In just a 12-year span beginning in 1955 and ending in 1967, at least four important American writers produced children's books that centered around real Salem people or events or used the city as a setting.
The first and probably best known of the four Salem-related books is Jean Lee Latham's classic "Carry On, Mr. Bowditch." Her "dramatized" biography of Salem's great navigator, Nathaniel Bowditch, earned for this author of dozens of books and plays for children, the coveted Newbery Medal in 1956.
Latham traces Bowditch's life from his apprenticeship at a local ship chandlery to his emergence as one of the nation's first important scientists while still in his early twenties. The author recreates his experiences at sea, the process by which he developed his famous navigation system, and a number of important Salem events that affected the young man's career. Along the way, she introduces her readers to three important Salem men who in real life played significant roles in Bowditch's development: the Rev. William Bentley, John Prince and Dr. Edward Holyoke.
Two other established writers chose as themes for their children's books the infamous Salem witch trials.
Shirley Jackson's contribution to witch trial literature, "The Witchcraft of Salem Village," is one of more than 100 books in Random House's "Landmark Books" children series. One of nine novels penned by the prolific writer (she also wrote the classic psychological thrillers "The Haunting of Hill House" and "We Have Always Lived in the Castle") the book provides an overview of the conflicts that played out in Salem Village in 1692.
Jackson understood the perils of intra-village conflict, having personally experienced such a dynamic in her adopted community of Bennington, Vt. According to the critic Jonathan Lethem, Jackson was an outsider and nonconformist who "dabbled in magic and voodoo" and was "feared, resented and, depending on whose version you believe, occasionally persecuted" by the local natives.
"The hostility of the villagers" notes Lethem, "further shaped her psyche, and her art". One would suspect her writing "The Witchcraft of Salem Village" was proof of that statement.
Ann Petry would add yet another book to the witch trial bibliography when her "Tituba of Salem Village" appeared in 1964. After working for a time as a pharmacist in her native Old Saybrook, Connnecticut, Petry moved to New York City and embarked on a career as a writer. Her Harlem-based book, "The Street," published in 1946, earned for her the distinction of being the first African American writer to produce a best-seller.
The central figures in Petry's two popular children's books are also known or believed to be African-American women: Harriet Tubman of Underground Railroad fame and Tituba, the slave woman who played a critical and unfortunate role in the Salem witch trials.
At the time Petry wrote "Tituba of Salem Village" it was generally accepted that the slave woman was an African American from the West Indies. Hence the book is as concerned with Tituba's personal story as it is with the terrible events that engulfed her and so many others in 1692.
The last of the four books comes to us from the nationally known writer of juvenile literature, Jean Fritz. Fritz became famous for her many biographies of famous Americans, including Benedict Arnold, James and Dolly Madison, Elizabeth Stanton, Abraham Lincoln and others.
A number of her works focused on people and events related to the American Revolution. One of them, Fritz's third historical novel, "Early Thunder" (1967) was set in Salem in the years leading up to that war.
The protagonist of this children's classic is Daniel West, the son of a physician who is also a Tory. As the book progresses, the animosity between local Tories and Whigs intensifies and Daniel finds himself increasingly ostracized. Gradually he grows to appreciate the latter point of view, and rejects his father's Tory affiliation.
But before he is accepted by the local "Liberty Boys," the youngster, fearing for his personal wellbeing, is forced to retreat to Misery Island where he lives in solitude for an extended period. Upon his return, West proves his new allegiance to the patriotic cause by defying an armed British soldier at the true event that we know today as Leslie's Retreat.
Many Salem landmarks that appear in Fritz's book, among them the Salem Common, the Peabody Essex Museum's Ropes Mansion, and Derby Wharf, are still extant and recognizable. Others have gone by the wayside, including the original St. Peter's Church building and the Town House at the intersection of Washington and Essex streets that was the setting for a number of important political events in 1774.
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Jim McAllister of Salem writes a weekly column on the region's history. Contact him at jim@nii.net.
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