My first teaching position was at a school without a librarian. My students and I would browse the bookshelves together searching for treasure. When I spied The Golden Name Day I pressed it into the nearest set of waiting hands. It was checked out by each girl in my class in turn, constantly, until they’d all read it. It’s incredibly hard to find. Used copies are available but expensive. Even huge public library systems like New York and Philadelphia have their copies tucked away as Children’s Reference or Library Use Only. In fact, the only thing that might be harder to find are the two other books in the series The Little Silver House and The Crystal Tree.
It’s really a shame that a Newbury Honor book should be so forgotten, because this is a story filled with lasting truths: that family is more than just your blood relatives; that friends can ease your heart at the most difficult of times; that the beauty of nature can bring great joy; that friends come in all different packages; that reaching out to others keeps us from our own self-pity; that sharing traditions is part of creating a true home and that Sweden is the best place to come from in the whole world.
Okay fine, maybe that final one isn’t a lasting truth, but it’s pretty hard to read this and NOT want to be Swedish. When Nancy’s mother becomes ill, Nancy is sent to New Hampshire to live with her Swedish almost-grandparents (the Bensons). She is soon captivated by their Swedish traditions and longs for a Name Day of her own. But Nancy is not a Swedish name (just as Nancy is not a Swedish girl) so it is up to her new friends and family (including Aunt Anna’s daughters, Sigrid, Helga and Elsa) to try to find a way for Nancy to have her heart’s desire.
The Small Bits that Make this Special Nancy’s friend Alex is in a wheelchair. At first I worried that it would be handled in a patronizing way, but Alex is an important character and a great friend.
It’s hard for Nancy to be separated from her family, and at one point the Bensons actually discuss taking her to a doctor for her low mood, although they say they’re not sure what the doctor could do to help. I found it interesting to see anything even remotely related to the treatment of depression in a book from this era.
Slightly random but fascinating, both Elsa and Nancy are said to see words as colors. This is an actual phenomenon called synesthesia. Come on, how many authors do you know who can throw stuff like this in without it being weird?
Sex, Nudity, Dating – None.
Profanity – None.
Death, Violence and Gore – When trying to tell Nancy that things aren’t so bad, Grandma reminds her that her cousins’ father died and the youngest doesn’t even remember him anymore.
Drugs, Alcohol and Smoking – None.
Frightening or Intense Things – Nancy is sent away to live because her mother is very sick. Her mother is going to a hospital for a year.
Which makes me wonder….what was wrong with her mother that she needed hospitalization for a year? TB? something else?
You know, I don’t know that they ever say. TB seems reasonable though.
I was one of those little girls in the library lucky enough to find The Golden Name Day and eventually the other two books in the series.
I was sad that you didn’t mention Nancy’s friends, Helga and Sigrid as that is my name and my sisters. Can you imagine growing up in 1970’s US and find a book with those two names?!?
Loved the book and eventually did get a copy of all three books of my own, though they were very expensive.
Helga, how wonderful that you found such an amazing book with your name in it, and your sister’s! You must have felt like it was made for you. I will update my original post with the names of Nancy’s friends at your request. It’s funny, this book is one of the ones that brings the most traffic to my blog. I think there are quite a lot of people out there who treasured this.