Reader discussion: A Girl of the Limberlost

Public reader discussion about A Girl of the Limberlost in the WeRead Catalog by Gene Stratton-Porter.

Looking for ’80s/’90s children’s novel—girl catches butterflies for a summer school project

By archBright93083

Hey everyone! I’ve been trying to track down a middle-grade book I read back in the late 80s/early 90s, and I’m not even sure where to start. I just remember it was about a girl who gets sent to stay with relatives in the countryside (or somewhere in a totally different region) for the summer. I think, for a school or summer project, she ends up catching or collecting butterflies. There’s also this sweet little moment where she’s mixed up about what people call lunch/dinner/supper—like it was showing the different region/culture. The cover was a blue hardback, and I seem to remember a more portrait-looking cover with yellow butterflies and/or flowers. And the title definitely has “butterfly” or “butterflies” in it. It really stuck with me, but when I search for it now, I can’t find anything about it online. Any guesses? Thanks!

A Video Tour of My Collection

By shadow_mole1996

I got lucky enough to be interviewed about my book collection, which is honestly kind of fun—like, who doesn’t love talking way too long about books, right?! Most of what I own probably wouldn’t be super interesting to an actual collector since I mostly buy stuff just because I’m into what’s inside, not because it’s rare or anything. But there are a few titles that I’m guessing people might care about, like: - A rare copy of Stella Gibbon’s 1935 kids’ book *The Untidy Gnome* - A 1947 copy of *The Semi-Attached Couple* by Emily Eden, with an intro by Anthony Eden - Those cute, clueless Tor Publishing reprints of three Jane Austen novels - A 1909 first edition of *A Girl of the Limberlost* - A pretty complete set of L.M. Montgomery’s works - A 1963 Golden Book of Biology with Charley Harper’s original illustrations Anyway, here’s the video: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FKEDQWvt8bA

Any Gene Stratton-Porter fans on here? Presenting my collection of first editions of all of her novels.

By ink_rusty

I found this really nice bookstore in Oak Park, IL, and they had a bunch of GSP books that were in good condition.

Old, Forgotten Books That You Discovered and Loved (or really liked)

By LUCKYLAMP

I swear some of my best reading finds are the books almost nobody brings up. Usually I stumble into them by picking up lesser-known stuff from authors I already like, not by diving into a bunch of totally random new people, since I read pretty slowly and I’ve got way too much on my TBR. I’m curious though—have any of you ever come across an older novel or short story by someone pretty forgotten, like totally by accident, and then really ended up loving it? And maybe you later tried looking it up or asking around in real life, but most people either didn’t know it or barely mentioned it. And honestly, if it’s one of those never-discussed works by a famous author, that’s fine too—I’m mostly after the weird, obscure stuff. Even if you didn’t love it, I’m still into books that were just genuinely different or interesting in a way you haven’t seen before. When I say “old,” I mean something 50–100+ years, but it could be older than that too. Thanks :)

A Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton-Porter [Classics](1909)

By tealPath

I always think of this as that kids’ classic in Indiana’s swamp—the Limberlost—where nature is basically the main comfort. Elnora’s dealing with being picked on and treated badly at home, and she ends up finding some peace out in the wild parts, plus friendships and all that coming-of-age stuff (even a little romance). The whole setting feels kind of sad, though, because the swamp didn’t survive intact for long. A lot of that land got cleared and messed with for farming and other money-making projects, and the Limberlost itself got drained and torn up. I guess the story isn’t trying to preach a whole “save the environment” message, but it still kind of makes you see how fast people will destroy something valuable when there’s profit involved.