Book Review - Cautionary: The Education of Mary

I feel betrayed by The Education of Mary: A Little Miss of Color: 1832 by Anne Rinaldi.

Another disappointing novel by this author who is so  often recommended to teens.

I confess that I do not know very much about the real Prudence Crandall. What I do know is that she is celebrated as an abolitionist, a courageous advocate for Black Americans, ran a school for “Little Black Misses” that was destroyed by the people of Canterbury, and was named Connecticut's state heroine. And, if the history books are right, in 1886, the people of Canterbury, Connecticut who destroyed her school for Little Black Misses, and Mark Twain, petitioned the state to offer her a small pension as recompense for the damage to her school and legacy.

I was intrigued to learn more about Crandall, and I love historical fiction. I find Ann Rinaldi’s books to be very uneven, and I was hoping that since this one was so well grounded in true historical facts, perhaps we would get an inspiring story about those courageous young black women and their teacher. And, for the first three-quarters of the novel, that is exactly what we get. Until the novel takes a sharp turn that leaves the reader discouraged and appalled. The only good that I can say of the ending is that it made me do some looking into the true story just to understand what was real and what was artistic license. So far, I have found nothing to support Rinaldi’s bizarre twist.

"Were they all modest, retiring, submissive, uncomplaining, long-suffering, and sacrificing? I found that difficult to believe." - Author’s Note

In 1831, Quaker Prudence Crandall was mistress of a school for young ladies. In need of servant help, she hired a respectable young black lady named Mariah Davis who was engaged to Charles Harris. Charles’s father was a local agent for the abolitionist newspaper, The Liberator. Crandall educated Mariah and even allowed her to sit in on classes since she was an employee of the school. Charles’s sister Sarah approached Crandall asking if she too could attend the school, but as a student, not a servant.

Crandall consulted her Bible and ultimately decided to educate Sarah. But the townspeople of Canterbury objected strongly. Crandall went to Boston to meet with the editor of The Liberator and came home with the mission to withdraw the white students and replace all of them with black young ladies from good families. Sarah’s sister Mary also attended the school.

". . . some ten or twelve quiet, harmless little colored girls or young ladies, from the very best colored families in the Northern cities." Source

By all reports, the girls in the school were well-mannered and eager to be there. In the novel, however, a very different culture was brewing.

In The Education of Mary, Rinaldi inserted her own prejudices deeply into the historical narrative. She casts young Mary Harris as a mild and faithful young lady who is both servant and confidante to Crandall. She re-casts Sarah Harris as an abolitionist fomenter who wants to be a Joan of Arc martyr for the cau