The Witch of Blackbird Pond
Recommended. Age: 10+. A Catholic review of this book for parents.
Our review
Kit is sixteen when she sails from sunny Barbados to a strict Puritan town in Connecticut in 1687. She makes friends with a kind old Quaker woman whom the town calls a witch. Then Kit is called a witch too, and a brave little girl tells the truth to save her. Nobody in the story is really a witch. The title scares some parents off, and it should not. There is no witchcraft in this book at all. The only evil is a frightened crowd that accuses innocent women. It is a fine story about charity toward the outsider and courage under a false charge. Parents should add what the book lacks: a fair picture of Christian faith beyond Puritan harshness.
For parents
Read aloud from about nine. Independent reading from ten or eleven, so it suits a sixth grader well. Say this before you start: no one in this book is a witch and no one does magic. The Church teaches that real witchcraft and all attempts to use occult powers are gravely wrong (Catechism 2117). The Church also teaches that false accusation is a sin against the truth (Catechism 2477). This book is about the second sin. Ask: why does the town fear Hannah? What does Prudence risk by speaking up? Kit lies at her trial to protect a child. Was that right, or was there a truthful way? Explain that the Puritans in the story are Christians who read the Bible and pray, but that their hardness is not what Christ asks. Hannah is a Quaker. Her kindness is real, and you can tell your child that Catholics find the fullness of the faith in the Church and her sacraments. Mention ahead of time that a mob burns a house and that a schoolmaster hits children.