Joan W. Blos (1928–2017)

The story of Catherine Hall, a young New Hampshire girl in the 1830s, is told through her diary entries. Catherine's mother died several years before the diary begins. Catherine and her younger sister, Matty, live with their father on his farm. Their closest neighbors, the Shipmans, are a source of support. Mrs. Shipman advises Catherine about housekeeping matters, and Mr. Shipman and the Shipman boys assist Catherine's father with his farming work after their own is done. Cassie Shipman is show more Catherine's best friend. They often do their chores together, and they walk to school together when it's in session.

Catherine's diary chronicles many changes in her life over an 18-month period. The school teacher stirs up controversy by reading from Boston abolitionist newspapers during class time. For Catherine, the question of slavery isn't abstract when she encounters a mysterious stranger, probably a runaway slave, who asks for her help. After several years as a widower, Catherine's father decides to remarry, and Catherine must adjust to a new stepmother, stepbrother, and a new position within the household. In their early teens, Catherine and her friends are on the brink of womanhood. Catherine faces the loss of two childhood companions, one to death, the other to the mills in Lowell, Massachusetts.

Catherine led a much different life than modern teenagers. Farm families like Catherine's had to work hard year-round to make sure they had adequate clothing, household goods, and food to last through the bitterly cold winters. She writes in her diary of visits from peddlers and weavers, of picking berries, of trips to Boston to sell farm products and to purchase supplies, and of community events like the opening of the roads after the winters snows and of maple sugaring in the spring. While Catherine's daily activities were very different from the modern teenager's, she faced many of the same issues, like adjusting to a blended family and dealing with the loss of friends. I can't think of a more enjoyable way to learn about daily life in a different century. Highly recommended. show less

A short YA book about the life of Catherine Cabot Hall who lives on a New Hampshire farm in 1830. Written as Catherine’s diary over the course of a year, she writes of her daily life and as this is a YA book, the subject matter is fairly light, although she does touch briefly on the subject of slavery. During the year, her life goes through some big changes as her father brings home a second wife and her best friend gets ill and dies.

I am not sure whether this book would speak directly to show more today’s younger audience, as Catherine’s life is so very different from that of a modern reader, but the author definitely gives us a glimpse of how the social mores of the day, the religious teachings and family rules all played a very important role in shaping one’s life in the 1800’s.

For me personally, I found A Gathering of Days a little light and would have liked to delve more into some the issues that were mentioned in passing but, of course, I am not the target audience. Overall, this is an enjoyable sentimental story that comes across in a realistic manner. show less

Although one would assume the setting for "Letters from the Corrugated Castle: A Novel of Gold Rush California 1850-1852" was the gold diggings, very little of the action in this story actually occurred at the mines. Perhaps more interestingly, this historical fiction novel allows readers to discover the effect the Gold Rush was having on other locations in California, especially San Francisco and the Salinas Valley. Author Joan W. Blos tells the story of thirteen year-old Eldora and her show more experiences in California entirely through letters that she herself writes, letters of others to Eldora, or fictional newspaper articles. And Eldora has a lot to write about! She has recently discovered that she is not an orphan and she has made the decision to leave her adoptive parents and their metal house ("corrugated castle") in San Francisco and move to her mother's house in the Salinas Valley. The descriptions of San Francisco and how its residents were trying to thrive (or merely survive) during those turbulent times should be very interesting for students who like a bit of fiction with their facts. For readers who enjoyed Blos's other books "A Gathering of Days" and "Brothers of the Heart", there is some overlapping of characters. show less

Thirteen-year-old Eldora has always believed that her mother died when she was very little, and for nine years she has lived with people that she calls Aunt and Uncle. The year is 1850, and all three have exchanged their quiet lives in New Bedford, Massachusetts, for new ones in San Francisco, the rapidly growing city that is the heart of the California Gold Rush. Shortly after their arrival, they receive a letter from an unknown woman who believes she is Eldora's mother. She is eager to show more meet her long-lost daughter, and a visit is arranged. As Eldora deals with her conflicting feelings about this news, she must also adjust to the challenges -- and dangers -- of living in a brash and growing city. She finds herself teaching English to two Mexicano children and beginning to learn Spanish, and an unlikely friendship with a boy named Luke introduces her to the hard, sometimes humorous, and often violent world of the mining camps. Every day seems to bring something different and new to consider. But can Eldora discover where -- and to whom -- she belongs?
Told in letters that ring with the voice of the times, Letters from the Corrugated Castle is an intriguing adventure set in a fascinating time in California's history. show less