Witch of the Blackbird Pond

Author: Spielberg
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-08-01
Features: The Newbery Medal was established in 1922 by the American Library Association. It is named after John Newbery, an 18th-century British children's literature writer and publisher, and is awarded annually to honor authors who have made outstanding contributions to American children's literature in the previous year. The Newbery Medal has a long history and has had a great impact on children's literature in the United States and the world. Books that win the Newbery Medal are loved by children in the United States and many other countries, and many of them have become classics in children's literature. The Witch of Blackbird Pond has won both the Newbery Medal and the Newbery Honor, making it one of the few children's works to receive two titles from the same award, demonstrating the quality and status of the work. The stories of Kid Taylor are entirely fictional. The house where Wood lives and all the events that take place there exist only in imagination, but in Wethersfield—one of the early settlements in Connecticut, very similar old houses can still be seen. The large meadow still extends quietly along the river, and the remains of an old warehouse mark the once-prosperous river port. In this fictional story, several real people are interwoven. Royal Governor Sir Edmund Andros, Justice of the Peace Captain Samuel Darcott, Principal Elihu Kimberly, and the zealous loyalist Reverend Gershom Brewster are all important figures of the time, and the struggle of the Free Citizens to retain their charter is familiar to every Connecticut schoolchild.