Medal, I think books like Charlotte's Web and The Penderwicks owe something to Thimble Summer. It's a wholesome tale of a farm gilr who has random summer adventures that are fun to read and just a little bit magical. Garnet's summer is filled with small bursts of excitement that she attributes to a silver thimble she discovers. She gets trapped in the library at night, trapped on an amusement park ride, her pig wins a prize the county fair, her family adopts a young ru...more
Why didn't I know about Elizabeth Enright when I was growing up? I read everything by Maud Hart Lovelace and Lois Lenski, but she passed me by. Enright's books are just the type that I adored when I was 9 or 10 years old--a bit old-fashioned, but smart, with characters who were adventurous and curious and made messes and hung out with the coolest grownups.
A few hours after nine-year-old Garnet Linden finds a silver thimble in the dried-up riverbed, the rains come and end the long drought on the farm. The rains bring safety for the crops and the livestock, and money for Garnet’s father. Garnet can’t help feeling that the thimble is a magic talisman, for the summer proves to be interesting and exciting in so many different ways.
There is the arrival of Eric, an orphan who becomes a member of the Linden family; the building of a new barn; and the co...more
There is the arrival of Eric, an orphan who becomes a member of the Linden family; the building of a new barn; and the co...more
Jun 30, 2007
Jennifer
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
families with kids over 7
Shelves:
familyread-alouds
What a fun book to read aloud! I love Elizabeth Enright's style. Her descriptions are beautiful and the dialogue is easy to read. Vocabulary words pop up just often enough to encourage discussion and dictionary searches. This was a great book for identifying setting and its effect on the story.
May 22, 2013
Tammy
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
children-s,
newbery-award
Newbery Winner 1939
A few hours after nine-year-old Garnet Linden finds a silver thimble in the dried-up riverbed, on her family's Wisconsin farm, the rains come and end the long drought on the farm. The rains bring safety for the crops and the livestock and money for Garnet's father. Garnet's good luck continues throughout the summer and she's convinced its because of her lucky thimble. Though not a long book, it is easy for the reader to picture Garnet's family farm, their small town and the cl...more
A few hours after nine-year-old Garnet Linden finds a silver thimble in the dried-up riverbed, on her family's Wisconsin farm, the rains come and end the long drought on the farm. The rains bring safety for the crops and the livestock and money for Garnet's father. Garnet's good luck continues throughout the summer and she's convinced its because of her lucky thimble. Though not a long book, it is easy for the reader to picture Garnet's family farm, their small town and the cl...more
Loved this one! I hesitate to say we're into another good Read-the-Newberys decades because I fear I'll immediately disappointed, but this was so enjoyable!
I love that this little girl named Garnet sometimes gets called Ruby, I love that she has a pig named Timmy, I love that she's disappointed she wasn't locked in the library all night, and I love the way they just unquestionably enfold Eric into their family like it's the most normal thing in the world. Oh, and I really loved Mr. Freebody.
This...more
I love that this little girl named Garnet sometimes gets called Ruby, I love that she has a pig named Timmy, I love that she's disappointed she wasn't locked in the library all night, and I love the way they just unquestionably enfold Eric into their family like it's the most normal thing in the world. Oh, and I really loved Mr. Freebody.
This...more
The adventures of Garnet over one long, hot summer on her family's Wisconsin farm are beautifully written despite the slightly simplistic flavor typical of 1930s children's books. Enright, a masterful writer, uses language in amazing ways and her characters are vibrant. When Garnet finds a silver thimble in the creek she saves it, and from that day on wonderful things happen: days of driving rain to save the crops; an unexpected addition to the family; and yet Garnet herself has misadventures, a...more
I feel pretty sure I read Thimble Summer when I was a little girl. I have a memory of disappointment; I was always hoping the thimble the main character, Garnet, finds would turn out to be magic. It wasn't. This book was one of my early attempts with and disappointments with realistic fiction (though I have learned to love it in recent years.)
The story is of a girl who discovers a thimble, a thimble that leads to a whole summer of good things. An orphan boy comes to live with Garnet's family, to...more
The story is of a girl who discovers a thimble, a thimble that leads to a whole summer of good things. An orphan boy comes to live with Garnet's family, to...more
Unbelievably (to me), I have never read this book by Elizabeth Enright. I have read her others, and reread them as a child and now as an adult, but I do not remember ever reading this book before.
This is the story of Garnet Linden, a farm girl in the late 1930s, and of the summer she found a silver thimble. The thimble does not play a big part in the story, but Garnet credits her adventurous summer to finding the thimble. She helps around her family's farm, takes care of her pig Timmy, in order...more
This is the story of Garnet Linden, a farm girl in the late 1930s, and of the summer she found a silver thimble. The thimble does not play a big part in the story, but Garnet credits her adventurous summer to finding the thimble. She helps around her family's farm, takes care of her pig Timmy, in order...more
I am a BIG fan of Elizabeth Enright. The Melendy Quartet of books were some of my favorite reads with our kids (see my other reviews of those books.)
This book is one of her earlier books and I can see the spark of the Melendy books beginning here. But, (and as my less than 10 year old kids would like to hear me say) - I have a Big But.
There are some beautifully written passages in Thimble Summer - the harvesting section in particular. However, the book as a whole feels disjointed. In the Melendy...more
This book is one of her earlier books and I can see the spark of the Melendy books beginning here. But, (and as my less than 10 year old kids would like to hear me say) - I have a Big But.
There are some beautifully written passages in Thimble Summer - the harvesting section in particular. However, the book as a whole feels disjointed. In the Melendy...more
In my mind there are two "surefire" things when it comes to entertainment. Hallmark Hall of Fame movies and Newberry Medal Winner or Honor books. This book won the Newberry Medal for 1938. This was an enjoyable story that I'm not sure my students will be able to relate too well. Primarily because the cost of living is so much more expensive than it was at the time this was written. I think that they'll have a hard time relating to how Garnet (the main character) is able to buy so much with less...more
I loved this. The Newbery Award has yet to let me down!
This one has been on my TBR list for a while now, and I'm glad I finally got to it. I was completely transported while reading this. Enright tells of the everyday life of a young girl during one summer in the Midwest. When I say I was completely transported, I mean it. It's cold, like frigid cold, here. The wind is howling, and the thought of going out into the world outside of my house makes me miserable. This book put me into a summer sta...more
This one has been on my TBR list for a while now, and I'm glad I finally got to it. I was completely transported while reading this. Enright tells of the everyday life of a young girl during one summer in the Midwest. When I say I was completely transported, I mean it. It's cold, like frigid cold, here. The wind is howling, and the thought of going out into the world outside of my house makes me miserable. This book put me into a summer sta...more
Jul 16, 2009
Anne Thomsen Lord
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
rural-life,
2009
Kate gave me this book from the Kearney Library mostly because the main character's name is Garnet, and Garnet currently happens to be my favorite girl name. I've been reading Thimble Summer on the bus the last week, and it has been wonderful. Enright's descriptions of rural Wisconsin are fantastic. They made me want to go out and pet a pig and take a trip to a county fair. I especially enjoyed Garnet's hitchhiking adventure and the addition of Eric to the Linden family. The drawings were excell...more
1 like · like · see review
I've only read this book once, and it will be in my memory forever as one of the most dull stories ever told.
The author, Elizabeth Enright, has done an extremely poor job of describing the characters and settings.
The chapters might as well be short stories all by themselves; different things happen in every one; different and dull things. The main character's personality SHOULD have used waaaaay more depth, she was a do-it-now-and-never-think-about-it-later kind of person.
She meets many people...more
The author, Elizabeth Enright, has done an extremely poor job of describing the characters and settings.
The chapters might as well be short stories all by themselves; different things happen in every one; different and dull things. The main character's personality SHOULD have used waaaaay more depth, she was a do-it-now-and-never-think-about-it-later kind of person.
She meets many people...more
Mar 05, 2008
Deana
rated it
1 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
illustrated,
library-book
I did not care for this book. It was a Newberry winner, apparently, but... I dunno. There wasn't really a connecting plot through the whole story. Each chapter was a totally separate story, if you ask me. The only connection was the characters and they all took place in the same summer. But it could have just as easily been a series of short stories, you know?
For instance, the second chapter is a story where Garnet (the main character) and her friend are listening to her friend's grandmother tel...more
For instance, the second chapter is a story where Garnet (the main character) and her friend are listening to her friend's grandmother tel...more
2 likes · like · see review
This story of a farm girl's summer adventures, set in 1930s Wisconsin, really captured my heart. Elizabeth Enright clearly remembered what it was like to be a child and evoked that state beautifully. I liked the characters, the seeming simplicity with which the story unfolded, and especially liked the descriptive writing ("The barn was huge and old; it lurched to one side like a bus going around a corner."). Enright won the 1939 Newbery for this one. I look forward to reading other books by this...more
May 20, 2013
Barbara Brien
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
childrens,
historical
I picked this book up to send to my nieces, and was very pleased with it. Lovely descriptions abound; of the familiar, like river beds, kitchens and rain storms, and unfamiliar, like lime kilns and small town life in the 1930s.
The heroine is believable but unexpected. The freedom, power and control she has in her life seem alien to modern expectations that nine year old girls are always one step away from being abducted or subject to some other stranger danger.
The heroine is believable but unexpected. The freedom, power and control she has in her life seem alien to modern expectations that nine year old girls are always one step away from being abducted or subject to some other stranger danger.
It took me 80 pages in to realize that the plot must have started by then. I just couldn’t get into this book. I kept waiting for the story line to emerge, and it never did. I did, however, grow to like the feisty and wiry main character, Garnet Linden. The small town atmosphere is also enjoyable and relaxing; the fun fair and summer activities reminded me of some of my own summers in the Midwest. It is a pleasant read, but it won’t exactly keep you on your toes.
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Elizabeth Enright (1907-1968) was born in Oak Park, Illinois, but spent most of her life in or near New York City. Her mother was a magazine illustrator, while her father was a political cartoonist. Illustration was Enright's original career choice and she studied art in Greenwich, Connecticut; Paris, France; and New York City. After creating her first book in 1935, she developed a taste, and quic...more
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