Hitty: Her First Hundred Years

by Rachel Field, Dorothy P. Lathrop (Illustrator)

Overview

Hitty is a doll of great charm and character. It is indeed a privilege to publish her memoirs, which, besides being full of the most thrilling adventures on land and sea, also reveal her delightful personality. One glance at her portrait will show that she is no ordinary doll. Hitty, or Mehitable as she was really named, was made in the early 1800s for Phoebe Preble, a little girl from Maine. Young Phoebe was very proud of her beautiful doll and took her everywhere, even on a long sailing trip in a whaler. This is the story of Hitty's years with Phoebe, and the many that follow in the life of a well-loved doll.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780689822841
Publisher:	Aladdin
Publication date:	09/01/1998
Edition description:	Original
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	218,405
Product dimensions:	5.12(w) x 7.62(h) x 0.70(d)
Lexile:	1100L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Rachel Field wrote A Prayer for a Child for her own daughter, before sharing it with children around the world. Rachel Field’s other books for children include Newbery Medalist Hitty, Her First Hundred Years; Calico Bush; and Hepatica Hawks.

Table of Contents

I	In Which I Begin My Memoirs	1
II	In Which I Go Up in the World and Am Glad to Come Down Again	17
III	In Which I Travel-by Land and Sea	31
IV	In Which We Go to Sea	40
V	In Which We Strike Our First and Last Whales	51
VI	In Which I Join the Fishes and Rejoin the Prebles	69
VII	In Which I Learn the Ways of Gods, Natives, and Monkeys	82
VIII	In Which I Am Lost in India	93
IX	In Which I Have Another Child to Play with Me	106
X	In Which I Am Rescued and Hear Adelina Patti	121
XI	In Which I Sit for My Daguerreotype and Meet a Poet	139
XII	In Which I Go Into Camphor, Reach New York, and Become a Doll of Fashion	149
XIII	In Which I Spend a Disastrous New Year's and Return to New England	161
XIV	In Which I End My Hay-Days and Begin a New Profession	174
XV	In Which I Learn Much oF Plantations, Post Offices, and Pin Cushions	196
XVI	In Which I Return to Familiar Scenes	210
XVII	In Which I Am Sold at Auction	223

Editorial Reviews

Gr 1-5-Purists may balk at this revision of the 1930 Newbery winner, but many modern readers will be charmed by this repackaged memoir of a century-old wooden doll. Many of Field's characters, destinations, and phrases remain intact, and Wells does an admirable job of matching her voice. Hitty's story still begins with a peddler's carved gift for a sea captain's daughter and concludes with the doll's anticipation of future adventures as she views an airplane. Much, however, has changed. Wells shortens the chapters, edits the wordiness, omits the black dialect, and changes the South Sea "Injuns" to "Islanders," with the overall effect of a quickened pace and heightened action. She departs completely from the original after the outbreak of the Civil War. Hitty is now mailed south of the Mason-Dixon line and encounters her first violence when the post office blows up. Jeffers's full-page gouache paintings and the smaller details carry much of the meaning, portraying with dramatic perspective the danger of a storm at sea or using architecture, flora, and fauna to create locale. The generous use of space between lines of text, the sheen of the creamy paper, and the oversized format lend luxury to the telling. Hitty is in good hands for the next 100 years.-Wendy Lukehart, Dauphin County Library, Harrisburg, PA Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

School Library Journal

Hitty is charmingly illustrated by Susan Jeffers, with large, colorful pictues on every double-page spread that compliment the vivid historical dimension of the story.
—Elizabeth Spires

New York Times Book Review