A Girl of the Limberlost (Library of Indiana Classics) (original 1909; edition 1984)

I expected to learn about a forgotten time, a time when people worked the land, and girls wore dresses, and life was simple. But I seemed to be consumed with reflecting on the relationships in the story, and how even today, we suffer unnecessarily because of a lack of communication. Pride is a terrible thing, so is keeping secrets.
So many life lessons are learned while reading this story. All the characters have something to teach us. Gene Stratton-Porter was a great author.
Enjoyed learning about moths as well. Mrs. Comstock was my favorite character. ( )

When I visited my grandmother I would climb into the old walnut tree and sit with a book or two and a pocket full of apples, in case I got hungry and didn't want to climb down and smash walnuts with a rock and eat them. This was one of her books, and she gave it to me when I was a bit older, to keep. I loved it dearly and uncritically; I loved the heroine, the drama with her hard and bitter mother, the story of the woods and swampland.

Recently I reread it, in my own woodlands, as an environmentalist, and I thought "oh, by golly, her mom was right not to sell the land to be logged off and destroyed". And I took less kindly to the plundering of the swamps for moths to sell to collectors. (though I still loved the dress Eleanor designs)

And such is the perspective of time. ( )

I found this book surprisingly good--in an Anne of Green Gables kind of way. ( )

This book was first published in 1909; the story is fiction, but the setting is real. The Limberlost Swamp, parts of which were also known as the Loblolly Marsh, originally covered 13,000 acres in eastern Indiana. The wetlands had mixed vegetation and supported a rich biodiversity, significant for local and migrating birds and insects, as well as other animals and life.

As the story opens, Elnora is 16 and living with her mother in a cabin in the Limberlost. Her father died when she was born, and her mother, Katharine, blames Elnora for that. She is very harsh with her daughter, and when Elnora wants to start high school, she refuses to help her. Elnora is ostracized on her first day of school, for her outdated and dowdy clothing, and is embarrassed when she finds out that instead of the school providing the books for the students, she must pay for them herself. Elnora returns home that day with a broken heart, but determined to get an education. When her mother refuses to provide the money, Elnora collects moths native to the Limberlost area to sell to collectors. With perseverance and determination, Elnora works at securing a future for herself, and finds a way to mend her relationship with her mother.

I really enjoyed this story, so much so that I stayed up way too late on a couple of evenings reading because it was just too hard to put down. Elnora is a very kind person, but with just enough feisty-ness and a touch of temper to keep her from being too syrupy sweet, (like Pollyanna.) She reminds me a lot of the fictional character Anne Shirley, from Anne of Green Gables, and I think readers of that series would enjoy this book too.

I enjoyed reading the descriptions of moths, and they make the reader see why Elnora appreciated them so much. I had no idea before reading this book of the wide variety of moths and how beautiful some of them are. I have a new appreciation of them now, though I still don't want them in my house, lol! The author was an amateur naturalist and wildlife photographer, and her knowledge and love for nature really shows through her writing. In fact, she used the proceeds from her book for conservation of the Limberlost swamp and other wetlands in Indiana.

I also liked that a small part of the story was set in Mackinac Island, Michigan. As a girl born and bred and still living in Michigan, I always think it's cool when it's used as a setting in a story. ( )

A must read classic for girls ( )