1937 - Roller Skates

Dates read: June 2008
Read or listened to: Listened to
Pages: 184 pp.
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I will admit that I wasn't very interested in this book until the end. It is the account of 10-year-old Lucinda Wyman whose parents have left to Italy for the year and Lucinda becomes an "orphan" staying with Miss Peters and Miss Nettie. I felt, during a big part of the book that it was a collection of short stories about this spunky little girl. The stories were amusing and her antics were cute, but I hadn't sensed how the book would all come together.

The last third or so of the book was the answer. One of Lucinda's closest allies was her Uncle Earl (husband of mean Aunt Emily). He introduced her to Shakespeare. At the beginning they read comedies together, but at a certain point he felt she was ready for the tragedies. He explained to her that the tragedies had inevitable sadnesses with underlying beauty. Lucinda's life seemed to parallel the Shakespearean plays she was reading. First, happy go lucky and then hardships that she was able to learn and grow from. Like other reviewers that I read I was confused by one unexplained death in the book, but perhaps that was one of the lessons Lucinda learned--that many things in life are not explained.

Lucinda is a delightful character. The book was cute and touching. There are a few inappropriate cultural and racial stereotypes typical for the 1930s (perhaps a lesson in the history of civil rights and prejudice for young readers when discussed with an adult).