"Thimble Summer" by Elizabeth Enright

This book describes an old fashioned summer of a little girl.  Written in 1938, set on a farm, there is a feel of a much simpler lift.  Waking early to do chores, taking care of the cows and pigs, canning the fruits and veggies from their garden, swimming in the swimming hole, sweating from the heat, waiting for the rain to water their crops.  She goes through the usual struggles of a ten year year old girls.  She feels bored, she feels neglected by her family and she finds some great adventures.  One of my favorite adventures was when Garnet and her friend Citronella find themselves locked in the library after hours.  They rode in the back of their neighbors pick up into town, without telling anyone where they were going.  They went to the library found a book, curled up and started reading.  Time passed quickly and soon they found themselves in the library alone and all the doors and windows locked and there was no way out.  The pounded on the doors and windows to no avail.  They heard the town clock chiming past midnight.  They fell asleep and woke to pounding on the doors.  It was their neighbor.  Many people had been searching for them.  One of the most telling signs that this is from a totally different era was that the children would go about their day, off to the swimming hole, hitch hike into town and not tell anyone where they were going.  No life jackets, no seat belts, no helmets.  This made me feel very uneasy as I read it through the eyes of a parent.  The title, "Thimble Summer", comes from a pure silver thimble that Garnet finds in the bottom of the swimming hole.  She finds it magical and thinks it must be worth a lot of money.  She polishes it, and often keeps it in her pocket.  At the end of the book, as she is reflecting on her summer, she realizes that "Everything  has happened since I found it, and all nice things!" (pg 135)  Her pig won the blue ribbon at the fair, their family built a new barn, they met and rescued an orphan boy that appeared out of the forest and he became a new member of their family, she was locked in the library, she went to the big city of New Conniston by herself.

I really enjoyed this book and I think I will recommend it to Maddy, it's a great read!