A review by katrinky
The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare

4.0

I figured there was no better time than Columbus Day to start this book, which I haven't read since elementary school. Kit comes to the US at the end of the 17th century from Barbados, where she was born and raised. She lives with her strict Puritan family and sneaks visits to the queer old woman living on the edge of the swamp, who understands Kit's rebellious spirit and offers her advice and company. I'm also a pretty big fan of spunky female characters, religious discussions, characters who re-examine their relationships to colonialism and slavery, and, let's be real, angsty which-lovah-shall-I-most-love quandries. AND witch trials are a portion of American history that I don't think gets discussed/critiqued/remembered often enough. It was a shocking, ugly stain on this country's early days, and demands coming to terms with.