''Hitty, Her First Hundred Years'' is a children's novel written by Rachel Field and published in 1929. It won the

Newbery Medal The John Newbery Medal, frequently shortened to the Newbery, is a literary award given by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), to the author of "the most distinguished cont ...

for excellence in American

children's literature Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...

in 1930. The book is told from the point of view of an inanimate doll named Hitty (short for Mehitabel), who was constructed in the 1820s and has since traveled around the world, through many different owners. In 1999, Susan Jeffers and

Rosemary Wells Rosemary Wells (born January 29, 1943) is an American writer and illustrator of children's books. She is well known for using animal characters to address real human issues. Some of her most well-known characters are Max & Ruby (later adapted into ...

updated, simplified, and rewrote Hitty's story, adding an episode about Hitty's experiences in the American Civil War.

Plot summary

The narrative unfolds through the eyes of a tiny wooden doll named Mehitabel (Hittie), who was carved early in the nineteenth century from the magical wood of the

Mountain Ash Mountain ash may refer to: * ''Eucalyptus regnans'', the tallest of all flowering plants, native to Australia * Mountain-ashes or rowans, varieties of trees and shrubs in the genus ''Sorbus'' See also * Mountain Ash, Rhondda Cynon Taf Mounta ...

tree by a peddler for a little girl, Phoebe Preble, who lives on

Great Cranberry Island Great Cranberry Island is an island located in Maine. It is the largest of the five islands of the Town of Cranberry Isles, Maine. It is roughly long and wide. Great Cranberry Island is a favorite vacation spot for many. Access to the island i ...

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and ...

, during a winter when her father was away at sea. As the doll narrates her beginning: The book details Hitty's adventures as she becomes separated from Phoebe and travels from owner to owner over the course of a century. She ends up living in locations as far-flung as

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

, India, and the South Pacific. At various times, she is lost at sea, hidden in a horsehair

sofa A couch, also known as a sofa, settee, or chesterfield, is a cushioned item of furniture for seating multiple people (although it is not uncommon for a single person to use a couch alone). It is commonly found in the form of a bench with up ...

, abandoned in a hayloft, part of a

snake-charmer Snake charming is the practice of appearing to hypnosis, hypnotize a snake (often a cobra) by playing and waving around an instrument called a pungi. A typical performance may also include handling the snakes or performing other seemingly d ...

's act, and picked up by the famous writer

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

, before arriving at her new owner's summer home in Maine, which turns out to be the original Preble residence where she first lived. From there she is purchased at auction for a New York antique shop, where she sits among larger and grander dolls of porcelain and wax, and writes her memoirs. The story was inspired by a doll purchased by Field. The doll currently resides at the Stockbridge Library Association in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

Adaptations

In 1999, children's book author

and illustrator Susan Jeffers adapted Field's novel to an illustrated storybook titled ''Rachel Field's Hitty: Her First Hundred Years''. In a review of the text, children's literature scholar Cathryn M. Mercier notes that the adaptation removes some of the more archaic and problematic language found in Field's novel, but that Hitty loses some of her distinct characterization.

References

{{Newbery Medal 1929 American novels 1999 American novels 1929 children's books American children's novels Children's historical novels Macmillan Publishers books Newbery Medal–winning works Novels set in Boston Novels set in India Novels set in Maine Novels set in New Orleans Novels set in New York City Novels set in Philadelphia Novels set in the 19th century Novels set in the 20th century Sentient toys in fiction Stockbridge, Massachusetts

Plot summary

Adaptations

Further reading

References