Rachel Field (1894–1942)

For 6.25" of mountain ash, the fictional doll Hitty, does get around a lot. Between her Maine island origin in the early 19th century to her achievement of a place in a New York antique store window, she goes on a whaling expedition, spends time with a cobra in India, returns to Philadelphia and visits much of the Midwest and south before being returned to her original home though not her original owner. Written by the woman who purchased the eponymous doll from the New York store, this show more imaginative set of tales is quite the lesson in how the attitude with which we accept our circumstances determines their meaning. And Hitty's attitude is quite charming in its mix of acceptance and judgement. show less

First published in 1931, and chosen as a Newbery Honor Book in 1932 - Rachel Field had already been awarded the Newbery Medal itself in 1930, for Hitty: Her First Hundred Years - this work of historical fiction for young readers opens in June of 1743, and chronicles one year in the life of Marguerite Ledoux, an orphaned young French girl who, finding herself destitute in Marblehead, Massachusetts, becomes a "Bound-out Girl" for the Sargent family. Accompanying the Sargents to the Maine show more wilderness, where Mr. Sargent plans to occupy a claim he had only recently purchased, Marguerite - now known as "Maggie" - finds her courage put to the test on more than one occasion, as she must rescue the family cow from drowning, confront a bear intent on attacking the Sargent children, and think quickly in order to defuse tension, when a party of potentially hostile Indians appears. She must also contend with her fellow settlers hostility to her, on account of her French background. When her many acts of courage and kindness are unexpectedly rewarded, and she is given the opportunity to rejoin "her kind" in Quebec, she must decide who she really is, and where she belongs...

I found Calico Bush - so named because the "calico bush" flower (also known as mountain laurel), and the ballad named for it, have significance in the story - to be an immensely engaging work of fiction: engrossing, often quite moving, and historically realistic. Life in colonial days was harsh, particularly outside of the larger urban settlements, and Field captures that here, with her tale of a young orphaned girl adrift in a world of strangers. She does not shy away from depicting the losses that Marguerite suffers at the beginning of the story - the death of her Oncle Pierre on the sea voyage from France, and the slow decline of her Grand'mère in Massachusetts, where the two find themselves on the Poor Farm - nor does she spare the Sargents, who lose baby Debby in a horrible accident in which she crawls into the fire late one night. Loss, hard work and privation are all here, and so too is prejudice: the prejudice of the Anglo settlers against Marguerite, because of her French blood - something that reveals itself frequently in the sneering remarks of the eldest Sargent boy, Caleb, but also in the occasional comments of some of the adults - and the prejudice and fear that all of them experience in their interactions with the native peoples of the area.

I expected the latter to be particularly offensive, given the frequent dehumanization of native peoples I have encountered in the pages of vintage American children's literature, but although there were elements that felt a little sensational to me - notably, the evil "torture" cave that Marguerite discovers, at one point - for the most part I thought that Field managed to offer a fairly realistic portrait of how people of that time and place would have felt and spoken about "Injuns," without indulging in gratuitous demonization of native peoples, as a narrator. In fact, I was rather impressed by some of the more thoughtful moments, as when Marguerite meets the Indian warrior in the woods, and they exchange Christmas greetings in French. I thought the follow-up to that scene, in which the Sargents are spared attack the next spring, when the same man appears with the group of warriors that gather outside the house, actually served to humanize native peoples, by demonstrating that they (like any other group of people) would respond more favorably to fair and generous treatment, than to open hostility and attack.

I understand that Calico Bush was inspired by the story of a real historical figure - one Marguerite La Croix, who was, together with her family, one of the first settlers on Maine's Little Cranberry Island - which makes sense to me, as the story felt very authentic. All in all, this was a strong work of historical fiction for younger readers, one I would recommend to readers who enjoy that genre. show less

Originally published in 1929, and chosen as the Newbery Medal Winner in 1930, Rachel Field's Hitty, Her First Hundred Years is the charming autobiography of an American doll, and her many adventures, over the course of a century. Created from mountain-ash - a wood said to bring good luck, and ward off evil - by a wandering peddler, and given to young Phoebe Preble, Hitty's life began in the state of Maine (although her wood came, like her peddler creator, from Ireland), but soon took her to show more all parts of the globe. Sailing out of Boston with the Prebles, on a whaling voyage, going overboard in a shipwreck, washing up on a South Seas island where she was worshiped as an idol, becoming lost in India, being found by missionaries, being stolen from a Cotton Exhibition in New Orleans, and finally, being auctioned as an antique, Hitty's first hundred years was full indeed, of colorful incidents, and multiple owners. What was constant throughout, was her keen interest in, and observation of, the world around her, and her philosophical approach to the ups and downs of a doll's life.

Well-written and immensely engaging, this is a book I would like to be able to recommend wholeheartedly. There is much of value here: the many period details, which Field always seems to get just right; the snap-shot view of American history, as seen from a unique perspective; and an utterly enchanting heroine, who manages to be believable, both as doll and as narrator. Unfortunately, there are also some dated elements, particularly in the depiction of non-European peoples: the "frightening" Indians of Maine, the "heathen" South Sea Islanders, the "dirty" Indian snake-charmer, the "happy" African-American plantation workers. What's interesting, in all of this - something raised in The Newbery Book-Club to which I belong, is the fact that Hitty herself often takes a more liberal, tolerant view of these different human groups, as compared to her various European or Euro-American owners.

I think there's definitely something to this idea (hence the fact that this got knocked down from four to three stars, rather than from four to two), but even Hitty's perspective sometimes still felt a little condescending to me. Still, given the unique quality of the narrative, I can certainly understand why long-time fans of the book were outraged at the recent Rosemary Wells rewrite. I think that, in the end, the good qualities of this title are sufficient to retain it as a reading selection for young people, with the caveat that responsible adults should be sure to engage them in a discussion of some of the socially anachronistic content. show less

In the early 1800's, a peddler carves a doll for a little girl of his acquaintance out of a sturdy piece of mountain ash wood. The doll is painted and dressed and given the name Mehitabel -- Hitty, for short. Over the course of her life, Hitty travels around the world by boat, by train, and eventually by automobile in the hands of various little girls (and sometimes, briefly, boys, men, and women). A hundred years later, she ends up in an antique shop, from whence she tells her story -- but show more are her adventures through? Hitty doesn't think so!

I was surprised at how readable I found this book. Though Hitty's adventures are episodic, I found that the plot carried me right along, always wondering where Hitty would end up next and how she would get out of whatever scrape she found herself in. I think that, if I had read this as a child, I would have enjoyed it immensely. After all, who doesn't imagine that their toys and dolls secretly come to life when nobody is watching? However, due to several problematic depictions in the book ("red injuns," "heathen savages," and African-American families speaking in an unflattering dialect, among other things), I probably wouldn't recommend this to children today, at least, not unless they were reading it with a good deal of adult guidance. show less