by Mabel Louise Robinson
Genre: Historical Fiction
Interest Level: Grades 5-8
Reading Level: V
Where to find this book: Boston Public Library
Thankful Curtis has lived her whole life on a small island off the coast of Maine. The Curtis family has lived there alone, farming the land for many generations. Thankful exuberantly swims in the cold ocean water every morning in spring, summer, and fall. She spends hours in her small sailboat she built with her grandfather. She helps her father in the hay fields and cutting wood. When Thankful's grandfather passed away, he left money enough for her to attend high school on the mainland. Her father wants her to learn "what a girl is for." But Thankful does not want to wear stylish girls' clothes and attend school away from Bright Island. She loves the only home she's ever known. Thankful attends a private academy for wealthy teenagers. Not only does she not know how (or even want) to dress like them, she doesn't even know how to act and talk like them. This becomes a problem at her school's first dance--she does not know how to dance! But it turns out that her rich classmates have a lot to learn from her too. To discover how Thankful survives her first year away from home at a school where everyone is different from her, read Bright Island.
I enjoyed reading about life on a Maine island in the early 1900s. Robinson describes the beautiful Maine coastal scenery in full detail. She describes an old-fashioned way of life with horse-powered farm machinery and wood stoves. If you like to read historical fiction about the coast of Maine, then you'll enjoy this Newbery Award-winning book!
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