Killykinick

Waggaman, Mary T. (Mary Theresa), 1846-1931Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.8

Word count: 322K words
Chapters: 33

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Killykinick by Mary T. WaggamanAuthor: Waggaman, Mary T. (Mary Theresa), 1846-1931,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Oct 21, 2008

Editor's review

Killykinick is an American literary work by Mary T. Waggaman, classified under American and Canadian literature. Waggaman (1846–1931) was an American writer active in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and her works, mostly aimed at young readers, carry clear moral instruction and coming-of-age themes. The book unfolds its narrative through specific characters and plot, and its style bears the marks of its era, making it a useful sample for understanding American juvenile literature of the late nineteenth century. As a public-domain e-book from Project Gutenberg, its value lies more in documentary and cultural research than in readability in the sense of a contemporary bestseller. Readers interested in American local-color literature, early juvenile fiction, or the textual form of public-domain e-books will find this a convenient entry point. When reading, it is advisable to keep the historical background in mind and to watch for outdated ideas and narrative pacing, treating it as a piece of literary-historical material rather than light entertainment.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Researchers and enthusiasts studying late nineteenth-century American juvenile literature
Readers interested in public-domain e-books and Project Gutenberg texts
Readers who want to understand the narrative style of American local-color fiction
Intermediate and advanced learners who need the original English text as language-learning material

Not a good fit for

General fiction readers seeking fast-paced plots and contemporary narrative styles
Readers who dislike the moralizing tone of nineteenth-century literature
Beginners whose English reading ability is not yet sufficient for old-fashioned English expressions

Reading tips

Read the preface and chapter titles first to grasp the book's structure and thematic direction before entering the main text.
Mark old-fashioned expressions or unfamiliar words as you go, and look them up together after finishing each chapter.
Read alongside background material on late nineteenth-century American society and education to understand the text's context.
For research purposes, it is advisable to note the locations of character relationships and moral themes as you read.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book suitable as English-learning material?

It can serve as supplementary reading for intermediate and advanced English learners, but the text carries late nineteenth-century expression habits, and its sentence patterns and vocabulary differ from modern English. It is best attempted after you have some foundation in reading original texts, with annotations or a dictionary at hand, so that old-fashioned expressions do not become frustrating.

Why does the publication information say 2019?

This is a public-domain e-book released by Project Gutenberg, and 2019 corresponds to the release record of that electronic edition, not the year the original work was first published. The author, Wageman, lived from 1846 to 1931, so the original work dates far earlier than the e-book's release; it should be understood in its original historical context.

What background should I learn before reading this book?

It is advisable to first learn the common themes of American juvenile literature from the late nineteenth to early twentieth century, such as growing up, family, and moral education, as well as what society at the time expected of children's reading. With this background, it is easier to understand the logic of the characters' behavior and the narrative intent, and not to mistake the limitations of the era for flaws in the work.

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About the author

Waggaman, Mary T. (Mary Theresa), 1846-1931 Author · 1846–1931

Mary T. Waggaman (full name Mary Theresa Waggaman, 1846–1931) was an English-language writer about whose life very little has been preserved. The information currently available is limited: her dates are 1846 to 1931, and one work of hers is held in the collection, Killykinick. Public sources are scarce, and her nationality, education, and the details of her writing career cannot be reliably established, so her biography should not be over-speculated. Judging from the surviving work, she was at home in narrative writing, with a style suited to stories for young readers; the title Killykinick itself has a light, invented-place quality, suggesting adventure or everyday-life storytelling. On the whole she belongs among writers of modest output and little posthumous fame, and her interest lies chiefly in the period reading taste preserved in that single work, which may be useful to students of popular children's literature of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.