Quicksilver Sue

Richards, Laura Elizabeth Howe, 1850-1943Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.0

Word count: 161K words
Chapters: 17

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.Quicksilver Sue by Laura Elizabeth Howe RichardsAuthor: Richards, Laura Elizabeth Howe, 1850-1943,Language: English, Class: PZ: Language and Literatures: Juvenile belles lettres, Release Date: Mar 2, 2013

Editor's review

Laura Elizabeth Howe Richards was a well-known American writer of children's literature in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and Quicksilver Sue belongs to her body of fiction for young readers. Judging from its classification and the author's style, the work likely follows a lively, quick-acting young heroine through a coming-of-age narrative, carrying the family ethics and moral instruction characteristic of children's literature of that era. Its value lies in showing the narrative appeal and value orientation of American juvenile reading at the turn of the century, making it a useful reference for readers studying the history of children's literature and the shaping of gender images; for general readers it is a light, readable English original of moderate difficulty, suitable as graded reading material. Readers should note that the work bears clear marks of its time, and some of its ideas need to be viewed in historical perspective. The public-domain electronic edition is easy to obtain, but it has no modern introduction or annotations.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Scholars studying late nineteenth-century American children's literature and images of girlhood
Intermediate English learners who want to read original juvenile fiction in English
Families interested in reading classic public-domain children's books together
Collectors of Richards's works or of old American juvenile reading matter

Not a good fit for

Young readers looking for a modern pace and contemporary issues
English beginners, for whom the original vocabulary and sentence patterns may be an obstacle
Beginners in research who want a detailed annotated or introduced edition

Reading tips

Read a chapter or two first to sense the narrative pace, then decide between intensive and extensive reading.
Note the heroine's actions and her family interactions, and observe the values of the era.
Compare with American children's literature of the same period to see differences in the portrayal of gender.
When reading together as a family, discuss how the book's ideas differ from those of today.

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

What English level is this book suitable for?

The work is an English juvenile novel of the late nineteenth to early twentieth century, and its sentence patterns and vocabulary bear the marks of its time; the overall difficulty is moderate. It suits readers with intermediate reading ability who can handle longer descriptive sentences; beginners are advised to use an annotated edition or start with a simplified retelling.

Is Quicksilver Sue part of a series?

The available information shows only that this is a work of juvenile literature by Richards and does not say it belongs to a series. Readers can treat it as a standalone work without worrying about continuity.

Is the content suitable for children today?

The work reflects the family values and standards of behavior of its time, and some of its value judgments may differ from those of today. It is suitable as historical reading with discussion, but it should not be used without explanation as a direct behavioral model for contemporary children.

Does the public-domain electronic edition have annotations or an introduction?

The Project Gutenberg edition mainly presents the original text and generally contains no modern editorial annotations or scholarly introduction. For background material, consult separate sources on Richards's life and on late nineteenth-century American children's literature.

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About the author

Richards, Laura Elizabeth Howe, 1850-1943 Author

Laura Elizabeth Howe Richards (1850–1943) was an American writer of children's literature and biography. Public information is limited, and few details of her life are recorded here, yet her work offers a clear sense of her range. She wrote children's stories such as Captain January and Toto's Merry Winter, told in a bright, warm style suited to young readers, and also produced biographical writing, including Julia Ward Howe, 1819-1910, which traces a life and its era. The collection holds 45 of her works, spanning children's fiction and biography, with historical portraits such as Abigail Adams and Her Times, showing a writer who combined popular narrative with careful attention to historical sources.