Thimble Summer
by Elizabeth Enright

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Book Reviews of Thimble Summer

Book Review: 1939 Newbery Medal winner; childish, simplistic, a fast read
Summary: 2 Stars

SYNOPSIS: 9 1/2-year old Garnet Linden lives on a Wisconsin farm with her parents, older brother Jay and younger brother Donald and enjoys the typical pleasures of childhood near a small midwest town: swimming in the river, hitching a ride into town, and the county fair. The night that Garnet finds a silver thimble in the river bed the drought breaks and the crops are saved, so her father is kept from financial ruin. The thimble brings even more good luck: her father receives a government loan with which to replace their old barn and a 13-year-old orphan, Eric Swanstrom, stumbles upon the Lindens as they're firing limestone at midnight with which to make cement, plaster and whitewash for the barn. Eric stays on with the family and helps with the chores and replaces Garnet as Jay's best friend and constant companion. Garnet deepens her friendship with neighbor Citronella Hauser, 11, and they have adventures of their own together. Mr. Freebody, another neighbor, always looks out for Garnet and provides a concerned ear and offers good advice. She feels that all her good fortune is due to the magic silver thimble she found and vows to always refer to this special summer as the "Thimble Summer."

I think, deep down, everyone wishes he or she had a childhood this idyllic. Although I grew up in a city, I did spend weeks at a time on my grandparents' farms (I was lucky; my grandparents on both sides were very small-scale dairy farmers) during my childhood, and I enjoyed the rustic charms of farm living. I loved gathering eggs in the henhouse, climbing the tree that grew out of a creek-bank, catching frogs in the pond with my cousins, and catching crawdads in a culvert--all on my grandparents' farm! My other Grandma had a huge watering-trough that was fun, a spooky spring-house, and numerous sheds and barns to explore. "Thimble Summer" has a way of bringing back many of these memories.

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