9 h 48 minAudiobook7 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What can one determined girl do when money is short, work is long, and others doubt her?
In Reels and Spindles, Evelyn Raymond brings you into a New England mill town, where factory work and family life are closely tied. At its heart is a young heroine who meets hardship with steady courage. Her struggle gives a simple question real weight: how do you keep going when life asks so much?
This children's classic explores effort, loyalty, and kindness in a world shaped by work. Looms, spinning rooms, and company houses form the setting for a story with a clear moral heart. Raymond turns attention toward ordinary people and the honesty, duty, and care that help them face difficult days.
What you’ll discover
- A girl who persists Meet a young heroine whose strength lies in her refusal to give up.
- Life around the mill Step into a town where machinery sets the hours and work shapes daily life.
- Kindness under pressure Explore the place of loyalty and care when hardship leaves little room for comfort.
- Home and work intertwined See how closely family life depends on the factory and the work it provides.
- A gentle moral story Spend time with a tale that values honest effort over speed and spectacle.
Who will love it
Perfect for readers who love warm, old-fashioned family stories, spirited heroines, and tales of everyday work and kindness. Readers who enjoy cheerful courage, loyal households and friendships across social divides will feel at home.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Amy takes a stubborn burro into the forest
- The mill shows Amy how others live
- Fairacres stands on a shaky foundation
- Salome faces loss with quiet courage
- Friends gather around Charity House
- Amy decides to earn her own living
- A spinning room teaches new lessons
- Pride puts friendship to the test
- Small kindnesses carry the larger meaning
Who’s who
- Amy KayeA sheltered artist's daughter who takes a job in the mill to help her family and wants to build a Home for Mill Girls.
- Hallam KayeAmy's older brother, who cannot walk and is bitter about it, but longs to be useful to his family.
- Cleena KeeganThe Kayes' strong, loyal Irish servant, who scrubs, cooks, scolds and guards the whole household.
- FayetteA strong, simple boy of the mill village, quick with his hands and fierce in his likes and dislikes.
- Archibald WingateA stern cousin who owns Fairacres and the mills, and has waited years to take possession of the family home.
- William MetcalfThe mill superintendent, a self-made man who is brisk at work and gentle at home with his blind daughter Nanette.
- Mary ReeseA kind, plain mill girl with a hunched back, who becomes Amy's closest friend at the spinning frame.
- Gwendolyn JonesA talkative, fashion-loving mill girl who lives below the knoll and slowly learns from Amy.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet, computer or Kindle, with the type as large as you like.
- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 9 h 48 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 7 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Read and hear Reels and Spindles in 25 languages and switch at any time. Or read two side by side, paragraph by paragraph: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
Reels and Spindles
A girl on a stubborn white burro slides down a ravine and lands in a carpet mill's busy world.
Medium level5–10 hours to read25 languages
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In short
What happens when a sheltered artist's daughter wanders off the road on a stubborn white burro? Amy Kaye slides down a ravine, meets a strange boy in a patched political costume, and finds herself at the edge of a busy carpet mill.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Amy takes a stubborn burro into the forest
The story opens at a place where three roads meet. Amy Kaye wants to take the unknown road downhill into the forest, and her white burro, Pepita, wants to go home to supper. Amy settles the quarrel by opening a book and reading until the burro gives up and lets her ride where she pleases.
The forest road grows steep and rough. Amy, an artist's daughter, is so busy spotting scenes her father would love to paint that she does not notice the danger. Pepita stops just before a rushing stream, and Amy is left clinging to a slope with the twigs breaking in her hands. A voice calls up from the ravine below.
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What is Reels and Spindles about?
It follows Amy Kaye, an artist's daughter, after her family loses their old home. She takes a job in a carpet mill, makes friends among the workers, and works to build a better life for them and for her family.
Who is Cleena Keegan?
Cleena is the Kayes' Irish servant and the heart of the household. She cooks, scrubs and scolds, takes in the boy Fayette, and guards the family's secrets with fierce loyalty.
What does Spite House mean?
It is the ugly stone house on Bareacre Knoll, built long ago by Jacob Ingraham to spoil the view from Fairacres. The Kayes move into it and rename it Charity House.
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