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Thimble Summer

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About this listen

 When Garnet finds a silver thimble in the sand by the river, she is sure it’s magical. But is it magical enough to help her pig, Timmy, win a blue ribbon on Fair Day?©2008 Elizabeth Enright; (P)2008 Random House, Inc. Animals Animals & Nature Fiction Geography & Cultures Growing Up Growing Up & Facts of Life Literature & Fiction Magic

Critic reviews

Garnet found a silver thimble in the sand by the river and she was sure it had magic, for the summer had proved exciting and interesting in so many different ways. There was the coming of Eric, an orphan and such a nice addition to the family; the building of a new barn with money loaned by the government; and the fair at which Garnet's carefully tended pig won a blue ribbon and three dollars and a half! Every day brought pleasure of some kind to Garnet of the flying pigtails, for she was bursting with energy and good spirits and she loved the outdoors and growing things.

*"This story of a Wisconsin farm sings with the happiness and contentment of a small girl whose roots are sinking deep into the soil of a loved place." -- Library Journal, starred review

"Sprung spontaneously from the author's own happy experience of life on a Middle Western farm, this is a story of the sort for which there is a constant demand: one of everyday life among contemporary children. ... There is the flavor of real life... expressed with charm and humor." -- The New York Times Book Review

"Garnet... is resourceful and full of gaiety.... [Her] joy in living as she watches the great blue heron at the water's edge as the day closes has to be expressed in handspring after handspring down the pasture."

-- The Horn Book
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This story of one summer in pre-war rural Wisconsin takes the reader through a series of episodes seen through the eyes of Garnet Linden, a nine-year-old farm girl. The adventures Garnet relates she sees through the lens of her belief that the discovery, early in the summer, of a silver thimble in a river bed exposed by drought wrought a magical transformation in the fortunes of her family. The drought itself hints at the impact of the Depression still casting a shadow over the country. The references to homelessness, shanty towns and penury punctuate lighthearted comments that fit easily into the understanding of the children in the narrative.

The reading here is faultless; a superb performance with the right pace, energy and spirit to transform the hearer into this vanished world.

Deserved Newbery Winner that captures a disappearing world of rural childhood America

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