| This book is sweet and charming, but clearly reflects the time it was written (1922). The two heroines, Rose Elinor and Mary Lou, are brave and adventurous, and get to meet Thomas Jefferson and General Lafayette, but sometimes the writing is a little precious concerning Rose Elinor's maturation into a "proper little maid of Virginia." And the way that Curtis depicts the black slaves, particularly the old style of rendering dialect, and the general assumption that the slaves are simple-minded, is both distracting and offensive to modern eyes. However, young children may not notice that (it's not a major part of the book), and Mary Lou is an especially appealing heroine. |
A Little Maid of Virginia Books In Print, Audio Books.