THE WILD OATS OF HAN

by Katherine Susannah Prichard ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 19, 1973

Skipping school to roam in the hills, playing circus in lavender tights, getting mean Miss Whittier lost in the scrub (but relenting at nightfall and returning to lead her home) -- little Hah ""sows her wild oats"" with the encouragement of old Sam, a shingle splitter with a hut in the hills, who tells her that if she lives by her free spirits she's bound to waken, unlike most folks who are so afraid to think and feel that they never realize life. Sure enough after Granny dies and Father loses his job, Han, now almost grown and desperate to help out, realizes ""'I'm . . . awake!'"" -- and ""her childhood fall(s) from her as the chrysalis falls from a butterfly."" But as Prichard's conception of her sweet and wild little subject and her descriptions of the ""violet-carpeted"" island hills that are her playground are as banal as Sam's pronouncements, readers will more likely be put to sleep.

Pub Date: March 19, 1973

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Macmillan

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1973

Categories: FICTION