This issue of becoming a lady is brought up continually throughout the entire story, with Caddie eventually realizing that there are aspects of being a lady that are more advantageous than she realized. She is through and through her father’s daughter and loves the independence afforded to her. Becoming a ladyĪs Caddie grows older, she faces increasing pressure from her mother and from others outside the family to begin behaving like a little lady – a prospect Caddie dreads. Caddie’s mother agreed, and so Caddie was not raised “to be a lady” like her older sister Clara she was instead given license to run out of doors, hunt with her brothers, and compete with them in all their games.

After Mary died, Caddie’s father – John – begged Caddie’s mother to let him raise Caddie as a boy in order to make her strong enough to survive the brutal conditions of rural Wisconsin. Of all the children, she is the one her Uncle Edmund selects to take pigeon hunting, and it is also Caddie who becomes an apprentice clock smith under her father’s direction.Ĭaddie’s upbringing is unusual in that her parents elected to raise her “as a boy.” When the family first moved west from Boston, both she and her sister Mary were frail and of a delicate constitution. Caddie herself is a tomboy, and runs rampant with her brothers, Tom and Warren, taking equal part in their adventures and often leading them. The story is one that boys and girls will enjoy equally. Caddie is 11 years old in the story, and has six other siblings, both older and younger. It centers on a large pioneering family living in Western Wisconsin at the time of the Civil War. The book is uproariously funny at times, but also contains its fair share of tender moments.

Caddie Woodlawn is a chapter book for high-spirited and adventure-loving children.

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