I did not care for this book. It was a Newberry winner, apparently, but... I dunno. There wasn't really a connecting plot through the whole story. Each chapter was a totally separate story, if you ask me. The only connection was the characters and they all took place in the same summer. But it could have just as easily been a series of short stories, you know?For instance, the second chapter is a story where Garnet (the main character) and her friend are listening to her friend's grandmother tell a story about when she was young. The grandmother had really, really wanted this bracelet, and felt that her father had let her down by not getting it for her, and how she eventually got one, though it caused many mishaps along the way. The grandmother later says she lost it. I thought maybe the little girls would find the bracelet or one similar. Or they would learn a lesson from it and later in the book when Garnet really wanted something, she would recall the lesson. But no, neither the bracelet nor the grandmother is ever mentioned again.In one chapter she sneaks away and travels many towns away without telling anyone. She buys presents for her family, spends all her money and heads home. She decides not to tell them right away where she got the gifts because she didn't want to get into trouble for leaving all by herself. But in the next chapter, everyone has their gifts and no one mentions her leaving, and she apparently gets into no trouble.And I was hoping some romance between her, or her friend, and the boy who randomly shows up that summer. Maybe they're too young for that.Even the -point- of the book. The thimble. Many, many pages go by without any mention of it at all, until the very end when she claims that it was responsible for her great summer. You'd think she might have pulled it out during some of those great times.
Oh looky here, ANOTHER 1930's Newbery winner about a tweenage tomboy. Don't get me wrong, I like tomboys. All evidence points towards my daughter being one. She's loud, rambunctious and mimics every move her big brother makes, but at some point you would think the editors of the 30's (or at least the Newbery committee) would have said, "umm. We've had a lot of these tomboy novels recently. Let's slow it down some." I mean I enjoyed all of the books independently, but together, they aren't really all that unique.That being said, I did appreciate a few things about this book It's a obviously a forerunner to Charlotte's Web, one of my all time favorites. A girl saves the runt of a pig litter, raises it by hand, it goes off to win ribbons at the state fair, etc. I'm pretty sure that E.B. White had to have at least read Thimble Summer/ It was short, as most of the 1930's winners have been (a big departure from the 20's), and that made the annoying things a bit more bearable, and the characters were all pretty likable.Unfortunately, like Roller Skates, Caddie Woodlawn and the rest, this novel suffered from a lack of plot. Not a whole lot happens, and there was never really that much at stake. This probably would have been a two star book, but like I said, I'm not sure if Charlotte's Web would have ever been written without it, so I'll give it three just because of the greatness that I think it probably inspired.
Do You like book Thimble Summer (1987)?
1939 Newbery Medal recipient.Meh. I guess the depression-era Newbery committee had a thing for descriptively pastoral books where nothing much happened. The events of "Thimble Summer" were episodic, with no overall plot. The episodes were not all that intriguing--the county fair, a story from her grandmother, getting stuck in the library after closing, and each chapter seemed to go about three pages longer than necessary thanks to descriptive prose that over-dramatized nearly everything. Even the thimble of the title is mentioned when she finds it and at the very end, and otherwise isn't mentioned. None of the characters really stood out either. Given the Wisconsin setting and the similarly adventurous female protagonists, I think comparison between this and "Caddie Woodlawn" are inevitable, and "Thimble Summer" is by far the weaker of the two.
—Carl Nelson
Another classic by Elizabeth Enright. I love this author even though I am an old grandma! I bought this book for my granddaugher's birthday, but had to re-read it before giving it to her. I love the simplicity of childhood in Mrs. Enright's books. Garnet's many adventures make for good reading. She got locked in a library after closing hours, she ran away from home, she hitchhiked, she got stuck on the top of a ferris wheel! This is good reading about a little girl who lived at a time when kids could be kids and actually go out and play without being fearful for their lives.
—Carol Arnold
Very pleasant, but not extraordinary. Something like Understood Betsy has a lot more going for it. I very much enjoyed Enright's illustrations, with such bold colors. Incidentally, the original cover Thimble Summer is far superior to the later one Thimble Summer where Timmy the pig is enormous. Just unrealistic to imagine her standing calmly with such a beast.It's interesting to see how Enright's writing developed from Kintu to this to the Melendys to Gone-Away and how she frequently returns to similar settings and themes.I didn't like that loose ends weren't tied up nicely. The gifts purchased on Garnet's excursion to New Conniston weren't presented, and we didn't hear how she told her family about that trip.
—Michael Fitzgerald
