The Crystal Tree

Book: The Crystal Tree by Jennie Lindquist
Pages: 297
Finished: March 2008
Challenges:
** Heart of a Child
** Spring Reading Thing, 2008

First sentence:"I wonder if any other children in the world ever had a chance to open a house that had been closed for thirty years?" said Elsa.

Last sentence: "Oh mamma, isn't it good that the little silver house is open at last and will never be lonesome again?"

Reading this book was a delightful trip down memory lane and now I remember why I loved it so very much. I first read this book when I was either in the 4th or 5th grade and although I am normally not a re-reader, this one was re-read many times! I wrote about how I found my very own copy of this very out of print book here.
I was recently searching the internet and saw that amazon's cheapest used copy of this book starts at $50! I bought my used library copy for fifty cents!!

This book has a group of happy children, who get along, never quarrel or get their feelings hurt. The adults are loving and happy with the simple things in life who live in a small farming community in New Hampshire. The story is of Nancy who comes to spend a year with "grandma and grandpa" who are really just friends of her parents, while her mother recuperates in the big city hospital, with an unnamed illness. She and her group of friends form a little club, and during the year they set out to find out all they can about the little silver house, outside of town, which has been boarded up for 30 years. Nancy and her parents are going to move into it when her mother is well. They begin to discover many snippets of the former owner's lives--the children who grew up there, the reason for it being boarded up, and most importantly, they try to discover what the little crystal tree was and maybe where it ended up. It has a very happy and satisfactory ending--something that was very important to me as a child reader! (and to be honest, something I still really appreciate in a book! :) )

I highly recommend this book to any little girl who is looking for a sweet, wholesome reading experience.