The Wide Awake Girls in Winsted

Catherine Smith begins her summer vacation in Winsted eager to be useful to her town and college. Writing a college song proves harder than she expects, especially when the talkative Algernon Swinburne arrives to interrupt her thoughts. She looks forward to a gathering of the Wide Awake Girls, whose friendship began through letters to a magazine and links homes in America and Germany.

Katharine Ellis Barrett brings shared projects and questions of responsibility into this story of young women and their friendships. A section devoted to starting a library connects Catherine's wish to serve with the book's interest in public libraries. Elsewhere, Hannah and Frieda hear Miss Lyndesay describe practical support for people with disabilities and reflect on meeting hardship cheerfully. Teasing conversation and thoughtful exchanges sit side by side, giving readers both the social bustle of a summer visit and the girls' attempts to understand other people's difficulties.