Freckles Paperback – August 11, 2013

This was an assigned reading for my son's class. I started reading it aloud to him, I could not stop due to my curiosity so I read it to myself over a couple of days. It just hooked me and I wanted to find out what happened.Freckles was published in 1904. The story of the female author is interesting and worthy of a few minutes of your time. A few things I will share that are important to know about her that relate to this novel are that Stratton-Porter lived near the Limberlost Swamp in Indiana, which is the setting of this story. She was a naturalist and nature lover and was concerned over loss of habitat of the swamp; her love of the birds and wild creatures is evident in this book. Some elements of her own life are idential to the books' character: "Bird Woman".Freckles is the main character, a twenty year old man, an orphan raised in an orphanage and whose former foster parents abused him. Freckles has only one hand, a problem that makes finding paid employment difficult. Being poorly educated did not allow him to find work in certain career fields. He is homeless at the start of the story and winds up being hired by a lumber company owner to guard the Limberlost Swamp from tree poachers for a year before the trees will be harvested.Several times daily Freckles must hike the perimeter of the fenced in swamp. He spends all his time alone and soon comes to befriend the birds and wild creatures of the swamp. He rents a room in the home of an empty nester couple and they become parent figures to Freckles, especially the woman as a positive mother figure. The lumber company owner also takes a liking to him and becomes a father figure.Later Freckles comes to know Bird Woman, a naturalist who takes bird photographs and publishes articles about birds and a sixteen year old girl who is referred to as Angel. He falls in love with Angel. Later poachers come to the swamp to try to steal the trees. There is some action and adventure as Freckles tries to defend the property he is paid to protect. An accident occurs. Freckles is still unhappy about his past and hates thinking that his parents abused him so badly that it caused the loss of his hand. I can't tell you more or the story will be spoiled.While the book has some progressive ideas with its two powerful and strong female characters (which is fine by me) it otherwise is an old-fashioned book with characters full of positive character traits. The Bad Guys are clearly full of sin and devoid of worthy character traits, it's all quite black and white. I can see why so many Christian homeschoolers have their children read books by Stratton-Porter.My only complaint is the romantic love part is a bit saccharine and predictable, but I let this go since I did enjoy the story. This is also a G rated tale, something else that most parents will like. The peck kisses near the end are pretty tame by today's standards!The book is infused with an appreciation for wild plants, trees, and wild creatures. One unresolved problem for me was that Freckles came to love the swamp but how much destruction his father figure lumber company owner will inflict on the swamp was skirted. It was briefly stated that the land may wind up being clear cut and used for farm land, which is what happened in real life to The Limberlost Swamp. I felt that Freckles should have been angry or worried about this issue.This book is available as a free eBook download from Amazon.com. You probably can read it free online somewhere. It is also available as a softcover book.I rate this book 5 stars = I Love It.Gene Stratton-Porter also wrote  A Girl of the Limberlost  which has a naturalist girl main character also set in The Limberlost Swamp so if you have a girl or want to read more about the swamp, check out that book.

Having been stuck in a reading slump as it relates to my usual historical romance novel reading, I was immensely pleased to find Gene Stratton-Porter's books. I have to figure out which of the reviewers I follow who led me to her books. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Freckles was the first one I chose to read since I couldn't resist a book with such a name.Where in the wide world to begin? Freckles' character is very near "other-worldly" as most of this author's characters appear to be written. Fine by me, since I was sick and tired of reading about dissipated rakes of the first order. He is literally fascinating in that he was raised as an orphan after being found with his hand cut off along with a very bruised body as though someone had attempted to kill him from his infancy. Since he had no strong memories of his past, he always considered that he was unwanted and unloved but had the courage to simply moved forward with a positive attitude of always trying to do his best in all his endeavors.When we are introduced to Freckles, he is a teen-ager, grown too old for the orphanage, then placed into the hands of a cruel taskmaster who was disappointed the orphanage had sent him a young man with only one hand. By the time we meet him, he has managed to escape and somehow winds up in what is known as the Limberlost - a wetlands region located in Indiana where he seeks employment with the Grand Rapids Lumber Company owned by Mr. McLean. Mr. McLean was indeed looking to hire a guard to protect a portion of the swamp while his men worked other areas downing trees and making lumber. He wanted a "hardy big fellow with a stout heart and a strong body." Obviously Freckles, in his weakened physical condition, hardly fits the bill.But Freckles talks Mr. McLean into giving him a chance - an opportunity that will forever change his life for the better. Freckles is then on his way to a new life that will ultimately bring him joy, contentment and a relationship with all the wonderful inhabitants of the swamp. More importantly, he will eventually meet up with the Angel of the Swamp and the Bird Lady. These two ladies, along with Freckles' continuing relationship with Mr. McLean, will one day bring him full circle into the life he was born to live.The amazing descriptions of the marshlands of the Limberlost and the creatures who lived there will serve to remind all of us what we have lost by allowing huge companies to come into these areas and do nothing but "take." I would probably never be described as a radical environmentalist but I do believe we must protect our lands to the best of our ability. After reading this book, I checked to see if Limberlost was a real place and was greatly relieved to learn that parts of these marshlands have been restored beginning in 1977.A truly magical tale with characters that seem too good to be true. So what if they are! I know for a fact that real people have many of the characteristics displayed by the individuals in this book. Refreshing! Uplifting! Just what I have needed!

I really like Gene Stratton-Porter's work. Her novels describe fictional American town and country life not far from Chicago. I assume that the novels are contemporaneous with her own life (having been published in the early years of the 20th century). The background is generally the natural world with which she seems to have been very familiar, and the characters are always strongly and emotionally drawn.Freckles is the nickname of a young man who is determined to make good in this rural community. It would be wrong of me to reveal what happens to him and whether or not he succeeds, but there are plenty of page-turning adventures and the reader is never unsure who the bad characters are, who the good characters are, who is strong and who is weak. The style borders on melodrama but is no less effective for that.If you are going to start reading Gene Stratton-Porter's books, it is worth looking up her bibliography and reading them in sequence. Each novel is a complete entity, but some of the same characters are mentioned in later stories and it is more enjoyable to understand the earlier references if you can.The vocabulary is unashamedly American, which can cause the occasional confusion for British readers. For example, "corduroy" to me is a ridged cloth, but in the context of "Freckles" it is an area of swamp land. Sorting out these vernacular mismatches, however, is part of the fun of reading this particular author. You also learn about a variety of flora and fauna and, in my case at least, some unheard of farming techniques.If you like a book where you are beyond doubt on the side of the main character from page one, and enjoy rooting for him throughout, then this is the novel for you.

I bought this as a Christmas gift for my Nan, I knew this was her favourite book and her eyes are pretty bad these days.She cried with joy, told me to 'f*** off' (in a good way) due to the shock that she would actually get to read this again.The print is large and bold, too, so she's had no trouble.

I am sure this book was in my grannie's bookcase many years ago and I thought I had read it, but having just finished it on my Kindle I am sure I had not. Not at all what I thought it was going to be. It is very sentimental and understandably the style of writing is dated, but it is still a great read. The descriptions of the wildlife of the Limberlost are fascinating - I wished I had all the books that Freckles eventually had so that I could see what all the flora and fauna looked like. I loved it and will certainly reread it. I have just bought a hardback copy for a Christmas present.

This is of course a stunning book, that I've known and loved for decades. But this is a really horrible edition - why does it have to be in this format? It's not going to fit on any shelf. I shall look for a proper old copy to replace it with.

I read this book over 50 years ago plus the sequel and to read it once again is wonderful. Easy to lose yourself in a time and place like this. A lovely read.