From the Bookshelf of Mock Newbery 2026…

The Hired Girl

Laura Amy Schlitz

Start date: December 1, 2015

Finish date: December 31, 2015

Discussion: Book of the Month - 2016

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Book of the Month - 2016

September Read - The War that Saved My Life
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last updated Nov 08, 2016 01:53AM

December Reads - 2016
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What Members Thought

Sep 09, 2015 Sarah rated it it was amazing

Masterfully written! Schlitz's characters will stay with me for a long time. ...more

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Jan 03, 2016 Sheather rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult, 2015

This review is for the audiobook edition.

The Hired Girl is a historical novel set in 1911 and is in the form of a diary. Joan lives on a farm with her father and brothers in Pennsylvania and is little more than a servant to them, cleaning and cooking for them all day. Her father forced her to quit school to complete her chores, but she still has a love for reading. When her father burns her books, Joan runs away to Baltimore to try and get work as a house servant. She finds a job and refuge work ...more

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Jan 16, 2016 Susie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

In a way, this seemed like a "throw back" book to me, back to when growing up was much more innocent. There is some great integration of literature, art, philosophy and history in this book. I really enjoyed the artwork that introduced each part, and found myself looking up many references and locations in the book. I did tire a bit of the back and forth romantic and religious debates that Joan had, but the voice did seem truly like a 14 year old could be.

Many readers would be astounded by her n ...more

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May 26, 2016 Barbara rated it really liked it

Shelves: baking, art, unlikely-friendships, community, travel, emotions, religion, trauma, animals, elderly-characters

Fourteen-year-old Joan Skraggs dreams of a life filled with more pleasures than cooking, cleaning, and gardening on her father's Pennsylvania farm for no wages in 1911. Although she's not afraid of hard work, she longs for the possibilities of more. But despite her intelligence and the future her teacher, Miss Chandler, imagines for her, her father refuses to allow her to continue her schooling and even burns the meagre library she has. Renaming herself Janet Lovelace, she takes the small amount Fourteen-year-old Joan Skraggs dreams of a life filled with more pleasures than cooking, cleaning, and gardening on her father's Pennsylvania farm for no wages in 1911. Although she's not afraid of hard work, she longs for the possibilities of more. But despite her intelligence and the future her teacher, Miss Chandler, imagines for her, her father refuses to allow her to continue her schooling and even burns the meagre library she has. Renaming herself Janet Lovelace, she takes the small amount of money her mother left her and heads to Philadelphia and then Baltimore. Through the kindness of Solomon Rosenbach, the son of a wealthy Jewish department store owner, she finds a place to stay and a job. It's a wonder that something much worse than what happens didn't happen, and she was able to trust on the kindness of a stranger. Because the story is told through a series of journal entries, readers are able to see Joan's innocence and confusion about the world around her, even the clash between her Catholic faith and that of her employers. Naturally, as a bibliophile myself, I was drawn to her love for literature and how she based so much of what she thought she knew about life on the books she was reading. Her imperfections and many missteps lend humor and authenticity to the story even while some readers will predict that she will fall for the charms of David, the artistic brother known to charm most women he meets. Her pleasure in being able to afford new clothes and her joy at attending the opera so that her life doesn't consist merely of drudgery are palpable and will prompt many readers to fall in love with her. I came to love Malka, the grumpy family servant who befriends her despite their differences, and I must confess that I was so glad to see her moving past her first love and broken heart into a determination to go to school, travel, and become something more than just a hired girl. While reading this one, I felt the same way I felt when I first read Little Women, caught up in the spell of discovery and the realization that there is a wider world out there, one that promises hope and some disappointment, in short, one that promises life. Several critics have been concerned that the author has whitewashed history in this book since Baltimore seems empty of any citizens of color and there are troubling comments made about Native Americans in the book. (See Debbie Reese's excellent blog about these matters to decide for yourself.) I've read and considered those comments, and while I think many are valid, I also have to consider Joan and what she might have known and thought as a sheltered young girl who grew up on a farm. I don't know how much of what was going on in the rest of the world would have been known to her. I think about myself at 14 and what I knew and believed about the social order, and I conclude that the author has created a memorable character here whose coming to age is noteworthy partly because of her struggles but also partly because of the possibilities that lie ahead for her. ...more

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Nov 14, 2015 Wendy rated it really liked it

Shelves: young-adult, children-s, historical-fiction, reading-hopes-2016, in-my-classroom-library

What a charming, sweet, yet not cliched book. I think Joan and Anne Shirley would be kindred spirits.

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Oct 31, 2015 Julie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: newbery-2015

I very much enjoyed the voice used by Joan/Janet in this story. Her angst is believable as she faces many obstacles in her journey as a young teen in the early 1900's. Schlitz explores what it means to be a girl without many options, what it means to be uneducated, and what is religion all about. I found it provocative as well as an enjoyable plot. ...more

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Jan 17, 2017 Kimberly rated it really liked it

Shelves: adolescent-literature

I really enjoyed this book, although I don't know why. The protagonist is young and innocent, but trying very hard to be grown up. It was amazing to read about the lives of servants. ...more

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