The Witch of Blackbird Pond

Author:	Elizabeth George Speare
Title:	The Witch of Blackbird Pond
Illustrator:	Karen Cushman
Readability Score:	Grade Level: 6.9  Guided Reading: W   DRA:60    Lexile Measure: 850L
Genre:	Fiction
Subgenre:	Historical
Theme:	Prejustice and Tolerance, friendship
Primary and Secondary Characters:	Kit Tyler, Hannah Tupper, Nat Eaton, Matt and Rachel Wood, Mercy and Judith Wood, William Ashby, John Holbrook, Dr. Gershom Bulkeley, Mr. and Mrs. Cruff, Prudence Cruff, Captain and Mrs. Eaton, Governor Edmund Andros and Captain Samuel Talcott
Award(s) Date of Publication: Newbery Medal 1959
Publishing Company:	Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing
ISBN Number:	978-0-547-55029-9
Summary and How would you use the book: 16-year-old Kit Tyler leaves her home in Barbados after her grandfather's death to move to Wethersfield, Connecticut to live with her Aunt Rachel and Uncle Matthew. They stop in Saybrook, where she meets a small girl named Prudence who drops her doll and begs her mother to get it back for her. Kit jumps in and get the doll for her.Mrs. Cruff, Prudence's mother, is the most cynical of them all, believing Kit is a witch, saying, "No respectable woman could stay afloat like that." The one thinkg Mrs. Cruff didn't know was Kit knew how to swim because she lived in the islands. Kit then meets John Holbrook, who was coming to study with Reverend Gershom Bulkeley. When she arrives in Wethersfield, Kit finds Connecticut very different from Barbados. In her previous home, she had servants but here is expected to work along with the rest of the family. No more luxuries and even the weather is very cold. She has two cousins, Mercy and Judith. She is required to attend church. She meets William Ashby who she does not care for him but Kit cousin's Judith hoped to marry William. Kit's life improves when she and Mercy begin teaching the children. Everything goes well until one day, Kit decides the children will act out the tale of the Good Samaritan from the Bible. Mr. Kimberly enters the house just as things get out of hand. He is mad at Kit and she leaves the school and runs into the meadow where she meets Hannah Tupper, who is an outcast. They begin being friends and then Kit meets Nat Eaton. They fall in love except Nat is banished from town because he sat lighted pumpkins in the window of Mr. Ashby's home. Kit also begins privately teaching Prudence to read and write when sudden the town is full of illness. A bunch of people want to kill Hannah because they think she is a witch and cursed the town.
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Description of how you would use the book: I would use this book to show different styles of settings, characters and plot