Customer Reviews

Caddie Woodlawn

5 star:		(77)
4 star:		(32)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

While I get a little antsy reading frontier stories with their detailed descriptions of prairie life, the Woodlawn children's adventures and loving family provided a fairly interesting read. I enjoy Caddie's determination to be a tomboy, despite her mother's wishes, and I love that her father only encourages it. Caddie's bravery (when warning her Indian friends of a white men's attack), kindness (spending her entire silver dollar to cheer up on her motherless classmates), and eventual understanding (of her pesky little sister's loneliness and her own need to be a mature young lady in her own way) make this an inspiring book. I also like that the bully turns out to be not so bad, and that the Woodlawn boys learn "female" chores like quilting in order to spend time with Caddie when she decides to broaden her interests. I especially like Caddie's final thoughts: "How far I've come! I'm the same girl and yet not the same. I wonder if it's always like that? Folks keep growing from one person into another all their lives, and life is just a lot of everyday adventures. Well, whatever life is, I like it." The backdrop might be different, but the lessons and values portrayed in this book are just as applicable today.

The most remarkable thing about the book Caddie Woodlawn is that it is a true story! The real-live person named Caddie Woodlawn was 82 when the book was published by her grand-daughter in 1935. By writing down the stories told to her as a child, Carol Ryrie Brink captures her grandmother's life as a girl growing up on the Wisconsin frontier in the 1860's. Caddie Woodlawn is a tomboy and likes nothing better than to go on adventures with her brothers Tom and Warren. She comes from a large pioneer family of seven children. Her older sister Clara is always acting more lady-like than she, and her younger sister Hetty is always tattling on her. Caddie has a fierce independent streak, and we discover what life was like on the frontier as we accompany her to school, and on visits to the neighboring Indian village. The book reveals the often tense relations between Native Americans and the European settlers. Because of her friendship with Indian John, Caddie alone is able to restore peace to her settlement by taking action before the frightenend white settlers attack the Indians. By the book's end, Caddie's refined cousin Annabelle comes from Boston, and Caddie the tomboy learns that maybe a few lady-like activities such as quilting aren't so bad after all. Any teen today will look up to Caddie for her self-confidence and bravery, and see their own rites of passage reflected in Caddie's experiences.

Caddie Woodlawn is a very exciting book. I was always on the edge of my seat, waiting to see what happened next. It keeps you in suspense the whole time. There are funny parts, sad parts, scary parts, and mad parts. I really enjoy it, and if you buy this book and like adventure stories, I know that you will like it too.

Caddie Woodlawn is an oft-overlooked childhood adventure of rural American life (in Wisconsin) during the Civil War. These true stories were told within the family by Caddie herself until her own granddaughter compiled them into a best-selling book around 1930. Don't let the date set you off - this is a real page turner with something in it for everyone. It has stood the test of time remarkably well.

Caddie and her family grew up in Boston, but made the drastic change to rural life a few years before the story begins. While Caddie's mother encourages a high level of civility in the rough wilds of western Wisconsin, her father is permitted to allow Caddie to grow up running around with her brothers because of concerns of a sister who died of consumption. Caddie is quite the tom boy in her pre-teen years, but what a delight to see her world through these eyes... adventures with curious Indians, a mischievous uncle, loyal siblings, school bullies and a simpler life. Especially touching is Caddie's relationship with her understanding father, whose unusual past is revealed in a surprising fashion to the children.

Great for children and adults (like me) who missed it the first time around! By the way, you can visit Caddie Woodlawn's house when you're in the vicinity of Menomonie, Wisconsin. There's not a lot to see, buy our family really enjoyed the experience.

Irrepressible Caddie--a tomboy by temperament and with paternal permision--is growing up in the wild woods of Wisconsin in the 1860's. The despair of her Boston-bred mother and her proper older sister, Caddie is secretly admired by her other siblings. Brave to the point of being foolhardy, loyal to her friends and dogs, this spunky little gal of 11 revels in the company of her two closest brothers, some fairly tame Indians and that scamp, Uncle Edmond.

Author Brink has woven the girlhood memories of her grandmother, Caroline, into a year-long family portrait, which is reminiscent of Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House
in the Big Woods. The plot is sometimes hard to discern as the story is spread out over 12 plus months, but the themes ring out with frontier clarity and timelss poignancy: the dignity of womanhood--despite the limited role of girls; the danger of fear-bred ignorance, rumor and racial prejudice; knowning how to value the present and not dwell in a painful past or seek a purloined future.

Although the book consists of 24 chapters with 270 pages, there is much dialogue which makes for fast reading. Of less interest to boys who prefer male protagonists and much physical action, CADDIE WOODLAWN is the natural literary successor to the LITTLE HOUSE series, with more depth and a pleasing balance between scenes of comic relief, crisis and tenderness. The author's personal note is a nice touch, but I was most impressed by her father's beautiful validation for woman's role in civilized society; it was sheer poetry and long-overdue praise for the distaff wing. It reminds me of an old sampler I once saw in my grandmother's attic: "The Hand that rocks the cradle rules the world." Sentimental--yes, but a
delightful read all the same!

How any reviewer could call this most well written, totally enjoyable book so so is beyond me. One of the best things about it is that it is a true story about life in rual pioneer Wisconsin. I live in Wisconsin and have visited the now run down house where Caddie grew up. Every young person should be encouraged to read it and it successor "Magical Melons." In my opinion both books should have won the Newberry Award for the best book for any given year in children's literature."Magical Melons" is now called "The Woodlawn Family."
Having been a tomboy myself I love Caddie's spunky tomboy spirit and her wonderful parents letting Caddie be herself. The Woodlawn children certainly knew how to have fun. While the family was obviously Christian, rather than hitting everyone over the head with what they believed they lived their faith for everyone to see. They lived in such a way as to earn the respect of all they knew.

Before you go buying just any old "Caddie Woodlawn" edition, I suggest you seek out and purchase one that has been illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman. I'm a Hyman fan to begin with, and in no other version of this story will you find as perfect a melding of picture and text.

That said, this is a fabulous book, creating a historical figure that extends above and beyond that of the better known Laura Ingells Wilder. Both Laura and Caddie's stories were published in the 1930s and both concern pioneer girls living in the Midwest in the 1800's. There all similarities stop and Laura must bow down to the better book. The difference between the two (and the subsequent superiority of Brink's text) comes from the amount of interest children take in the books. While the "Little House" books are historically accurate and will repeat with perfect detail the intricacies of pioneer life, the "Caddie Woodlawn" books show the heart and soul of the people of that time.
"Caddie Woodlawn" was fascinating to me as a child. In what other book could you find a red haired heroine bravely crossing the frozen river on her horse to warn the local Native Americans of imminent danger? The presence of the Indians in this book is a complex one. The book is certainly a product of its times, to some degree. Children with multi-racial parents are referred to as "half-breeds" and Indian John (as the pioneers call him) has a stilted speech not found in more sensitive novels today. Just the same, a children's book that makes the bold assertion that white pioneers were far more likely to go about massacring the natives than vice versa is a bit of fresh air. Say what you will of the Woodlawns's acceptance being "inaccurate", it improves the novel heartily.

Finally, "Caddie Woodlawn" is just a lot of fun. Practical jokes, adventures, and creative methods of amusement fill the pages of this story. You empathize completely with Caddie when she feels the urge to tease her snobbish oh-Boston-is-heaven-on-earth cousin Annabelle.
If asked who the most amusing redhead of children's literature in the English language is, I'd eschew Pippi Longstocking and Anne of Green Gables any day in favor of that fantastic and amusing Caddie Woodlawn.

Caddie Woodlawn is exciting, yet it teaches a wonderful lesson. I read this book when I was 8 and it was very enjoyable. I read it to my brother and younger cousins. It is very adventourous and easy to follow. I recommend this book for everyone!

The author's hymn of praise to her grandmother, in the tradition of the Little House on the Prairie books. Brink tells the story of her grandmother's idyllic childhood in 19th-century rural Wisconsin around the time of the Civil War. She pieced the story together from family memories, and the novel retains this patchwork feel. But a central thread concerning Caddie's tomboyish ways ties the lot together well, and the story has a satisfying resolution. The author herself was orphaned at age eight and raised by her grandmother, so she had plenty of time to absorb the stories.

Caddie's rural community lives in uneasy détente with an Indian tribe. Their only connection with civilization is a lumber company steamer that comes up the Mississippi several times a year; the steamer brings them the news of General Lee's surrender and subsequent assassination of Lincoln. Caddie (real name = Caroline) runs wild and free with her older brothers despite her mother's misgivings. Long ago, when Caddie was a baby, her father made an unusual request of his wife: give him charge of the girl. So while her younger sisters stay tidy at home learning feminine skills from Mother, Caddie learns her father's trade (mending clocks) and how to do farm chores. She spends most of her time outdoors, and by age 12 is ruddy and energetic, though rather ill-mannered.

One of the nearby Indians speaks some English, and Caddie befriends him. I must point out that the author's grasp of how Native Americans were forced to communicate is rather tenuous. For example, when Caddie expresses affection for Indian John's dog, he says, "You like him dog." It is highly unlikely that a pidgin English speaker such as Indian John would have used the objective case of the pronoun. Non-native speakers master the objective case late in the game; Indian John should more correctly have been made to say, "You like dog." In other words, a simple subject-verb-object syntax makes more sense. But I quibble.

The book is strewn with moral lessons that echo years of hindsight. In one scene, people slaughter passenger pigeons by the thousands, and the narrator says, "The pigeons, like the Indians, were fighting a losing battle with the white man." On the whole, the book is like a moving photo album, and one can almost hear the author's grandmother saying things like, "Did I ever tell you about the time when my Uncle Edmund played a trick on me with the wooden raft? Well..." It's clear the author is trying hard to be faithful to the details of her grandmother's memories; she explains in the preface that her grandmother reviewed the text for accuracy before it was published. Perhaps a better story would have resulted if the author felt freer to invent.

The book's imagery creates a strong impression. The Woodlawn children carry "foaming buckets of freshly drawn milk," and some poor, half-caste Indian children bring "buckets of parched corn" to school for their lunch. Some details, apparently clear even by 1935, need an explanatory footnote ("There's a young man in the back sprouting potatoes"). Readers of Johanna Spyri's Heidi (1880) would enjoy this book, both for the imagery and the message. Near the end, Caddie's father does a wonderful thing for her. He tells her that being a woman and practicing the traditional womanly arts takes as much "nerve and courage" as men need to "build bridges and roads in the wilderness." By doing so, he allows her to choose with dignity intact her inevitable future as a wife and mother.

Illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman.

This fiery red-headed tomboy has many adventures during her eleven-year-old life. She is afraid of nothing and plays all day with her brothers Tom and Warren. Caddie is always being pestered by her mother to become and lady. Caddie loves being able to run free and wild but she discovers a little longing to be like her sisters, who sew and cook all day. Her father just encourages and loves her being a tomboy. This story is set in Wisconsin in 1864 where many things happen. The little steamer comes in with the news, the circuit rider comes about once a year, cousin Annabelle visits, and a letter with a foreign letter comes for Caddie's father.
My favorite part in this book is when cousin Annabelle comes to visit and they play many tricks on her, but every time Annabelle just picks herself right back up like a lady. Only one time did Annabelle get bent out of shape was when something "squishy" was put down her dress.
I think the theme of this book is to just be yourself and don't let others try to influence you. Caddie is a tomboy and she will always be one no matter how hard people try to change her.
I think this book was very good. It was well written and had a good vocabulary. Caddie Woodlawn intrigued you and kept you reading because you want to know what happens. This book is all about Caddie Woodlawn and her adventures and they sure are interesting.
I recommend this book to young to middle age teenage girls. They will enjoy this book because it is about a girl. But, it is also about a young girl being who she wants to be. It is a very fun book to read.