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 cause. In the last fourth of the book, the school is divided down the middle with some girls taking Crandall’s side and attempting to live peaceably within the laws, while the other side was made up of agitators looking to be whipped and tortured so they could be remembered for the cause.

And while the agitators are whipping themselves up into a frenzy, they plot and plan, and ultimately set the school on fire while blaming an innocent black man. All so they can draw as much attention to their cause as possible. When Crandall fails to keep the girls peaceful, Mary surrenders her loyalty to the schoolmistress and betrays her.

The ending is sour and sad and depressing – and not because the school fails. But because the relationships inside of it are ugly and marked with strange forms of racism.

Such an interesting and hopeful book that turned dark in all of the wrong ways. I hope that my review can serve as a cautionary warning.

Also, parents may wish to know about a brutal scene with Mary and her father. In the novel, Mr. Harris is a Haitian immigrant who was denied schooling and will do anything reasonable to see that his children get the best that he can procure for them. Mary has been sent out of school for a fight she had with Crandall, and while at home, she has important work to do for another abolitionist cause. Despite her father telling her specifically not to sneak out, she does so anyway. When she returns to the family farm, her father throws her to the ground in a rage of fury, strips her cloak from her, pins her shoulder to the ground under the heel of his boot and horse-whips her. Brutally. Many times. We are forced to hear her thoughts as he whips her back and thighs.