Just finished A Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton-Porter. Published originally in 1909, it's a coming of age novel about Elnora Comstock in backwoods Indiana at the turn of the century.
Somewhere I missed this one. I would've loved it during my Anne of Green Gables years. After the Little House on the Prairie Series, after the Stretfield Shoes books, after A Little Princess and the Secret Garden. Right there. Right after those. That's when I would've loved this book. Next to Daddy Long Legs. That's where it should be kept.
I like it now, and I need to buy a copy to have on my shelves for Unnamed Daughter. (Some mothers find out they are having a girl and buy Girl Fetus hairbows and shoes. I plan which books I need to have ready for her in fourteen years.)
The writing is dated, of course. There's preaching and moralizing and passages of philosophy. Elnora, the main character, has very few flaws. She gives away her lunch to orphans, works hard and never complains, and isn't even tempted by the Unattainable. Her motives are pure. She loves moths, especially the ugly ones. She's polite to mean girls. Gag me already.
But yet. She's feisty and determined and overcomes difficulty. I had to like her, even when I thought she needed to save her lunch for herself.
Jenny, get this one for Emma. Liz, get this one for Amelia. And both of you will like reading it for yourself. And Meg in Sheridan, see if your library has this one. You'd probably like it, too.
2 comments:
This book is on my 'To Read' list. Glad you enjoyed it. It's next to "Laddie" by the same author.
Have you ever read "Twig" or "Big Susan" by Elizabeth Orton Jones? Very cute younger girl books. My 6 y/o loved them!
I recently discovered Gene Straton-Porter books too. I read "Laddie" first and then "Freckles", "Girl of the Limberlost", "The Harvester" and "Keeper of the Bees". My mom loved these as a girl but somehow forgot to tell me to read them. I found a bunch of them on the shelf in our house. It is sad I didn't read them in those younger years but I will make sure my girls get to read them. I loved the Nature. The insects, plants and forests were so well described. You can tell the author loved nature!
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