The Witch Of Blackbird Pond

Elizabeth George Speare was a well-known author of children’s books during the mid-twentieth century. Her second novel, The Witch of Blackbird Pond (1957), earned her a Newbery Medal in 1959. She won another in 1962 for The Bronze Bow (1961), as well as a Laura Ingalls Wilder Award in 1989 for her lifetime contribution to children’s literature. Her other novels include Calico Captive (1957) and The Sign of the Beaver (1984). Speare’s books are often found on the required reading list in American grade schools.

The Witch of Blackbird Pond is categorized as Teen & Young Adult, US Colonial & Revolutionary Fiction, and Children’s Colonial US Historical Fiction. It is intended for readers aged 10 and older. This study guide and all its page citations are based on the Kindle edition of the novel. The plot is heavily influenced by the author’s own experience as a lifelong New Englander who also enjoyed traveling extensively.

The novel is set in the American colony of Connecticut and covers a period of one year, from April 1687 to the beginning of May 1688. All the story’s events unfold in the small Puritan town of Wethersfield.