My friend Faith Elizabeth Hough (who blogs HERE) and I decided to create a fun reading challenge called Vintage Kidlit Summer. If you missed any of the details on how this challenge works, just go here and you can catch up! Basically, we’re doing 12 categories over 12 weeks, and each week has its own theme. All you have to do is choose a vintage/classic book that fits that week’s theme, read it, and share about it! You can write about it on your blog, or you can post your thoughts on Instagram (or Twitter) as well, by using the hashtag #vintagekidlitsummer. And if you’re in need of recommendations for each week’s theme, check out this blog post! 

I can’t believe we’ve reached our last week of the challenge, though! There obviously is still time to catch up (for example, you can do this challenge on your own whenever you like!) and then enjoy the archive of blog posts afterward.

Our eleventh week’s theme was Little-Known Newbery, and for this theme I re-read The Golden Name Day by Jennie D. Lindquist. What a wonderful novel! It won a Newbery Honor in 1956, and actually was out of print for some time. I believe that Purple House Press recently brought it back into print, though! My copy is an ex-library edition.

Here’s what I wrote about this book on Instagram a while ago: 

This is such a darling book! Set at the turn of the 20th century, it follows the adventures of a little girl named Nancy, who goes to live with a big Swedish family when her mother is ill. It’s one of the few children’s books I’ve read that explores Swedish culture/traditions (which I love because I’m of Swedish descent). I recently read the sequel, THE LITTLE SILVER HOUSE, which was also a lovely book.

My name day is December 9!

I’ve been reading the lovely Cobble Street Cousins chapter books by Cynthia Rylant lately, and I was struck by how the style of those books reminds me of The Golden Name Day. The elegant yet down-to-earth prose, the sweet adventures of a group of girls, the flowers and the parties … I love the similarities!

Much of the book revolves around Nancy’s wish to have her own Name Day celebration, but she can’t have one because the name Nancy doesn’t appear in the Swedish almanac. Eventually Grandma Benson has to remind Nancy to think about other people’s problems instead of focusing so much on her own small dilemma. By doing this, Nancy discovers new friends and learns an important lesson.

The thing I love most about this book–even more than the gentle humor, the Swedish culture, and the happy ending–is that this is one of the few stories that (for me) truly captures what it feels like to be a child, in such a vivid way. For example, there is a scene where Nancy is reading a mysterious fairy-tale on the staircase, and when the sun shines through the stained-glass window above the stairs, it reflects a rainbow onto the pages of her book, creating an enchanting moment that she remembers forever. (And tries to recreate over and over again.) This small vignette feels so extraordinarily real to me.

What did you read for the Vintage Kidlit Summer this week? Let me know in the comments!

My friend Faith Elizabeth Hough (who blogs HERE) and I decided to create a fun reading challenge called Vintage Kidlit Summer. If you missed any of the details on how this challenge works, just go here and you can catch up! Basically, we’re doing 12 categories over 12 weeks, and each week has its own theme. All you have to do is choose a vintage/classic book that fits that week’s theme, read it, and share about it! You can write about it on your blog, or you can post your thoughts on Instagram (or Twitter) as well, by using the hashtag #vintagekidlitsummer. And if you’re in need of recommendations for each week’s theme, check out this blog post!

Our tenth week’s theme was Adventures of Longer Ago, and for this theme I got a little creative and chose to re-read Magic Elizabeth by Norma Kassirer. I hadn’t read it since the first time I discovered this story in 2018, and I was in the mood to read it this past week. It’s a bit of a time-travel story, where our heroine gets to experience the adventures lived by another little girl in 1899.

Magic Elizabeth opens with a great atmospheric scene where Sally is sent to stay with her great-aunt until her parents can return from a business trip. It’s pouring rain, and Sally isn’t at all sure about going to stay in the grand old house. But she is soon fascinated by a picture of a girl who used to live in the house back at the turn of the century, and most of all, she’s interested in the lovely doll that the girl used to have. She soon learns that the doll  went missing back in 1899 and sets out to try to find her. But then the strangest things begin to happen …

It’s a wonderful, gentle story for those who like time travel stories but want something non-scary. The best part of all is how Sally overcomes her initial fears of the house and grows to care about her aunt, who seems gruff at first but soon grows interested in Sally’s adventure.

(P.S. The illustrations by Joe Krush are an added bonus!)

What did you read for the Vintage Kidlit Summer this week? Let me know in the comments!

My friend Faith Elizabeth Hough (who blogs HERE) and I decided to create a fun reading challenge called Vintage Kidlit Summer. If you missed any of the details on how this challenge works, just go here and you can catch up! Basically, we’re doing 12 categories over 12 weeks, and each week has its own theme. All you have to do is choose a vintage/classic book that fits that week’s theme, read it, and share about it! You can write about it on your blog, or you can post your thoughts on Instagram (or Twitter) as well, by using the hashtag #vintagekidlitsummer. And if you’re in need of recommendations for each week’s theme, check out this blog post!

Our ninth week’s theme was Picture Book, and for this theme I chose to read Andrew Henry’s Meadow by Doris Burn. I had never read it before, but because Faith included it as one of her picture book recommendations—and because I already had a copy!—I decided to read it for this week’s theme. 

What a joy! I can definitely see why Faith recommended it. Doris Burn was both the writer and illustrator of this summer story, and she did a wonderful job. This is the story of Andrew Henry, who loves building things but whose inventions aren’t appreciated by his family. He goes off to build himself a little house in a meadow, where he is soon joined by other children from the neighborhood who want special places of their own.

I am so glad I read this one, and I wish I had read this book as a child because I know I would have loved it! The illustrations are lovely, and the final line is fabulous. (A bit of a spoiler, but … And his family was always curious to see what Andrew Henry would build next.)

Off to find more Doris Burn books …

What did you read for the Vintage Kidlit Summer this week? Let me know in the comments!

My friend Faith Elizabeth Hough (who blogs HERE) and I decided to create a fun reading challenge called Vintage Kidlit Summer. If you missed any of the details on how this challenge works, just go here and you can catch up! Basically, we’re doing 12 categories over 12 weeks, and each week has its own theme. All you have to do is choose a vintage/classic book that fits that week’s theme, read it, and share about it! You can write about it on your blog, or you can post your thoughts on Instagram (or Twitter) as well, by using the hashtag #vintagekidlitsummer. And if you’re in need of recommendations for each week’s theme, check out this blog post!

Our eighth week’s theme was Talking Animals, and for this theme I chose to re-read Tucker’s Countryside by George Selden. It’s the sequel to The Cricket in Times Square, but I read Tucker’s Countryside before Cricket so I don’t really feel that you need to read them in order! This book is actually one of the first longer books I read as a child (I was maybe seven or eight?), so it was fun to revisit. (I was a very choosy reader as a child. I read slowly, so a book needed to be *amazing* for me to even consider finishing it.)

I can totally see why I enjoyed this one so much. It’s a quick, fun, engaging read centering on the characters from Cricket (Chester, Tucker, and Harry) as they attempt to save an endangered meadow full of animals from certain destruction (an apartment building is going to be erected soon). The climax is wonderful: Tucker, a very clever mouse, gets the idea to make it look as if the meadow is a site of “historical significance”—in other words, the original homestead of the town founder—and how the animals accomplish this feat and get away with the “deception” is quite hilarious and well-written.

One of things I like best about Cricket and what I also love here is the juxtaposition of animals and people. They are books that keep you equally invested in the human and animal characters, and they don’t feel like fantasies at all. They’re extremely realistic—well, except for the town making such a big assumption about a certain historical site … 😉

This was a delightful reread, and now I want to revisit the other books in the series!

What did you read for the Vintage Kidlit Summer this week? Let me know in the comments!

My friend Faith Elizabeth Hough (who blogs HERE) and I decided to create a fun reading challenge called Vintage Kidlit Summer. If you missed any of the details on how this challenge works, just go here and you can catch up! Basically, we’re doing 12 categories over 12 weeks, and each week has its own theme. All you have to do is choose a vintage/classic book that fits that week’s theme, read it, and share about it! You can write about it on your blog, or you can post your thoughts on Instagram (or Twitter) as well, by using the hashtag #vintagekidlitsummer. And if you’re in need of recommendations for each week’s theme, check out this blog post!

Our seventh week’s theme was Big Family Story, and for this theme I chose to re-read Then There Were Five by Elizabeth Enright. It’s the third installment of the Melendy series (one of my all-time favorites!), and here’s what I’ve written about it previously on my blog:

Here’s a quintessential portrait of a five children enjoying an old-fashioned summer—including stargazing, fruit canning, and all the glories of August—depicted with Enright’s usual stunning imagery.

AND

… a celebration of summer, adventure, and family. Without a doubt, Enright is the best writer of description I’ve ever read.

I always come away from this book with two major takeaways: this is one of the most summery books I’ve read, and Enright’s descriptions are second to none. The funny thing is that this book is supposed to be set in either rural New York or Connecticut or somewhere like that … I can’t recall if it’s ever stated where the Four-Story Mistake is. All I know is that it’s not terribly far from their old home in New York City. It’s certainly not in Wisconsin. But that’s exactly what this setting feels like!

Thimble Summer, which I read in Week 1, was set in Wisconsin and drawn from Enright’s own visits there. But there is no question in my mind that a lot of her Wisconsin experiences informed the glorious countryside the Melendy children find themselves in. I was just admiring the wild mullein that had bloomed in the garden when I read this sentence in Then There Were Five: “The mullein had finished blooming, and stood up out of the pastures like dusty candelabra.” And then … “the bee balm was covered with little crown-shaped pods.” “The lazy monarch butterflies were everywhere.” And earlier, “The monarch caterpillar, for instance, contrived a waxy chrysalis of pale green, flecked with tiny arabesques of gilt.” All the nature descriptions bring to mind so vividly these things I’ve seen here in the north, and that’s what makes this book come to life for me. (And yes, I have shined a flashlight in my window at night to watch the moths, just like Oliver! I can confirm it’s a truly magical experience.)

And of course there are other amazing scenes and lines. I think so many of us can identify with Mona here: “She loved all old things: old books, old legends, old wrecks of houses such as this.” I am Mona! I love the family’s drive to help the war effort with patriotic things like a scrap metal hunt and a bazaar. And Mona and Randy trying to think of good meals to throw together during their canning is hilarious (speaking of which, Mr. Titus is a fabulous character)!

What did you read for the Vintage Kidlit Summer this week? Let me know in the comments!

My friend Faith Elizabeth Hough (who blogs HERE) and I decided to create a fun reading challenge called Vintage Kidlit Summer. If you missed any of the details on how this challenge works, just go here and you can catch up! Basically, we’re doing 12 categories over 12 weeks, and each week has its own theme. All you have to do is choose a vintage/classic book that fits that week’s theme, read it, and share about it! You can write about it on your blog, or you can post your thoughts on Instagram (or Twitter) as well, by using the hashtag #vintagekidlitsummer. And if you’re in need of recommendations for each week’s theme, check out this blog post!

Our sixth week’s theme was Well-known Author, Little-known Book, and for this theme I chose to re-read The Growing Summer by Noel Streatfeild. Such a joy!

If you haven’t yet heard me discuss this tale of four siblings and their summer adventures in a mysterious Ireland setting, you’re certainly going to want to pick it up now. This book follows the Gareth children as they are uprooted to the home of their unpredictable Great-Aunt Dymphna, where they have to learn how to cope with complex responsibilities and secrets. The reason why I recommend this book so often is because I think it will appeal those who love Elizabeth Enright’s summery books or Edward Eager’s magical tales, and I know there are tons of fans of those books. This sometimes overlooked Streatfeild story fits right in with those, and I hope you’ll give it a try! (P.S.—I recently bought my first UK copy of this story but haven’t read it yet. I don’t think there are many text changes from my US edition called The Magic Summer.)

The above paragraph is what I wrote about this book on my blog a few months ago, which gives a general overview of the story. I read this book for the first time as a child and enjoyed it, but I’ve come to love it more as an adult. I actually received it the Christmas I was nine, when I told my parents I wanted a whole box full of Noel Streatfeild books and that’s exactly what I received—it was glorious. But unfortunately, my original childhood copy is now in literal tatters from re-readings, so last year I invested in the aforementioned UK copy that has the original title. The illustrations particularly intrigued me—they look precisely like what I always envisioned (the big shadowy rooms and the placement of everything) … which I think means that Streatfeild described things very well.

One of the things I like best about this book is the atmosphere. Streatfeild never wrote a book that had more connection to a certain beautiful environment, and I think it was perhaps her way of paying homage to Elizabeth Enright (to whom the book is dedicated). Enright, such a careful observer of the natural world, must have inspired Streatfeild.

Another aspect I like is the characters. Streatfeild tended to re-use sets of characters, but I don’t mind that at all—I enjoy the familiarity of old favorite characters. But this story differs a bit because the four Gareth siblings actually mature throughout the course of the story and come to be more responsible individuals, which isn’t always the case in Streatfeild families.

Aunt Dymphna is a wonderful character because of her unpredictability, her endearing poetry reciting, her ways of disappearing and reappearing. She doesn’t look after the children the way she should, and never really seems to learn a lesson of her own, which I felt should have been resolved better. But she’s immensely entertaining, and there are subtle hints that there’s more to her than meets the eye (for example, the moment when Alex learns that she has memorized her last correspondence from her brother, whom she lost in World War II).

The ending is abrupt, too, and slightly mysterious—but so heartfelt. Which is perhaps a good way to describe the entire book!

There was a TV film version of it in 1969 that starred Wendy Hiller (Mrs. Harris in the 1987 Anne of Avonlea), as Aunt Dymphna, and apparently has never been released anywhere, which I find incredibly sad. Wouldn’t it be fun to watch?

I do vaguely remember finding a radio dramatization online a while back; I should dig it up and give it a try! It was a delight to revisit this book.

What did you read for the Vintage Kidlit Summer this week? Let me know in the comments!

My friend Faith Elizabeth Hough (who blogs HERE) and I decided to create a fun reading challenge called Vintage Kidlit Summer. If you missed any of the details on how this challenge works, just go here and you can catch up! Basically, we’re doing 12 categories over 12 weeks, and each week has its own theme. All you have to do is choose a vintage/classic book that fits that week’s theme, read it, and share about it! You can write about it on your blog, or you can post your thoughts on Instagram (or Twitter) as well, by using the hashtag #vintagekidlitsummer. And if you’re in need of recommendations for each week’s theme, check out this blog post!

Our fourth week’s theme was Everyday Adventures, and for this theme I chose to read Katie Kittenheart by Miriam E. Mason. It’s from 1957, and my copy is a somewhat battered Scholastic paperback. (Really, is there anything much more fun than old Scholastic books? I have found so many wonderful stories in those editions.)

Katie Kittenheart is the story of 10-year-old Katie Kattenhart, who is often informed that her kindhearted nature ends up causing problems (such as when she wants to adopt a homeless kitten that the housekeeper most definitely does not want). But over the course of the book, Katie realizes that her tenderness is a blessing, and others in her life come to realize this too. I like the fact that Katie loves helping people, and that’s what she most wants to do when she grows up–she would like to be a teacher or a nurse. 

This book was contemporary to the 1950s and features a very endearing heroine, which was delightful. I hadn’t read this book since I was ten years old. It’s a very quiet and gentle story, which I appreciate—I just might have preferred (both then and now) a bit more happening in the plot. 🙂 

As far as “everyday adventures” go, this book fit the bill perfectly. Even when more unusual things happen to Katie (and they do!), they fit within the very ordinary framework of the setting.

I’d been hoping to re-read this for a while now, and I’m glad I did!

What did you read for the Vintage Kidlit Summer this week? Let me know in the comments!