The+Witch+of+Blackbird+Pond

Summary:
Orphaned Kit Tyler knows, as she gazes for the first time at the cold, bleak shores of Connecticut Colony, that her new home will never be like the shimmering Caribbean island she left behind. In her relatives' stern Puritan community, she feels like a tropical bird that has flown to the wrong part of the world, a bird that is now caged and lonely. The only place where Kit feels completely free is in the meadows, where she enjoys the company of the old Quaker woman known as the Witch of Blackbird Pond, and on occasion, her young sailor friend Nat. But when Kit's friendship with the "witch" is discovered, Kit is faced with suspicion, fear, and anger. She herself is accused of witchcraft! Publisher description

Lexile: 850

Book Talk from Booktalks Quick and Simple:
When her grandfather dies, Katherine “Kit” Tyler leaves the prosperous life she has known in Barbados to live with her aunt in the Connecticut Colony in April of 1687. Kit has been raised to be a free spirit and has a hard time understanding the closed minds and prejudice of the Puritans. She has a major adjustment to make as her new surroundings are bleak, and the Puritan ways are oppressive compared to her life in the Caribbean. When Kits meets the Widow Tupper, a Quaker who is believed to practice witchcraft, they become close friends and Kit visits often to find refuge from the loneliness she feels in her new life. Their friendship has unexpected consequences, however, when Kit is accused of also being a witch after helping the Widow Tupper escape from the angry townspeople. Called before the town council, Kit is accused of actions and works of the devil which supposedly have caused illness and death to fall upon many innocent children of the town. Banishment, hanging or branding is sure to follow, a fitting punishment for one accused if witchcraft. Is there anyone who will step forward to prove her innocence and rescue this young and adventurous colonial misfit? Relive the harsh and rigid customs of this 1600 New England Colony and come to understand that prejudice and ignorance can have dire consequences regardless of the time period. The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare. 1959 Newbery Award Winner. (Marsha Carlan, Benton Elementary School)

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