Freckles (original 1904; edition 1965)

Smarmy, but sort of sweet. Wouldn't read it unless one was without a book completely. ( )

To see one little corner of the country undisturbed, look in the pages of Freckles. Gene Stratton-Porter has so vividly captured the Limberlost swamp area of Indiana, that you feel as though you've been there. Into that location, she sets Freckles, a 19 year old orphan, with one hand, but strong heart and initiative, who would do anything for the boss-man who shows him kindness and gives him a job. Freckles' adventures made for some happy reading, starting with his fear of the creatures on the land he must guard against timber thieves, his “chickens”, yearning for knowledge, and friendship with the Bird-Lady and the Swamp-Angel. A nice old-fashioned story. I enjoyed it. ( )

This was one of my favourite books as a child, and I still find it very charming. Very 19th century, and there are a lot of assumptions that we would not make today. Read it on its own terms. If you can't accept the story, at least enjoy the descriptions of Limberlost. ( )

Themes: belonging, nature, overcoming challenges, love, family
Setting: the Limberlost swamp in Indiana, 19th century

I loved this quiet little classic. Freckles was raised in an orphanage. He has only one hand, no friends, no family, and no prospects for a job. He doesn't even have a name, just Freckles. But he arrives at Mclean's lumber camp and is willing to do anything at all, if he is given a chance. Mclean feels sorry for the boy and decides to take him on, giving him the name of his own father, and makes him the guard of the camp. His job is to walk along the trail through the swamp, seven miles or so, and make sure that the lumber is safe from thieves.

Freckles may not look like much, but once his is shown some kindness, he repays it with his complete loyalty and hard work. He learns to love the swamp and the creatures that live there. He gets to know all the birds and plants and trees there and makes friends with them. He falls in love and faces a gang of thieves. And it all has a happy ending.

It sounds like it would be unbearably sweet and sappy, but it's not. I really enjoyed this book. I'm counting it for my 50 states challenge. I had no idea there was a swamp in Indiana, and now I'll have to read more about it. 4 stars. ( )

I was on the lookout for a copy of Freckles for years. I first read A Girl of the Limberlost (a sort of sequel to Freckles) in elementary school and loved it. While reading it, however, I got the sense that I was missing something, because everyone kept mentioning 'Freckles'. I realized that another book came before A Girl of the Limberlost and I hoped to find it and read it someday. I didn't look too hard, admittedly, but I happened upon a very old copy of Freckles in a used book store a few months ago and I have just now had the chance to read it.

To be frank, I was very disappointed. I remembered being enchanted with A Girl of the Limberlost, but I didn't like Freckles very much at all. If you love sickly sweet children's books from over 100 years ago, you'll probably like Freckles, but even I wasn't a huge fan. It was just a little much. I suppose my main issue was with Freckle's age. I am fine with wholesome children's classics about little boys. They're generally not too realistic concerning what I know of little boys today, but I can stand them. Freckles is a different story, however. In Freckles, the protagonist (known as, of course, 'Freckles') is 18-years-old and ages to 20 by the end. You'd never know it, however, from reading the book. Freckles acts like a 12-year-old and everyone treats him that way (indeed, some confused publishers have mistakenly put a picture of a little boy on the cover of the book, though there are no actual children among the main characters in 'Freckles'). He is always referred to as a "boy". I'm not saying that he is immature exactly, but he is altogether too wholesome and juvenile. Unless this book was intended for very young readers, Gene Stratton-Porter is talking down to her audience. Freckles characterization was too distracting and too annoying for me that I couldn't enjoy the book.

Besides that, the novel has some issues concerning vague classism, racism, and sexism, but it's not too bad for something written over a century ago. The real highlight of the book is how it portrays nature. Gene Stratton-Porter was an amateur naturalist and it really shows through the novel. Her descriptions of the Limberlost Swamp are wonderful. Some aspects of the book may be somewhat disconcerting for a modern-day environmentalist (including the depiction of loggers as the 'good guys,' the clearing of the forest as a matter of course, and the planting of non-native species in the forest) but that part is still enjoyable.

After reading Freckles, I was concerned that I had remembered wrongly and that maybe A Girl of the Limberlost wasn't as good as I once thought, but that was not the case. I found that it wasn't even really necessary to read Freckles before reading A Girl of the Limberlost. In fact, I may even advise against it.

All in all, if you wish to read Freckles because you loved A Girl of the Limberlost, I'm going to tell you that isn't necessary. In my opinion, Freckles is not as good as that book and you may find it, frankly, disappointing. I wouldn't particularly recommend Freckles to anyone, but it wasn't altogether awful. If you are able to withstand any sort of sugary tooth-decayingly sweet book from over a hundred years ago, be my guest and read it. For anyone else, you may just wind up with a toothache. ( )