I didn’t discover Gone-Away Lake until I was an adult and it’s a shame that I didn’t because it’s the kind of thing I would have adored as a child. A pair of cousins discover a swamp edged by dilapidated mansions. Much to their surprise, two of those mansions are still occupied, by an elderly and eccentric brother and sister. The group become fast friends and Portia and Julian soon learn all about the history of the lake resort and the colorful characters who used to spend their summers there.
I was always a sucker for all things old-timey and there’s plenty of that here, with dress-up in period clothes and an old-crank automobile. Honestly, it’s like a kidlit HGTV with descriptions of formerly grand homes, mini-makeovers with and scavenging of furniture and building supplies from other houses. It ends on the verge of a grand renovation and I have to admit, I kind of want to check out the sequel just for the real estate! But the quirky characters, the independence afforded the kids, the feeling of having discovered a secret world and the formation of clubs are all things that will appeal to many modern readers. And besides, there’s the writing. “A large herd of furniture grazed on a red carpet” I mean, does it get better than this?
But, when reading classics, you’ve always got to be on the lookout for racism and sexism. Why? Because these books are read by children and the portrayals in them seep into their consciousness. So, with that in mind, I noticed that “Indian” turns up a few times. I checked Debbie Reese’s invaluable blog American Indians in Children’s Literature and found her notes on the subject:
“Gone Away Lake written by Elizabeth Enrich in 1957. I did a search of content (used Google Books) and found four uses of “Indian” in the book.
- Page 141: “Now and then (unnecessarily since they never looked back), he would freeze and stand still as an Indian in the shadows.”
- Page 198: “She just sat there, Baby-Belle did, with her arms folded on her chest staring at Mrs. Brace-Gideon severely, like an Indian chief or a judge or somebody like that.”
- Page 217: “the pale little crowds of Indian pipes and the orange jack-o’-lantern mushrooms that pushed up the needles.”
- Page 756: “in the distance, by the river’s edge, a tiny Indian campfire burned with the colors of an opal.”
In Gone Away Lake, one of the characters is named Minnehaha, which is from Longfellow. I don’t know why she’s named that. It is commonly regarded as an “Indian” name, but it is not. We can thank (or blame) Longfellow for so much of the mistaken information that circulates!”
NB: The book does not have 756 pages. I am not sure if this was a typo on Debbie’s part or if this reference appears in the sequel?
The point is, Gone Away Lake has these references. While they are not as egregious as many other classics, they are still there. It’s enough that it shouldn’t be assigned reading in class. If your child would enjoy the book otherwise, be sure to call attention the references and discuss them critically.
In terms of sexism, well, there’s a smattering of that too. Julian claims “All you women think about is the looks of things: what’s pretty, and stuff like that. Nonessentials.” There’s some talk about how a girl was big and tomboyish and must have been a trial to her mother. Portia wants to hang curtains and Julian mutters about “women and curtains”. Certain building projects are referred to as “boys’ kind of work”. Portia complains of spiders. This is all balanced somewhat by the fact that there are some more daring girls in the book and Portia’s best friend is a huge baseball fan. So it could be a lot worse (there’s some faint praise for you).
Readers may also have trouble with the old-fashioned references and terms, like radios and “television trees” which I suspect mean antennas and laundry bluing, which no one uses.
Age Recommendation: Grades 3+. While the content is probably okay for a read aloud with younger kids, there’s a lot of tough vocabulary, so it might just be best to wait until readers are older.
Sex, Nudity, Dating – There is a bronze statue which is drawn from the back, with nothing but a sheet wound about her. The crack in her butt cheeks shows.
Profanity – “shut up”, “heck”, “doggone it”, “darn”, “darnation”,
Death, Violence and Gore – Boys play with cap-pistols. A cat brings someone a dead rat. A ten year old girl doesn’t like her birthday gift and says she would have rather had a B-B Gun (the book does clarify that she didn’t really mean that). A woman picks out kittens each summer and then mid-September has them chloroformed (so put to sleep).
Drugs, Alcohol and Smoking – Children drink small amounts of cherry mead which may not be alcohol but certainly sounds like it. A family made their money in beer. An old man smokes a pipe. A ten year old girl doesn’t like her birthday gift and says she would have rather had chewing tobacco (the book does clarify that she didn’t really mean that).
Frightening or Intense Things – Julian has a bug collection and kills them in a killing jar. It’s not done out of violence, it’s simply his scientific way of preserving them. There’s a mounted moose head and the kids polish its antlers and eyeballs. Foster is stuck in quicksand like mud.
