by Elizabeth Enright
Genre: Children's/Vintage
Rating: 4/5
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I bought this book because I was thinking about how much I loved one of Enright's other books, "Gone Away Lake." This book was written very early in her career in the 1930's. I love older books because you always learn something of historical significance. Did you know in the 30's the word 'cookie' was spelled 'cooky'? I saw it in 2 different publications from the 30's just this week.
"Thimble Summer" is a simple 'slice of life' style story about a farm girl named Garnet. She has a summer full of adventures, from getting locked in the library to befriending a hobo 13 yr old boy to running away from home without anyone noticing. Her family worries about bills (this takes place in the tail end of the depression) and drought. Throughout the story she raises a runt pig and shows him at the county fair (this is pre-Charlotte's Web), and has many many adventures.
Thimble Summer isn't quite as good as Gone Away Lake, but they're very similar stories. It's charming, amusing, and fun. I liked it as an adult very much, but I'm not sure how modern kids would feel about reading it. Maybe the the complete alien concept of a depression era farm would interest them.
It's a simple string of short stories with a few themes following all the way through. If you don't like books without a lot of plot you won't like it. Would be really great to read aloud to your kids one chapter a night though.
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