Patty Fairfield

Wells, Carolyn, 1862-1942Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.9

Word count: 243K words
Chapters: 25

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.Patty Fairfield by Carolyn WellsAuthor: Wells, Carolyn, 1862-1942,Language: English, Class: PZ: Language and Literatures: Juvenile belles lettres, Release Date: Jul 1, 2005

Editor's review

Patty Fairfield is a coming-of-age novel for young readers by Carolyn Wells, a classic text in the public-domain ebook collection. The book follows the life of young Patty Fairfield, depicting with a light, gentle touch her family relationships, social encounters, and growing pains, combining everyday charm with a mild moral purpose. Wells's narration is clear and fluent, the chapters are short, and the dialogue is lively, making the book suitable as extensive reading for English learners and for readers interested in early twentieth-century American juvenile literature who wish to learn about the social manners and values of the time. While reading, note the heroine's choices among etiquette, friendship, and family duty, and appreciate the work's gentle didactic style. Because the book was written long ago, some social attitudes and modes of expression bear the marks of their era; readers should view them in historical perspective rather than judging them by contemporary standards.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Junior-high, high-school, and lower-division university students who want to improve their English reading skills
General readers interested in early twentieth-century American juvenile literature
English teachers who need short-chapter materials for classroom extensive reading
Casual readers who enjoy gentle family coming-of-age stories

Not a good fit for

Readers who prefer tense plots and strong conflict
Readers looking for realistic contemporary fiction about adolescent psychology
Readers sensitive to the didactic flavor of early children's literature

Reading tips

Read one chapter a day and, after each chapter, summarize the plot in your own words, combining comprehension with English expression.
When encountering unfamiliar culture-specific words, first guess from context and then verify, so as to avoid interrupting the reading rhythm too often.
Read alongside other public-domain coming-of-age novels for young readers and observe differences in narrative patterns within the same genre.
After finishing the book, review how the heroine changes in family and social settings and write a brief reading journal.

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 for English beginners to read directly?

The language is generally plain and the chapters are short, but the book was written in the early twentieth century, so some vocabulary and sentence patterns bear the marks of the era. Learners with basic English reading ability can try it; using a dictionary or an annotated edition is recommended. Read through for the plot first and return to unfamiliar words later, so that looking up too many words does not dampen interest in reading.

Are the book's themes remote from today's children?

The book focuses on family relationships, etiquette, and friendship in growing up, and these themes are universal. However, the gender roles and social customs it reflects belong to a particular era. Readers can treat it as a window into history and compare past and present attitudes while reading, without having to agree with all the value judgments in the book.

How can this book be used for English learning?

Adopt a mainly extensive-reading approach supplemented by intensive reading: first read through the chapters to grasp the story, then select passages with more dialogue for intensive reading to build up everyday expressions and narrative vocabulary. Write two or three English sentences summarizing each chapter; this both tests comprehension and practices output, and results improve with sustained practice.

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About the author

Wells, Carolyn, 1862-1942 Author

Carolyn Wells (1862-1942) was an American author. Public information on her life and education is limited, yet the 58 works held in this collection attest to the breadth of her output. Her subjects range widely: detective novels such as A Chain of Evidence, The Room with the Tassels, The Luminous Face, and The Vanishing of Betty Varian, which rely on carefully planted clues and mounting mystery, sit alongside parodic and light-hearted pieces like The Re-echo Club and The Lover's Baedeker and Guide to Arcady, while Rubáiyát of a Motor Car shows her knack for blending humor with popular themes. She was skilled at building suspense and layering twists, writing with wit and briskness, and combining popular entertainment with literary playfulness—earning her a place in the early twentieth-century Anglophone popular literary scene.