Well-written, touching story

A Gathering of Days is one of my favorites of the Newbery winners. It is sometimes a difficult story to read because of the depth of emotion conveyed throughout the book. Death, unfortunately, was an always-looming threat in the 1830's, due to disease and accidents, but of course there were happy times and celebrations as well. The whole spectrum is well-covered in this story. The difficulties of pioneer life are very adequately described. The character of Catherine is endearing, bright and strong. She manages to retain her innocent spirit despite losses and hardship. This book is written in diary form, and the author does a good job of conveying Catherine's point of view.