A Gathering of Days facts for kids
First edition
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| Author | Joan Blos |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Robert Papp |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Historical novel |
| Published | 1979 (Prentice Hall) |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 144 |
| ISBN | 978-0-684-16340-6 |
| OCLC | 5171140 |
| LC Class | PZ7.B6237 Gat |
A Gathering of Days; A New England Girl's Journal, 1830-32 (1979) is a historical novel by Joan Blos that won the 1980 National Book Award for Children's Books (hardcover) and the 1980 Newbery Medal for excellence in American children's literature.
The book is written in the form of a journal kept by Catherine Hall, a young girl living in a rural village in New England with her widower father and younger sister. The journal details her daily life between the years of 1830 and 1832. Among the events of these two years are several that would have a profound impact on the rest of her life. These include her assistance to an escaped slave, her father's remarriage, and the sudden death of her best friend.
Catherine Hall
Catherine, called Cath by her friends, is thirteen at the start of the book, and has a birthday in May, so for most of the journal she is thirteen. Her best friend is Cassie, who dies during the course of the journal.
Catherine has a younger sister, Matty. Her mother died four years before the journal takes place. Her father remarried in May 1831, and his wife, a widow, brought her own son to live with them, Daniel. They all figured out how to be a family and Catherine learns to love her new stepmom.
Cassie Shipman
Cassie is Catherine's best friend. She is a year older than Catherine, fourteen, but the girls are the same height. She has three brothers: David Horatio (two years older), Asa Hale (Catherine's age), and William Mason, the baby. In the summer of 1831, Cassie is suddenly struck with a high fever. Her condition worsens over the next nine days, and she dies in her sleep on August 20, 1831.
In her 1899 letter to her great-granddaughter, Catherine says of her dear childhood friend, "of all of us, the only one never to grow old."
