Knowing there were not many days left before my friend Carrel lost a valiant fight with cancer, her family looked to make her last days as painless and pleasant as possible. She had spent her life introducing children to books, helping adults who wanted to write children’s books, and penning a number of words herself. Knowing her love of reading, her son asked which book, of all the ones she had promoted over the years, she would like him to read aloud to her.
When a mutual friend told me this story, I couldn’t wait to see what she chose. It reminded me of old stories and conversations I’ve had for what one would choose for a last meal. Carrel picked The Witch of Blackbird Pond, winner of the Newbery Award from the American Library Association in 1958. I found it comforting after her death to find my old copy and reread the book in her honor and think about what she must have loved about it.
Set in Puritan New England in 1687, Kit Tyler arrives from Barbados to live with an aunt and her family that she has only heard about. An orphan since childhood, her grandfather who has raised her has also died. In the new place, she moves from her familiar privileged background to a hard scrabble life where she must do tasks that have been assigned to servants in her former life. Strict Puritan standards are an even harder adjustment. Most of all she longs for friendship with the ostracized Quaker woman who is said to be a witch and with the neglected child Prudence whom she teaches to read on the sly. The price for Kit’s courage comes when she, too, has to stand trial as a witch.
I could speculate that the sense of justice and the empowerment of reading for Prudence were at least part of the appeal of this book for Carrel. I loved rereading The Witch of Blackbird Pond in her memory and recommend a reread to my blog followers or a first read if you haven’t had the pleasure yet. This has brought me to consider my own preference if I were selecting a last book. My choice, Sarah, Plain and Tall, was given to me by a thoughtful parent the year it also won the Newbery Award.
Just in case you are also wondering about what I would choose for a last meal, there would be fried catfish, a baked potato, and slaw.