The Cinder Pond

"The Cinder Pond" from Carroll Watson Rankin is a story about a girl named Jeannette "Jeanne" Duval, who lives with her out-of-the-ordinary family on a dock near Cinder Pond and Lake Superior in the early 1900s. It follows her life as she deals with being poor and figuring out who she is. The book begins by introducing the reader to Jeanne, her family, and her messy life, including an accident involving a boy named Roger Fairchild, who she unexpectedly meets and becomes important to the direction of the story. The story shows Jeanne's cleverness and the appeal of her simple life, filled with love and disorder, hinting at the bigger ideas of identity and a sense of community that will become important as the story is revealed.