Bibliographic Information
Sawyer, R. (1936). Roller skates. New York: Viking Press.
Summary
This story is set in New York in the 1890s. It is about a 10 year old girl named Lucinda. Lucinda is an unusual, independent, curious little girl who considers herself an orphan in what she says is her “loveliest year of all.” Lucinda’s parents have gone to Europe for one year and left her in the care of Miss Peters. Instead of feeling alone, she looks at this time as an adventure. She is not ladylike like her aunt Emily says she should be which causes her aunt to be very critical of her. Lucinda would rather spend time with her uncle Earle. Uncle Earle introduces her to interesting stories in his library, which she enjoys so much better than sewing lessons that Aunt Emily insists every young lady must endure.
Even before Lucinda goes to Miss Peters’ apartment after the departure of her parents, she starts finding friends. She meets Mr. Gilligan, who is the carriage cab driver. She loves visiting with him in his cab and looks for him every time she needs a ride across town. Mr. Gilligan invites Lucinda to his home, and she spends many hours visiting with him and his wife.
Most of the time, Lucinda is traveling on her roller skates. This is how she is able to go around town and meet so many interesting people. She becomes friends with Patrolman M’Gonegal, who works the block down from where she is staying. She enjoys spending time with Tony, whose father owns a fruit stand. She meets an interesting lady she calls “Princess Zayda.” She helps Zayda because she cannot speak English very well. She also meets a tiny little girl named Trinket who lives in the apartment above her. Trinket is very poor, so Lucinda finds little ways to help her.
Lucinda never seems to be afraid. One day she and Tony have a picnic on a vacant lot. They make baked potatoes using charcoal and tin cans. Along comes a rough character called the “rag man.” They share their lunch with him. He is very dirty, but he tells them how he is going to be rich by picking up all the trash in the city because he finds a lot of treasures hidden there.
Everyone enjoys Lucinda, but she does get in trouble in school. She sometimes runs over people with her skates if she is late. She is always upsetting her aunt with her adventures. Miss Peters just tries to watch Lucinda the best she can, but she is worried about her.
It is a very interesting year for Lucinda. She celebrates Christmas without her parents and finds ways to entertain herself. She grows two inches and learns a lot about friends, death, and cruelty. Her little friend Trinket gets very sick and dies, then Princess Zayda is murdered. Uncle Earle helps during this time, and she accepts these events very well for a 10 year old child. Lucinda keeps a diary and a little box with all her treasures hid away in her room. When it is time for her parents to return, Lucinda isn’t ready. She wants to stay there, enjoy her freedom, and stay 10 years old forever. She knows that this was the most, magical time she would ever have in her life. This was the year she would never forget.
Impressions
I thought this was a very unusual book. I enjoyed reading it, but felt like the things Lucinda did by herself were very dangerous. She put herself in harm’s way many times by the things she did. She loved being allowed to skate all over the place and sometimes got into trouble. Reading about life in the 1890’s was interesting, but I’m not sure if I would recommend this book for a young child. There were tragedies in the story that were difficult to understand, as well as the use of language and slang that might be confusing for young readers.
Reviews
In this 1937 Newbery Award winner, Lucinda's parents leave on a trip to Italy, and she is shipped off to the suitably kind and satisfactorily inattentive Misses Peters. Free of parental oversight, Lucinda begins her adventures. Narrator Kate Forbes overcomes the somewhat leisurely construction of the plot by maintaining a lively, enthusiastic pace. Because this is so entirely Lucinda's story, Forbes distinguishes the minor characters by only the slightest of variations, and settles instead for gently underlining the vividly graceful images that are the hallmark of Sawyer's narrative style.
(2001, November/December). [Review of the audio book Roller skates]. Horn Book. Retrieved from http://www.flr.follett.com/search?SID=42e5dc3481488075420b538b7f4b4518
Gr 4-7-This recording of the 1937 Newbery Award-winning book by Ruth Sawyer (Penguin Putnam, pap. 1986) is read by television and stage actress Kate Forbes. The story takes place in New York City in the 1890s, during the year of 10-year-old Lucinda's "orphanage." That's Lucinda's term for her situation when her parents go to Italy and leave her in the care of Miss Peters and Miss Nettie. Lucinda, enjoying her freedom, explores the city on roller skates and makes friends wherever she goes. She reads Shakespeare with her uncle, puts on her own production of The Tempest, creates a magical Christmas for a little girl from an impoverished family, helps a family protect their fruit stand from attacks by rowdy boys, and has picnics in a vacant lot, among other adventures. Forbes does a good job with the reading, conveying Lucinda's enthusiasm but not becoming overly dramatic. However, the story suffers from age. Certain expressions and references are likely to elude most children (and even many adults). The obligatory tragedies (the death of Trinket, the unexplained murder of a woman Lucinda befriends) seem a little maudlin. There is also some ethnic stereotyping, typical of the time, which is unacceptable today. However, in libraries where Newbery books are always in demand, this audio- book will help make an older book a little more accessible to young readers.-Sarah Flowers, Santa Clara County Library, Morgan Hill, CA Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.
Flowers, Sarah. (2002, April 1). [Review of the audio book Roller skates]. School Library Journal. Retrieved from http://www.flr.follett.com/search?SID=42e5dc3481488075420b538b7f4b4518
Library Use
Librarians could use this book to introduce older students to our predecessors’ way of life. I would recommend use for 5th or 6th grade students in relation to the 10 year old character in the book.
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