Miss Hickory by Carolyn Sherwin Bailey

Miss Hickory is a Newberry medal-winning children’s book first published in 1946. It recounts the life of Miss Hickory, a stick-bodied doll with a nut head, who was left outside during the winter by Ann. Miss Hickory has to brave life on her own, find adequate shelter, and talks to forest animals along her journey. Miss Hickory is notoriously hard-headed, because of her nut head, and possesses a sharp tongue. Ultimately, she finds her place in nature and blossoms into a new creation.

Reading Level: Ages 8-12
Read Aloud: Ages 6 and up

For many, Miss Hickory is a quintessential childhood read associated with fond memories. As an adult who had never interacted with the book prior to this review, I could see how the book would be appealing. It is clean, contains no inappropriate content, and the author uses rich vocabulary that allows the reader to vividly picture unfolding events. I did find the book a bit odd in a few ways. First, Miss Hickory is unnecessarily sharp to the animals, and the animals continuously take her rudeness, unphased. This makes her come across as intriguing but also unlikable. SPOILER: Second, Squirrel ends up biting off and eating her hickory nut head. While she is technically decapitated and being chewed up, she is still thinking thoughts. Lastly, she walks around headless until she grafts herself into an apple tree. Honestly, some children might find this ending humorous and poetically just for her hardened interactions with the animals. Other children may be appalled at her head being eaten off, so parents should keep this in mind. Overall, this could be a good fit for many families.

Language:
Name-calling: hardheaded, gangster, old Nut, thief, dastard, disturber of the peace, witless fellow, brainless wastrel
Dated Terms: cock (rooster), gay/gaily (happy), molested her (attacked her without sexual connotation), dumb (can’t speak), crotch (a fork in a tree)
Miss Hickory’s Sharp Tongue (some examples below):
To Crow: “what do you think, if you ever do think?” “I will have no idea of yours.” “Don’t preach to me, Crow!” “He ought to be shot”
To Squirrel: “I don’t approve of your scatterbrained ways. You seem to have a poor memory.”

Questionable Behavior:
-The cocks won’t nest with their hens in the winter (as is normal). This information is relayed by Hen-Pheasant to Miss Hickory. Cock-Pheasant is described as one who deserted his wife in the list of characters and description page.
-Crow is defined as loving to gossip
-Cat says that Crow walked past him and said a bad word, so he spat at him
-Cow loses her respectability because she overeats and jiggles back home
-Squirrel wraps Miss Hickory’s head so hard her hat goes flying
-Eye roll & blame shifting (one instance of each)

Sexual Content:
-Squirrel thinks Miss Hickory is enchanting and greets her with, “Hi cutie!”

Other Things to Note:
-The soft lining of the ferns made Miss Hickory’s winter underwear
-Doe is described as being in heaven in the list of characters and description page. Doe is looking for Fawn and gets shot by a hunter. Fawn is following a “red trail” not realizing it is his mother’s blood trail. This is very subtly relayed, and a young reader may not catch on to it.
-On Christmas a star light beams on a manger in the barn and creates a golden imprint of a baby. All the forest animals come and bow at the manger.
-SPOLIER: The squirrel finally eats Miss Hickory’s hickory nut head. As he’s eating it, the brain is still thinking thoughts while being eaten.
-SPOLIER: Miss Hickory walks headless after her head is eaten by a squirrel. Without her nut brain, she gives vent to her feelings, because she no longer has doubts or fear.

This review is written by Good Book Mom contributor, Emily. To learn more about Emily, click HERE.

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