Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm

Rebecca's mom has more than she can handle with seven kids and a farm after her husband dies, and so off Rebecca goes to live with her two maiden aunts in the brick house in town. Rebecca goes to school, and she gets a great education there, with an influential teacher to guide her. She befriends a rich benefactor as well as an elderly couple and all of these people—the aunts, the teacher, the rich man, the elderly couple—all of them influence her in strong and positive directions.

I loved this story. I think I'd expected something sappy sweet but it was nothing like that, with Rebecca a believable character coming from a poor background and developing into a lovable and strong young woman.

Some wonderful quotes:

“To become sensible of oneness with the Divine heart before any sense of separation has been felt, this is surely the most beautiful way for the child to find God.”

“Look at the pebbles in the bottom of the pool, Miss Emily, so round and smooth and shining.” “Yes, but where did they get that beautiful polish, that satin skin, that lovely shape, Rebecca? Not in the still pool lying on the sands. It was never there that their angles were rubbed off and their rough surfaces polished, but in the strife and warfare of running waters. They have jostled against other pebbles, dashed against sharp rocks, and now we look at them and call them beautiful.”





“He is wrong; my talent is not a great one, but no talent is wholly wasted unless its owner chooses to hide it in a napkin. Remember that of your own gifts, Rebecca; they may not be praised of men, but they may cheer, console, inspire, perhaps, when and where you least expect. The brimming glass that overflows its own rim moistens the earth about it.”

“He is wrong; my talent is not a great one, but no talent is wholly wasted unless its owner chooses to hide it in a napkin. Remember that of your own gifts, Rebecca; they may not be praised of men, but they may cheer, console, inspire, perhaps, when and where you least expect. The brimming glass that overflows its own rim moistens the earth about it.”