A silver thimble and a new friend make a girl's summer magical in
Elizabeth Enright's *Thimble Summer.
*
A few hours after nine-year-old Garnet Linden finds a silver thimble in
the dried-up riverbed, the rains come and end the long drought on the
farm. The rains bring safety for the crops and the livestock, and money
for Garnet's father. Garnet can't help feeling that the thimble is a
magic talisman, for the summer proves to be interesting and exciting in
so many different ways.
There is the arrival of Eric, an orphan who becomes a member of the
Linden family; the building of a new barn; and the county fair at which
Garnet's carefully tended pig, Timmy, wins a blue ribbon. Every day
brings adventure of some kind to Garnet and her best friend, Citronella.
As far as Garnet is concerned, the thimble is responsible for each good
thing that happens during this magic summer--her thimble summer.