Loved the book as a kid, still think it's a wonderful historical novel (for children) about a free spirit cast among the Puritans of old New England.

This was a quick read for me, but a very good book. I can't believe that I never read this when I was younger because it's just the type of book that I have always enjoyed. I enjoyed it from beginning to end. ( )

One of the best books I've read for younger students that introduces them to the Witch Trials and other issues of the Puritans. This book won the Newbery Medal in 1959.

A sixteen-year-old girl from Barbados moves to a Puritan colony in Connecticut and is accused of being a witch. This book will be good for a 5th grader. ( )

Genre: Historical Fiction

This book is a good example of historical fiction because in the times of the 1600’s, there was a lot of suspicion about witchcraft and during that time if there was something people didn’t understand, then it could be considered bad or evil. There were a lot of immigrants to the United States during that time as well, and often they were regarded as inferior. It is fiction because this particular story did not actually take place, and the characters do not exist at all. They could have existed, however, and this plot is believable.

The setting takes place at first on a ship on the Connecticut River on the way to the Connecticut colony. The weather is bright and often crisp, as the story takes place in mid April and goes slowly through the months of the year 1687. We are taken from place to place, from Hannah’s cabin back to her own house to a trial house where she is accused of being a witch.

The main character is Kit Tyler, a young girl who is also the protagonist of the story. The book follows her all around her various adventures and we learn of the townspeople that think she is a witch simply because she associates with a woman on the island who is not liked by the other people of the colony. She is not liked by the Puritan community as her friendship with the woman of Blackbird Pond develops, and the Puritans would probably be the antagonists of the story, simply because they accuse her of being a witch. The woman of Blackbird Pond is a Quaker, who could be considered a foil character to the Puritans, but also an accomplice to the main character because they are friends.