Estes effectively uses the small-town environment of Cranbury and its surrounding countryside as the setting of Ginger Pye. Rachel and Jerry explore nearby fields and farms, swim in the reservoir, pick berries by the railroad station, take trips to the huge scenic rocks that border the town, sled down snow-covered hills in the winter, and venture into the skeleton houses under construction in the town. Nature and the change of seasons provide a frame for the action and a metaphoric reassurance that good times will indeed follow bad, happiness will follow sorrow.

Simple descriptive passages evoke the children's love for their town and its natural attractions.

The book's temporal setting is not as well defined. Small details, such as the use of gas lamps and trolleys, the relative rarity of automobiles, and women not being able to serve on juries, indicate that the story takes place in the...