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28th out of 210 books
—
51 voters
Calico Bush
Left orphaned and alone in a strange country, thirteen-year-old Marguerite Ledoux has no choice but to become a servant girl. She promises her services to the Sargent family for six long years in return for food and shelter. But life as a "bound-out girl" is full of more hardship than Maggie ever could have imagined. Living with the family in an isolated part of northern M...more
Paperback, 224 pages
Published
September 1st 1998
by Aladdin
(first published 1931)
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Calico Bush by Rachel Field, illustrated by Allen Lewis is the story of 13 year old Marguerite Ledoux, an orphaned French girl, who travels to colonial Maine with the Sargent family as their bound-girl, where her courage and ability to withstand hardships becomes apparent. Lewis' wood engravings give an authentic feel to this historical novel.
Despite a text with several prejudicial references to "Injuns" and a rude comment about a cross-eyed person, which will offend modern sensibilities, Calico...more
Despite a text with several prejudicial references to "Injuns" and a rude comment about a cross-eyed person, which will offend modern sensibilities, Calico...more
A little scared when I realized this was written by the same woman who wrote Hitty, her first hundred years, which I forced myself to finish. I was pleasantly surprised to be reading an interesting story of pioneer life in Maine. The bonus was that I was vacationing in Maine at the time, and thinking of the things early settlers had to contend with illuminated my understanding of the area.
"It was only by the next afternoon that Marguerite could get her swollen feet into her shoes and limp as far...more
"It was only by the next afternoon that Marguerite could get her swollen feet into her shoes and limp as far...more
Marguerite has been orphaned and is now a "Bound Out" girl to the Sargent family for the next 6 years. The Sargents are settling in a new area, an area where there has been trouble with the Indians. Neighbors (living on nearby islands) warn the Sargents not to settle there, but they have paid money for the claim and are determined to settle there.
This realistically portrayed the difficulty of life in the mid 1700's. Marguerite suffers from negative stereotyping because of her French background...more
This realistically portrayed the difficulty of life in the mid 1700's. Marguerite suffers from negative stereotyping because of her French background...more
Marguerite Ledoux (aka Maggie) is a recently orphaned immigrant forced by her circumstances to be bound-out to the Sargent family for six years. In exchange for food and lodging she will be their servant - mainly caring for the children and doing general housework. As it turns out the Sargent family is headed to rural/coastal Maine. They arrive to find their new home completely destroyed by Native Americans and even after rebuilding face monumental obstacles - isolation, hostile native populatio...more
An excellent book that follows Marguerite (Maggie), a "Bound-Out" girl from France, through 2 years with the Sargent's (the family she's serving). The book starts with the family's journey from the settled port of Marblehead to wild lands along the northern coast of Maine. The experiences of Marguerite are described so well it almost seems that you are there. An excellent read for children and adults alike.
Calico BushCalico Bush was a Newbery Honor Book, a Junior Library Guild Selection, and was...more
Calico BushCalico Bush was a Newbery Honor Book, a Junior Library Guild Selection, and was...more
This is a sweet book that displays humble love and grace from a French bound-out girl toward the family who now owns her. Maggie gives her new "family" beautiful sacrifice and hard work in the midst of sadness over the loss of her uncle, grandmother, and country, even though her owners treat her more like a dirty animal than a human being. The story takes place in the 18th century in Northern Maine over the span of four seasons. Maggie time and again shows grit in difficult situations, opening t...more
Sep 05, 2012
Cheryl in CC NV
marked it as skimmed-reference-dnf
Ok, I had to put it down and I may not pick it up. I am so angry right now. The Hunters land at their claim and find the home that was waiting for them burned by Indians. Neighbors come right over to inform them that the savages seem to regard this bit of land as special to their religion somehow. Mr. Hunter says "This here's my claim, an' I mean to stay, Injun or no Injun." Well I guess I could have seen that coming from all the previous talk about Indians, and prejudice against the French, too...more
YA fiction about a 12-year-old French girl who is indentured to a pioneer family homesteading on the Maine coast. It's no "Little House," obviously, although it's chock full of offensive references to "Injuns." It's also no "Country of the Pointed Firs," though it is similarly evocative of the beauty of the wild Maine coast, just not as artful as Orne-Jewett. Despite its failings, I am a sucker for pioneer-themed YA and Calico Bush didn't disappoint in its descriptions of maple sugaring, log cab...more
Calico Bush is the story of an orphan girl living in the 1700's who is forced, due to her poverty, to become a servant in exchange for food and shelter. The story discusses her many trials with being a servant and feeling alone without a family.
This story was alright. It is a good story to read if you're ever feeling sorry for yourself. There's something very therapeutic about reading books that discuss the difficulties that others have and realizing that life is never as bad as we think it is....more
This story was alright. It is a good story to read if you're ever feeling sorry for yourself. There's something very therapeutic about reading books that discuss the difficulties that others have and realizing that life is never as bad as we think it is....more
This is really for an older audience -- 6th grade or above. There is a scene where the main character (a girl of about 12 or 13) stumbles upon a place where people have been killed (burned, supposedly by Indians) and she finds a lock of a child's hair attached to a piece of scalp and a buckle from a child's shoe. There is also a scene where a baby dies after her clothes catch fire because she's gotten too close to the hearth. It is a well-written book, though, and true to the time.
For those who are saying Calico Bush is a good follow-up to The Witch of Blackbird Pond, I have to disagree. The Witch of Blackbird Pond is a far superior novel. Calico Bush lacks the tension of TWBP. Other than saving some domesticated animals from drowning, Maggie doesn't do much in the first quarter of the book. In addition, the historical details are too heavily delivered, as if the author is giving a history lesson rather than telling a story.
This book is about a young French girl who becomes an orphan during the French Revolutionary War and is sent to Maine to work as an indentured servant. I liked it, but I thought it was a little difficult to read because of the dialect. But it is interesting because it depicts how life may have been like during the early years of the United States. I would recommend this book for late elementary.
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In my path of reading old Newberry silver and golds, Julia gave me this. It was a little slow getting into and had to work with the injun stuff, but it was a wonderful book with historical immigration, prejudices, all weaving through i, and as wekk the history of the calico bush leading to calico prints. Loved it a lot. Got quite attached to the main character and the strength of women during these times.
This is a Newberry Honor book that tells about a girl who came to America before the Revolution and was immediately orphaned. She binds herself to a frontier family as a servant and proves to be a plucky, intelligent survivor. This was a fabulous novel about a period and setting in our countries history about which I knew little. I highly recommend it.
This book starts off when a 12-year old girl who has just lost the only family she had is "bound" to a family with a bunch of kids that are headed to the New World. The story gets the most interesting as you learn of the struggles and triumphs of this family as they start their new life. I enjoyed this story.
This came from a stack of YA books that I have been vetting for Gregory. It's a solid historical fiction that was written in 1932. It presents an idealized world and is fairly predictable but it has some good lessons, kept my interest, and managed to bring tears to my eyes (granted that is pretty easy to do :) ).
I really enjoyed this one. I loved Marguerite as a character, it must have been a strange life being a bound out girl. It was interesting reading about what life was like for people at the time, I can't imagine living so apart from other people. I appreciated that it didn't shy away from hardships, like what happens to Debby (which was really sad :[)
This book was a favorite when I was growing up, yet I eventually forgot the title. I always associated it with "The Witch of Blackbird Pond" since the storylines are similar - and I probably first read them around the same time. I tried several times to search for it online, but couldn't remember the author or title. I finally found it a few weeks ago by searching online lists of "If you liked The Witch of Blackbird Pond" and then reading a synopsis of any title I didn't recognize. The title "Ca...more
Loved it as a child, but reading to my daughter realized some of the portrayal of Indians is not only uncomfortable for a child but also problematically incorrect. Still, glossing that over in reading, it's a good book.
I remember reading this book several times over when I was younger. I loved Marguerite's perseverance and courage, her almost romantic backstory, and not to mention her name. The illustrations were beautiful as well.
Where has this book been all my life? A great book about settlers in Maine where Acadia National Park is now. The hardships and the joys of the first year the Sargents and their bound-out girl Maggie are beautifully illustrated in this Rachel Field book.
In the 1740s, a family pioneers on the coast of Maine. Good middle grade novel with a well-drawn main character, the bonded servant Marguerite.
Very good. I read this in one sitting during my sick-day Sunday. We'll be reading it for homeschool next year as we study American History.
This book is suitable for those for adore classics - like me ^^ I read this when I was like 10-11.A really holiday-ish winter/christmas read.
A decent historical fiction. This is the book my homeschool book club will be discussing in November.
I really enjoyed this story and it was quite sensitive which always makes my heart warm to a book.
Not real sure why this book got the newberry medal. I only thought it was so-so.
Read with my 11 yo for school. I love to read history in this manner. I enjoyed seeing the character evolve. Hard times, those were!
It is a wonderful story for any age.
amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Children's Books: September 2012 - Calico Bush (1932 Honor Book) | 44 | 22 | Sep 20, 2012 07:34pm | |
| What's The Name o...: Indentured servant girl, sea journey [s] | 5 | 30 | Aug 16, 2011 09:15pm |
Rachel Lyman Field was an American novelist, poet, and author of children's fiction. She is best known for her Newbery Medal–winning novel for young adults, Hitty, Her First Hundred Years, published in 1929.
As a child Field contributed to the St. Nicholas Magazine and was educated at Radcliffe College. Her book, Prayer for a Child, was a recipient of the Caldecott Medal for its illustrations by El...more
More about Rachel Field...
As a child Field contributed to the St. Nicholas Magazine and was educated at Radcliffe College. Her book, Prayer for a Child, was a recipient of the Caldecott Medal for its illustrations by El...more
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