pickI had great plans for #MiddleGradeMarch and I‘ve only read two. 🤷🏻♀️ This was one of them! I LOVED Paterson‘s books when I was a kid—The Great Gilly Hopkins, Bridge to Terabithia, Jacob Have I Loved—so I picked this up a while ago out of nostalgia for a favorite author. Of course it sat on the shelf for years. 😆 This is so different from the ones I loved as a kid, but it has the same depth of characterization that I responded to back then.⬇️
BarbaraJean 13-year-old Lyddie leaves rural Vermont to work in the city—hoping to help pay off her family‘s debts quickly then reunite the family on her beloved farm. The novel demonstrates Lyddie‘s growth & determination in the midst of the terrible working conditions she encounters. As historical fiction, this does a fantastic job: painting a vivid picture of what life was like for women & girls working in the textile mills in Lowell, Mass. in the 1840s. ⬇️ 1mo
BarbaraJean Not a major issue, but my one quibble was that the writing felt aimed at middle grade readers, but also referenced some topics that seemed a bit above that age level, specifically: sexual harassment/attempted assault and a character who gets pregnant out of wedlock. I don't necessarily feel any of the content was inappropriate, but it felt like an audience/tone mismatch. 1mo
BarbaraJean This one checks off 1991 for #192025. 🎉 @librarybelle 1mo
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sblbooks This sounds so good. I stacked it. 1mo
Librarybelle I read this so long ago, probably around the time it was published! 1mo
BarbaraJean @sblbooks I really liked it. Paterson is solid!! @Librarybelle I think I was only a couple years past the age of ordering this from a Scholastic book club when it was published! The edition I have is from the Trumpet Book Club and is signed by the author, dated 10/1/92. Her note opens with: “Dear Trumpet Club Reader“ 😍 1mo
Librarybelle So cool!! I have my copy somewhere…I‘m sure I picked it up at a Scholastic book fair. 1mo
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