The Hired Girl
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4.4 • 33 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Winner of the 2016 Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction; A 2016 Association of Jewish Libraries Sydney Taylor Award Winner; Winner of the 2016 National Jewish Book Award for Children’s and Young Adult Literature. Fourteen-year-old Joan Skraggs, just like the heroines in her beloved novels, yearns for real life and true love. But what hope is there for adventure, beauty, or art on a hardscrabble farm in Pennsylvania where the work never ends? Over the summer of 1911, Joan pours her heart out into her diary as she seeks a new, better life for herself—because maybe, just maybe, a hired girl cleaning and cooking for six dollars a week can become what a farm girl could only dream of—a woman with a future. Newbery Medalist Laura Amy Schlitz relates Joan’s journey from the muck of the chicken coop to the comforts of a society household in Baltimore (Electricity! Carpet sweepers! Sending out the laundry!), taking readers on an exploration of feminism and housework; religion and literature; love and loyalty; cats, hats, and bunions.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Desperate for the education her father denies her on their Pennsylvania farm, 14-year-old Joan runs away to Baltimore in 1911, where a well-to-do Jewish family hires her to help their obstinate, aging housekeeper. Schlitz (Splendors & Glooms) has crafted another exquisite literary gem, one told entirely via Joan's vivid, humorous, and emotionally resonant diary entries over a year and a half. Through Joan's na ve perspective, Schlitz frankly discusses class, religion, women's education, art, literature, and romance. Joan has trouble reconciling her devout Catholic faith with Judaism, mixing up kashrut and even attempting to convert her employers. Yet because Joan is a hard worker, the Rosenbachs are forgiving and good to her, even encouraging her to read from their library. Joan is reminiscent of heroines like Anne Shirley, Jo March, Cassandra Mortmain, and her own favorite character, Jane Eyre (Joan even gives herself a fittingly literary alias, Janet Lovelace). Her overactive imagination, passions, and impulsive disregard for propriety often get Joan into trouble, but these same qualities will endear her to readers everywhere. Ages 12 up.
Customer Reviews
Splendid
It was a beautifully written book! I thoroughly enjoyed it. The drama the work it was so deep. But I somehow got lost halfway through and until the very end did I realized it’s beauty!
Amazing
The way it's beautifully written this has to be one of the best books I have ever read.