When the titular character was first carved in the 1820s in Hitty, Her First Hundred Years by Rachel Field (published 1929), the world moved at a slow pace and horse and wagon was the method of transport. By the time the now-antique doll is “writing” her memoirs (in the 1920s), she can see airplanes out of the window. In the classic recounting of her many adventures, we get a glimpse of the changing times throughout America but also see a splattering of the world as we consider the many different situations in which a tiny doll might be found.
About Hitty’s Story
Hitty’s story is narrated by the doll herself from her perspective in the contemporary day (of the 1920s) after she’s been owned and loved by many children, and experienced enough adventures for anyone.
It’s a good thing she’s been carved out of strong Scottish highland ash wood, as American wood may not have been strong to experience fire, shipwreck, and exposure to the elements. She’s a small doll, just about six inches tall, and her sturdy body and sweet smile made her a beloved figure for many to slip along with them through adventures.
Hitty looks back with fondness at her first year in the Premble household, where young Phoebe Premble snuck her into church (only to drop her and forget her!), where she was lost in the woods for a few days, and where Hitty watched Phoebe learn writing and stitching. This first family took her on a whaling voyage, but Hitty was lost when a fire caused a shipwreck. She was miraculous reunited with the Prembles on a deserted island, only to be “kidnapped” (dollnapped?) by a savage native tribe that revered and worshipped her as a God.
Hitty’s adventures only continued with intensity. She was dropped in a crowded Indian city and taken by a snake charmer. She was later purchased by American missionaries returned to America with a young girl, only to be stuffed in a couch cushion and forgotten. She was loved by a lonely and ill child. She was lost in a hay loft. She was lost in the mail. She was beloved once again by a child and met Mr Charles Dickens, only to be lost in the streets during a hubbub. She was taken in by a very poor girl in New York slums. She was used as a prop for a painter and daguerreotypist. She was dressed in heirloom Southern cotton and stands as a model for a fair, a symbol of American progress. (Was this the 1893 World’s Fair?)
This is not all. She was stolen and snuck aboard a river boat. She was abandoned when the thief (a young girl) attended a revival and was overcome with guilt. She lived for quite a time in the water until rescued by a young Black boy from a sharecropper family. She was adored by the sister on the plantation until recognized as the long-lost doll. Then she was left in a box while people decide who she belonged to. She was dressed in finery as a model for a seamstress’s talents. She was purchased by an elderly woman that loves figurines and dolls, where she was treated with utmost care in a sweet Maine home — the cottage where she first was carved!
And ultimately, she was bought and sent to an antique shop, where she is now the star attraction (in the 1920s), a precious little doll that is thought to have had few adventures as a figurine on an old woman’s shelf.
Hitty as a Whole
Hitty’s story is one of scenes of different people and different settings. Her story isn’t one of her own personality interior changes — she remains the same sweet narrator throughout, telling how each adventure reminds her of one child or another. It is a plot-driven story. Hitty wants to tell her adventures so she does.
This is in contrast to the more contemporary novel The Miraculous Adventures of Edward Tulane, which to me seems to have been inspired by Hitty’s story. That book explores a ceramic bunny-doll from his perspective as he changes internally (even when he cannot physically move in any way himself).
I didn’t write about Edward Tulane when I read it (time just slipped away), but I really enjoyed it. But did Kate DiCamillo take the idea from Rachel Fields? Does it matter? It’s a completely different story.
Given the era in which Hitty was written, it does have some racist moments, including the stereotype of white children being “worried” about Indians (Native Americans), the unflattering creation of an island people that worships dolls, an Indian snake charmer described as dirty, and Black children (and dialect) of the late 1800s South.
As a whole, though, the book doesn’t have racist undertones (as many of these early Newbery books tend to do). Hitty herself even reflects on this as she contrasts her observations of the Civil War: During the war, her “family” in the North mourned the loss of life, and then later Hitty heard the old ladies in New Orleans (who had lost their sweet hearts in the Civil War, fighting for the South). Hitty recognizes that there was pain and loss on both sides. The issue was more complicated than she imagined.
The majority of Hitty’s story seems to focus on the changes that came throughout time. She travelled by carriage and sea, and then by railroad and even automobile. The children, the clothing, and the setting of life change. But Hitty remains a solid presence throughout.
About the Illustrated Abridgement
Nothing could be more disappointing to me than to see the hack-job done on this sweet book in the illustrated abridgement created in 1999 by children’s book author Rosemary Wells and renowned illustrator Susan Jeffers. So much of Hitty’s charm has been eliminated. Key adventures are starkly changed and others completely invented. Now Hitty is picked up by President Abraham Lincoln and stars in a portrait with Teddy Roosevelt’s young children. The dress designer is a young Black woman whose daughter eventually finds Hitty in the antique shop, so many years later. The story continues into the first years of the Great Depression.
Not only that, but although some language has been updated, many of the stereotypes and problematic adventures remain: the island natives that worship Hitty as a god, the snake charmer. Wells invented the Black seamstress and gave her personality, but these additions are at the expense of Hitty’s story. She lacks the same personality that was so precious in the original novel, that of an experienced doll looking back at all the experiences that have formed her. There is no sweet old lady dotting on her in the cottage formerly owned by the Prembles.
What I want: Jeffers’s pictures interposed with some of the original illustrations (colorized) and together with most of Rachel Field’s original text. Add a few of the wording changes (referring to Penobscot woman instead of Indian, add the sentence about how whaling is disturbing but was though necessary, for two examples). As it is, the illustrated version is a travesty. The story was changed too much in this retelling. Rachel Fields must be rolling in her grave to see what has been done to Hitty’s story. Wells’ adaptation was an interesting story, but it certainly wasn’t the one about Hitty that was awarded the Newbery Award in 1930.
Hitty: Her First Hundred Years won the Newbery award in 1931. It’s “FANTASTIC” and I say “KEEP IT AND READ IT.”
Newbery rating scale:Â FANTASTICÂ |Â REALLY GOODÂ |Â PRETTY GOODÂ |Â OKAYÂ |Â BLAH
What to do with this Newbery: KEEP IT AND READ IT | MAYBE IF YOU HAVE TIME | DON’T BOTHER
