The Witch of Blackbird Pond

I'm listening to this in the car to start preparing for BOB. Did I actually like this in grade school? Maybe it's because the woman who's reading it has a really annoying voice, but I can barely keep from zoning out. Not a great start to my BOB reading!

Ok, I finished listening, and now I remember why I liked it when I was in grade school. Speare provides such a nice closure to all the relationships, that you feel reassured when finished. I'm interested to see what the kids' reactions to it will be though, because it does feel dated.

Loved it! Can't believe I never read this one as a kid.

Kit is new to the American colonies. As she flees from the future awaiting her in Barbados, she shows up at her Aunt's house, not really knowing what to expect.
As time moves forward, she finds herself not being able to fit in, and everything that she does is never good enough. Her cousin Judith seems to resent her, her uncle wishes she had been a boy, but Mercy and her Aunt Rachel seem glad to have her. While she does her best to adapt to the new lifestyle that she has walked into, she learns that she must tread carefully.
When she befriends Hannah Tupper, the widow who lives on the edge of the swamp, her aunt expresses her desire that she not go there at all. Her uncle forbids her to do so, but Kit keeps returning to the rundown shack. Hannah seems to understand her, and she feels more comfortable there than she does in her uncles home. When many in the town fall ill with a fever, some of the townsfolk go after Hannah, believing her to be a witch. Kit knows that she isnt, and so forming a quick decision, she runs to the cabin and alerts her to the oncoming danger. Having secured her with Nat, the son of the Captain of the Dolphin, Kit returns home. Shortly thereafter, she is accused of being a witch. Taken into custody and awaiting the trial that can determine whether she will live or die, Kit is scared to death. Her aunt steals to make sure that she is alright, but Kit knows that there is really no one who can help her. But sometimes help comes in the smallest of packages, and hope for a future that might have been lost is once again rekindled.

I really enjoyed reading this! I should have read it years ago, but never did. I am looking forward to sharing this with my boys, and hope that they enjoy it as much as I did!