*Summary:
When her family leaves for an extended stay in Europe,
Lucinda is left in the care of her old teacher Miss Peters. Lucinda is a
care-free tomboy, who does not see the point in the formalities of high society
in old New York. Instead, Lucinda would rather spend her time roller skating
across the city meeting new people. Lucinda’s charms win her many friends like
the cabbie, Mr. Gilligan, Patrolman M’gonegal, and Tony, whose father owns a
fruit stand. When bullies start picking on Tony and knocking over all the fruit
in his father’s fruit stand, Lucinda concocts a plan to help Tony, and
discovers that she may not be so unladylike after all.
*Bibliography:
Sawyer, R., & Angelo, V. (1936). Roller skates.
New York: Viking Press.
*My Rating:
Blah. This book was okay.
Perhaps I am just not a fan of older books, but I found this book to be rather
boring. I did, however, like how Ruth Sawyer developed the character of Lucinda
and made her very lovable and charming. Lucinda kind of reminded me of a tomboy
version of Shirley Temple. The plot line, however, was somewhat predictable and
I’m not sure a lot of kids nowadays would be able to relate to Lucinda. *Reviews:
"I was thinking about this book for months
before I decided to find it again. I read and re-read this when I was
growing up. I loved it then and I love it now.
Lucinda Wyman is a tomboy who doesn't fit into the box that her time and place would like to put her in. Her parents' trip to Italy buys her a year of freedom in which to explore 1890's New York on roller skates. The story of Lucinda, the wonderful people she befriends in the amazing city she loves was mesmerizing to me as a kid. I loved Lucinda and could relate to her because I didn't quite fit in, either, and I loved to read and talk to all kinds of people, and I made puppets and put on plays with them and adored The Tempest. I still love just about all of those things (although I don't do puppet shows anymore) and I still love this book with its simple pleasures and enduring tragedies and joy of being alive and free out in the great big wonderful world."- Excerpt from a blog
http://www.chaoticcompendiums.com/2010/02/book-review-roller-skates-by-ruth.html
Lucinda Wyman is a tomboy who doesn't fit into the box that her time and place would like to put her in. Her parents' trip to Italy buys her a year of freedom in which to explore 1890's New York on roller skates. The story of Lucinda, the wonderful people she befriends in the amazing city she loves was mesmerizing to me as a kid. I loved Lucinda and could relate to her because I didn't quite fit in, either, and I loved to read and talk to all kinds of people, and I made puppets and put on plays with them and adored The Tempest. I still love just about all of those things (although I don't do puppet shows anymore) and I still love this book with its simple pleasures and enduring tragedies and joy of being alive and free out in the great big wonderful world."- Excerpt from a blog
http://www.chaoticcompendiums.com/2010/02/book-review-roller-skates-by-ruth.html
*Uses in a library:
A librarian could use this book to maybe highlight older
winners of the Newbery Award. This book could be displayed in a sort of time
line with other Newbery Award winning books.
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