Cassie Binegar [Paperback]

Patricia MacLachlan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1982

During her family's first summer in a weathered old house by the sea, Cassie learns to accept change and to find her own space.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Colorful characters [and] Cassie's continuing and believable growth in understanding herself and others [make] this novel so distinctive." -- Bulletin of the Center for Cbildren's Books

The writing is luminous. -- School Library Journal --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Patricia MacLachlan was born on the prairie, and to this day carries a small bag of prairie dirt with her wherever she goes to remind her of what she knew first. She is the author of many well-loved novels and picture books, including Sarah, Plain and Tall, winner of the Newbery Medal; it's sequel, Skylark; Three Names, illustrated by Alex Pertzoff; and All The Places To Love, illustrated by Mike Wimmer. She lives in western Massachusetts.

In Her Own Words...

"One thing I've learned with age and parenting is that life comes in circles. Recently, I was having a bad time writing. I felt disconnected. I had moved to a new home and didn't feel grounded. The house, the land was unfamiliar to me. There was no garden yet. Why had I sold my old comfortable 1793 home? The one with the snakes in the basement, mice everywhere, no closets. I would miss the cold winter air that came in through the electrical sockets.

"I had to go this day to talk to a fourth-grade class, and I banged around the house, complaining. Hard to believe, since I am so mild mannered and pleasant, isn't it? What did I have to say to them? I thought what I always think when I enter a room of children. What do I know?

"I plunged down the hillside and into town, where a group of fourth-grade children waited for me in the library, freshly scrubbed, expectant. Should I be surprised that what usually happens did so? We began to talk about place, our living landscapes. And I showed them my little bag of prairie dirt from where I was born. Quite simply, we never got off the subject of place. Should I have been so surprised that these young children were so concerned with place, or with the lack of it, their displacement? Five children were foster children, disconnected from their homes. One little boy's house had burned down, everything gone. "Photographs, too," he said sadly. Another told me that he was moving the next day to place he'd never been. I turned and saw the librarian, tears coming down her face.

"'You know,' I said. "Maybe I should take this bag of prairie dirt and toss it into my new yard. I'll never live on the prairie again. I live here now. The two places could mix together that way!" "No!" cried a boy from the back. "Maybe the prairie dirt will blow away!" And then a little girl raised her hand. "I think you should put that prairie dirt in a glass bowl in your window so that when you write you can see it all the time. So you can always see what you knew first."

"When I left the library, I went home to write. What You Know First owes much to the children of the Jackson Street School: the ones who love place and will never leave it, the ones who lost everything and have to begin again. I hope for them life comes in circles, too."

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 120 pages
• Publisher: Harper & Row; 1st edition (1982)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060240334
• ISBN-13: 978-0060240332
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,672,692 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Patricia MacLachlan was born on the prairie, and to this day carries a small bag of prairie dirt with her wherever she goes to remind her of what she knew first. She is the author of many well-loved novels and picture books, including Sarah, Plain and Tall, winner of the Newbery Medal; its sequels, Skylark and Caleb's Story; and Three Names, illustrated by Mike Wimmer. She lives in western Massachusetts.

In Her Own Words..."One thing I've learned with age and parenting is that life comes in circles. Recently, I was having a bad time writing. I felt disconnected. I had moved to a new home and didn't feel grounded. The house, the land was unfamiliar to me. There was no garden yet. Why had I sold my old comfortable 1793 home? The one with the snakes in the basement, mice everywhere, no closets. I would miss the cold winter air that came in through the electrical sockets."

"I had to go this day to talk to a fourth-grade class, and I banged around the house, complaining. Hard to believe, since I am so mild mannered and pleasant, isn't it? What did I have to say to them? I thought what I always think when I enter a room of children. What do I know?"

"I plunged down the hillside and into town, where a group of fourth-grade children waited for me in the library, freshly scrubbed, expectant. Should I be surprised that what usually happens did so? We began to talk about place, our living landscapes. And I showed them my little bag of prairie dirt from where I was born. Quite simply, we never got off the subject of place. Should I have been so surprised that these young children were so concerned with place, or with the lack of it, their displacement? Five children were foster children, disconnected from their homes. One little boy's house had burned down, everything gone. 'Photographs, too,' he said sadly. Another told me that he was moving the next day to place he'd never been. I turned and saw the librarian, tears coming down her face."

"'You know,' I said. 'Maybe I should take this bag of prairie dirt and toss it into my new yard. I'll never live on the prairie again. I live here now. The two places could mix together that way!' 'No!' cried a boy from the back. 'Maybe the prairie dirt will blow away!' And then a little girl raised her hand. 'I think you should put that prairie dirt in a glass bowl in your window so that when you write you can see it all the time. So you can always see what you knew first.'"

"When I left the library, I went home to write. What You Know First owes much to the children of the Jackson Street School: the ones who love place and will never leave it, the ones who lost everything and have to begin again. I hope for them life comes in circles, too."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Entertains and helps solve problems, February 5, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Cassie Binegar (Paperback)

It felt good to read about Cassie's peaceful,interesting and understanding family. There were nice parts about tradition (the lavender dress), tenderness (Father keeping a lock of his wife's hair for good luck) and helping each other, even in little things (Baby Binnie helping Hat count birds). Some of my problems are similar to Cassie's (not having a "space", feeling guilty), and I thought about the solutions she finds. I especially liked those thoughts and expressions in the book that I have thought
about before. Sometimes these helped me find words for my
feelings ("What's written becomes truth";"comfortable mystery"). I liked this book so much that I even started translating it to Hungarian, my native language.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Cassie Binegar, March 14, 2000

By 

Kimberly (El Cajon, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cassie Binegar (Charlotte Zolotow Book) (Library Binding)

Cassie Binegar hates her family's new home by the sea. She longs to go back to her ordinary life and her loving family. Cassie hides and watches and listens; but then Gran comes. Gran is so good at seeing the truth about Cassie. Slowly Cassie learns from her family that she must see life through other people's eyes. And she learns that things cannot- should not- stay the same. This book was good, however I would not say it was great. I feel that this book deserves 4 stars.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Cassie Binegar-all right, January 2, 2006

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Cassie Binegar (Paperback)

This book is written by Patricia MacLachlan. This is the first one of her books that I have read that I have been disappointed in-all the rest of her books that I have read were amazing! I thought that it ended too soon and that the plot sort of weakened off at the end. This book is all right, but you'd be better off reading another one of MacLachlan's books.