Newbery Reviews: the best summer

Because Labor Day marks the end of summer it's appropriate that I finally composed the review for this essence-of-summer Newbery winner. 

Thimble Summer             (1939)

By Elizabeth Enright

When I was in fifth and sixth grade Elizabeth Enright was my favorite author. I read Gone-Away Lake and Return to Gone-Away a dozen or more times (in fact, I checked out GAL and renewed it repeatedly so that the checkout card had my number (C2353) in a long string).   I have the copies of the Gone-Aways that my parents special-ordered from the small bookstore.  My mother checked out The Four-Story Mistake for me to read when I was home from school with a cold. I loved it and soon after discovered the other three books about the Melendys – The Saturdays, Then There Were Five, and Spiderweb for Two.   I have the trilogy The Melendy Family (comprising the Saturdays, FSM, TTWF) with Enright’s prefatory essay explaining the background for the books.  I also have an ex-library copy of SFT.   I wrote a fan letter to Enright in 1965.  The response   was a form letter from her son (a professor in North Carolina) saying that Enright had passed away.  I cried.

Oddly, Thimble Summer was not an Enright that I read repeatedly, nor did I acquire a copy.  I was aware of it, for sure, because the chapter “Locked In” was part of the Childcraft anthology.  (I blogged about it here: http://withstringsattached.blogspot.com/2013/08/librarysummerheaven.html)

The color illustrations have Art Deco overtones.

When I re-read TS last month I fell right into the story.  When Garnet Linden is nine she finds a silver thimble in the creek bed near her Wisconsin farm home. She considers it a good omen and the summer vacation that follows is a time of discovery and delight.  Harvesting crops, working in the garden, going to the fair, a new foster brother – plus, of course, an unexpected night in the public library – make an ordinary summer extraordinary.  

I’ve been to south-central Wisconsin where the book is set. (Enright grew up in Oak Park. She was a cousin of Frank Lloyd Wright. The family came from Richland Center, Wisconsin. ) I’ve been to a lime kiln and to county fairs.  I’ve spent many evenings, including an overnight, at the library.  I know the feel of the shimmering heat, the smell of the welcome rain, and the taste of freshly-baked pie. 

Many devices that Enright used in TS are used in her later books.  It was fun to make the connections. The runaway farmhand Eric whom the Lindens welcome into the family is like Mark in TTWF.   Mr. Freebody, the old bachelor who comes to Garnet’s rescue, is like Jasper Titus (TTWF and SFT).  Older brother Joe is to Garnet what Rush Melendy is to Randy. Names like Garnet and her best friend Citronella are like GAL’s Portia Blake and Minnehaha Cheever.  

What a joy!  Thimble Summer reaffirms my admiration for a favorite author.