An Eccentric millionaire wants to be reunited with all his estranged children at Christmastime. Oh boy, what wacky family, hi-jinks are going to ensue? What shenanigans you got planned, old man? old man? oh, he’s dead.
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Meet Julie
No turning back now Author: Megan McDonald
It’s the 1970s. Bust out your mood rings and pet rocks!
The American Girl series is starting to feel more decades day at school and less about American history. Yes, it is important to remember that recent history is still history for kids, but it’s not like Julie’s mood ring is something kids would never see today. Heck, kids today still see fights about who gets to play on the gendered sports teams… it just looks different in 2025.
Julie’s personality
We are introduced to Julie as she is doing cartwheels. She is spinning, her life is turing upside-down. Like the other American Girl introductions this is Julie’s theme: Jukie is tumbling through the world looking for the right way up. Julie is struggling for identity. She doesn’t even know her favorite color!
Julie’s parent’s just got divorced, she’s moving and starting a new school, it’s the 1970s! Any of those alone can shake up your self-image, and Julie has to deal with all of it. She is very unsure of who she is and where she belongs in the world. Julie is also a Gen Xer, so not feeling like she belongs is to be expected.
Julie’s Family
Julie’s Mom is introduced to us taking down a hanging geranium plant. Geraniums symbolize folly. Is this telling us that the marriage was folly, or that Mom is a foolish person?
I like the representation of Julie’s parents. Something that bothers me in children’s media is when divorced parents are so united that you have to wonder why it didn’t work out… It’s very clear why Julie’s parents are divorced. Her dad is a straight laced kind of guy, her mom is a hippie. I get why it didn’t work out.
Basketball
So I did the math, Julie would have been born in 1965, and according to the generally accepted generation breakdowns, that is the very first birth year of Gen X. Like most Gen Xers, Julie is a latch-key kid. Julie takes up basketball as a way of avoiding the empty house. Julie’s fight to get on the basketball team feels very Gen X, she refuses to blindly trust authority figures, and she questions everything.
I think the school should have started a girl’s basketball team. Julie being the ONLY girl on the team is going to cause her social problems. She can’t bond with her teammates in the locker room, and she will be ostracised by the other girls. The other girls will be jealous that Julie found a way to stand out, and being yourself and standing out is not how you make friends as a pubescent girl. Yeah, girls are like that.
Best Friends
Speaking of girls why did Ivy apologize? She just didn’t want to spend her whole Saturday getting signatures for Julie’s petition. Julie never asked Ivy to help her, she just blindly assumed Ivy would. Poor Ivy was dragged around the streets of San Francisco, and her best friend Julie was completely clueless about Ivy’s obvious discomfort… I seriously want to know why Ivy owes Julie an apology.
All in all Julie is a fun character, but you can start to see the cracks in the original American Girl concept starting to form: it’s not like Julie is wearing a shift and stays, she wears blue jeans and tanktops, the cut and colors might be different, but kids still see those cloths today. Julie’s world just isn’t so different from the world today that tactile play (dolls) will help kids understand it.
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Meet Kaya
Magpie! Author: Janet Shaw
In my ongoing quest to reread the American Girl series, we have reached Kaya. Maybe it’s just the horse, but I get a Felicity vibe from Kaya. I have this idea that if Felicity and Kaya met, they would be instant friends, talking horses and making friendships bracelets… or trigger happy Ben would shoot poor Kaya…
Anyway, American Girl gave Janet Shaw the opportunity to redeem himself from the cringy depiction of native americans in Kirsten’s series by letting her write Kaya’s. How did that go?
Kaya’s Personality
Kaya is very impulsive. Kaya clearly craves attention, and will grasp at anything to feel accomplished. She loves her horse, but she is desperate to prove themselves as a horsewoman, a runner, and a swimmer. I want to give poor Kaya a hug and tell her she is valuable just as she is and she doesn’t have to prove anything to anyone.
Kaya’s Family
I am trying to remind myself that this story takes place in a culture and setting that is very different from my own… but I still don’t like Kaya’s parents.
Kaya’s grandmother chastises her “You’re not a little girl any longer. You are growing up.” She’s nine. I know the modern western world often coddles our children too much, but I wouldn’t ask a nine year old to babysit two four-year-olds. It’s just too big an ask in my opinion.
Kaya is the stereotypical forgotten middle child. She fluctuates between responsible and impulsive. She wants to be a daddy’s girl, the opposite of her big sister Brown Deer, but she’s not a carefree wild child like her little brothers. The text wants me to think Kaya’s main problem is pride, but I think Kaya’s main problem is that she wants attention and she’s not getting it.
It seems to me that Kaya is a normal nine year old girl, she doesn’t deserve to be switched or called names just for being a nine year old. I understand the point Whipwoman makes about how with thier way of life the stakes for screw up can be life or death, I just think that, developmentally, it’s too much to expect of a nine year old.
Symbolism of Speaking Rain
I see Speaking Rain as more of the Yin to Kaya’s Yang. She is the part of Kaya that focuses on caring for others, family and loyalty, while hot headed Kaya focuses on defining herself and being seen, Speaking Rain is the part of Kaya that Kaya can’t see… hence the symbolism of her being blind… Or maybe I’ve studied too much Greek Mythology.
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Meet Kit
It’s not fair This is my first time reading about Kit, so I find myself focusing more on the parents… I have thoughts, but first let’s talk about Kit herself:
Kit’s personality
Kit is introduced writing a “newspaper” for her dad. This is the least relatable intro of the American Girls in my mind.
Kit is a tomboy. Kit aspires to be a reporter… but she’s the last to learn the really important things. She’s obnoxiously judgmental about people, especially Stirling.
Kit’s parents
I hate Kit’s parents! The other girl’s parents were mostly mature, loving, caring people. Kit’s parents have unresolved issues and it is compromising Kit’s well being. Kit’s dad didn’t tell his family that their business was in trouble until the day before he closed the business! He let his wife go on spending money on things like redecorating Kit’s room, and spent his son’s college money while letting him think he was going to college. He didn’t even give his son the chance to earn the money for college on his own! Kit’s parents are making awful financial decisions.
I just don’t like how Kit’s mom doesn’t seam to care about her daughter’s personality or how Dad is keeping secrets. Kit and her brother Charlie deserve more consideration.
I’m a Millennial: massive layoffs, stockmarket drama, people tricked into buying homes they can’t afford… I don’t have to imagine this stuff, it’s the only world I’ve known! I don’t have to stretch my imagination very far to put myself in thier place, and I don’t like them.
Next up: Meet Julie
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Meet Josefina
What an adventure Author: Valerie Tripp
Josefina’s personally
Josefina is the youngest of four sisters, yet we see she is the peacemaker between her sisters.
According to birth order personality theory, it is rare for the youngest to be the peacemaker. So it’s interesting that Josafina has taken this role on, apparently since the death of her mother.
Josefina seams to struggle with anxiety about the goats. I’ve never had goats myself, but I’ve heard they can be bullies.
Symbolism
There are some great symbols in this book. The primrose has a number of meanings, I think the most relevant are childhood innocents, healing, and material love. That almost summarizes the whole book!
Josafina is afraid of goats… but is she really? I’m no mental health professional, but I do know that anxiety and hypervigilance are common reactions to trama. I think that Josafina is projecting her fears about the world onto the goats. The world is everywhere, an unmeasurable danger, but Josefina can know where the goats are, and while she can’t avoid the world, she can avoid some goats.
We have reached the end of the American Girls I knew as a kid. Next we read the first girl released after I aged out of the series: Kit
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Meet Addy
Freedom’s got its cost Author: Connie Porter
In my on going mission to reread all the American Girl “Meet” books, we have finally reached Addy.
The Addy Controversy
Addy was Pleasent Company’s first non-white character and I know some people object to Addy’s story being set in the civil war. Some argue that Pleasent Company couldn’t think of any other story to tell with a black girl. According to the American Girl Wiki, it was an intentional choice by the advisory committee to tackle the most painful part of American history head on. I don’t know if that is true, what I do know is Connie Porter wrote an amazing story!
I still have a lot of American Girls to “Meet” and we are rapidly approaching the end of characters I remember from my childhood, but I remember being moved by Addy’s story in a way that the other girls just didn’t emotionally impact me.
Addy’s Personally
All the American Girls are introduced doing something timeless in a setting that grounds us in there time period. Kirsten is playing dolls, on the deck of the ship taking her to America. Felicity is running an errand for her mother. Addy is listening to her parents talking at night.
We are told that Addy feels safe surrounded by her family, and this sence of safety gets ripped away.
Addy is highly intelligent, and that leads to her ability to adapt to her surroundings.
Throughout the book, Addy develops an internal locus of control, or as Papa puts it “freedom in your head.” This allows Addy to adapt a new sence of safety as the story progresses.
Symbols in Addy’s story
There are a lot of references to bugs in Addy’s story. Addy hears crickets at the beginning of the story. She is famously force-fed worms by the overseer on the plantation. Addy even pulls a leech off of her skin after crossing a river.
In the last chapter, once Addy and Mama are safe, the references to bugs stop. I think the bugs are there as a visceral representation of slavery itself. It’s an age appropriate means of touching on the cruelty and violence inflicted on people in slavery. The series isn’t going to show Addy having the overseer’s “worm” forced down her throat, but it can and does show him forceing real worms down her throat.
Addy Doll
I have avoided talking about the dolls or tie-in merchandise because I want to focus on the stories, but I want to point it out with Addy because of how well written it is.
All the American Girl dolls had a “Meet Accessories” bundle you could buy that included a hat, a bag, handkerchief, a piece of jewelry, and money from the time period. (Kirsten didn’t need money on the prairie so she got a spoon)
Everything in Addy’s meet collection is used in this story. If you aren’t paying attention to the ONE refrance in the book to Felicity’s amber necklace you can be forgiven for not noticing it on the doll… or knowing it’s actually a coral necklace. But Addy’s shell necklace is a family heirloom that gives her courage, her coin is a symbol of the price she must pay for freedom. The handkerchief and water jug are the survival tools she and Mama use in their escape. I don’t think Kirsten’s spoon even gets a mention in the text!
Addy is a according to the Straus-Howe Generational Theory, Addy is a member of the Progressive Generation (along with Kirsten’s baby sister and Samantha’s Grandmother.) This generation was defined by rebuilding America in the wake of the Civil War, and they adapted to the needs around them. We definitely see this adaptability with Addy.
Future Theory
I aways liked the idea that the American Girls all co-exist in the same universe. Like if Addy’s family had gone to Minnesota instead of Pennsylvania they might have met the Larsons. The woman who helped Mama and Addy get to Philadelphia is named Caroline, and assuming she’s about 60… let’s just remember Miss Caroline when we get to Meet Caroline.
But that won’t be for a while, next up I am reading Meet Josefina.
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Meet Felicity
Your girl will find her patience when she goes looking for it Author: Valerie Tripp
In my quest to meet all the American Girls, I read Meet Felicity this week and I would like to share my thoughts.
Addressing history
When rereading the Felicity series many millennials are shocked to realize that Felicity’s grandfather owns a plantation and would logically be a slave holder. What shocks me is the number of readers who seam to miss that Felicity’s father is a slave owner… do you think Marcus is paid? The Looking Back section even refers to him as a slave!
It is a common modern criticism that Felicity cares more about the freedom of an animal than the human beings around her. I have a few things to say on this:
- She’s a child, it is developmentally normal for a child to emphasize with an animal before they learn to emphasize with humans.
- She lives in a society where slavery is the norm. It was never the job of a nine year old to fix that.
I do wish the series had addressed the very real issue that many patriots, like Mr. Marriman, wanted freedom for themselves but not their slaves. Although maybe the series did address it…
Penny as metaphor
Okay, I admit this is out there, but I like Felicity and I am going to use my literature theory powers to defend her!
What if Penny is a metaphor? What if this book is using Penny as a metaphor for slavery. Stay with me! The crime of slavery is in robbing another human being of their autonomy, in treating another human like a beast of burden… like Penny the horse.
After all if Penny is such an impressive horse that everyone who looks at her can tell she’s a quality horse, and Jiggy can’t use her as a work horse, wouldn’t he just sell her for drinking money? It doesn’t make sence, unless Penny is a metaphor.
If you imagine Penny as a metaphor for slavery, if you imagine Penny as a enslaved girl not much older than Felicity. Imagine that she is being beaten and starved because she won’t let an old white man ‘ride her’… this book suddenly becomes the girl version of Huckleberry Finn.
Do I believe this is the intention? No, but this is the fun of literature, reading WAY to far into the subtext!
Felicity and her family
Felicity actually has a character arc! She is established as impatient, and yet she has to be patient with the horse Penny. I think this is the first time we’ve had character growth with an American Girl.
Felicity’s parents and siblings are very minor characters in this book, so it’s hard to tell how the Merriman family dynamics work. But there is one thing that is clear: Felicity is the eldest, and like many firstborn, she tends to just do whatever she wants and gets away with it. Including horse theft.
Next week: Meet Addy
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Meet Molly
“The war has changed some things” said Mrs. McIntire. “But some things are still the same” Author: Valerie Tripp
Molly is my least favorite of the original three American Girls. She’s described as spirited, but I think she’s a little bratty.
All the American Girls are introduced doing something that is a timeless childhood experience while grounding the reader in her time period. Samantha was being unladylike climbing a tree, Kirsten was playing dolls on the deck of a ship, Molly is refusing to eat her vegetables from the family victory garden.
I looked for some kind if symbolism in Turnips and couldn’t find anything that seamed to fit with Molly’s story, although I did run into gardening blogs that said that a hot, dry summer will make turnips bitter. Molly does tell us that it was a hot dry summer and most of the victory garden failed, so I think the turnips were just bitter, no hidden symbolism.
Molly cares a great deal about patriotism… not necessarily being patriotic, but in being viewed as patriotic. I can’t tell if that is realistic for a child hearing all the WWII propaganda, or if it’s just Valerie Tripp being a war jaded baby boomer projecting on the past.
Molly wants to be Cinderella for Halloween, so in her mind that
means her friends have to be the ugly stepsisters… Molly grows up to be Delphine doesn’t she?
Why can’t they all just be fairytale princesses? Be Cinderella, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty. Why do you have to put your friends down like that Molly?
The girls seam to think that Mrs. McIntire was too easy on Ricky, but I think the McIntire parents believe in letting the punishment fit the crime, and I for one am a fan of this calm, logical, firm punishment style. Ricky destroyed the girl’s Halloween candy, so he losses his candy. His prank leaves a mess in the driveway, he has to spend his Saturday cleaning it up. The girls throw Ricky’s cloths out the window in revenge, so they spend their Saturday doing Ricky’s laundry.
Speaking of Saturday: based on the timeline, it is clear that Halloween fell on a Friday, with the final chapter taking place on Saturday November 1st. Except that is not possible. Halloween 1944 was a Tuesday not a Friday… Halloween was a Friday in 1986 though, so it was right to the kids reading this book.
Sidenote: what kind of neighborhood is this where Mrs McIntire felt comfortable punishing other people’s kids? She just included Linda and Susan in the laundry punishment. Don’t get me wrong, they were involved and I think it was fitting punishment for what they did, but having worked at a school… how do you just do that?! You don’t have to even call their parents?! Oh the good old days I guess.
Next up: Meet Felicity
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The Ballerinas
Author: Rachel Kapelke-Dale
Delphine Léger has returned to the Paris Oprea House Ballet after a failed carrier and a failed marriage in Moscow.
Now a choreographer, Delphine plans to cast her old friends Lindsay and Margaux in her new Ballet. But old friendships bring with them old routines. Will they continue the same toxic dance, or can they find the courage to take new steps?
This is a decently written story with very believable characters… and I hated them all!
Lindsay is introduced to us by kicking a younger dancer in the face! Am I really supposed to like her?!
The way Dale writes it really seams like you are supposed to like these women and I think Dale wants to have a girl power moment at the end, but all I could think was “if this is what strong female friendship looks like, I’d rather be alone!”
This is a great story to get your book club talking about toxic friends and how we continue to hangout with people because “we’ve been friends for years” without stopping to ask “why are these people my friends?”
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Meet Kirsten
Don’t loose heart Author: Janet Shaw
Kirsten Larson comes from a family of Swedish immigrants in 1854. I have a deep connection to Kirsten. It was through her stories that my mother shared our family history of immigrating from Sweden to the American Midwest.
I need to address something: I am a librarian… in Massachusetts. I travel in some VERY liberal circles. I know some people today look at a book like Meet Kirsten and would call the Larson family “white colonizers.”
It is important to remember that the Larsons are not aristocrats. The Larsons are peasent farmers. They aren’t trying to make it rich, they are just trying to make it through the winter.
If you have a warm home, clean running water and food in your belly, you have WAY more privilege than the Larsons.
Since immigration looks different for different people, I wanted to learn more about the Larsons trip to America. I consultants the companion book “Kirsten’s World” it clarifies that the Larsons are from the farming village of Ryd Sweden.
A quick Google search reveals that Ryd- which in Kirsten’s time would have been called Almundsryd- is a small Swedish suburb. In 1854 the village was ruled by the church of Sweden, which discouraged leaving the country even making it illegal for a while! 1840- the year Kirsten was BORN- was the absolute earliest the Larsons could have left Sweden! Suddenly Mama’s line about how uncle Olav left Sweden when Kirsten was three has a lot more weight.
Meeting Kirsten
So all the American Girls are introduced doing something timeless that grounds the reader in their time period.
Samantha was climbing a tree, Kirsten is playing dolls with her best friend Marta on the deck of the ship taking them to America. We see Kirsten wrap her doll up to keep warm and right here we get a peek in Kirsten’s personality. Kirsten has a strong instinct to care. More than any other girl Kirsten is symbolized by heart, having heart, keeping heart, Kirsten even wears a heart shaped necklace. Sure Samantha and Molly both have heart shaped jewelry too, but it fits Kirsten in a way it just doesn’t fit the other girls.
The ship is called the Eagle. Eagles represent freedom in Scandinavian folklore. The other ship that the Larsons take down the Mississippi River is called the Redwing named after the Redwinged Blackbirds. While Blackbirds are common in many parts of the world the redwing blackbird is native to North America. So already in the naming of the ships we are seeing a shift from old world to new world.
One thing that has always puzzled me is travel logistics. How did Marta and her parents beat the Larsons to Chicago? Marta says they are leaving a day later than kirsten. Kirsten and her family hop on a train, and when they get to Chicago, Marta and her parents are already there. How?! And after looking at the Kirsten’s World book of their travel paths I’m even more confused.
That train must have been incredibly slow!
Kirsten’s Parents
Let’s talk about the Larsons as a family. They are clearly patriarchal, Papa manages the family money. He clearly cares about keeping everyone safe and in good spirits, or “have heart” as he says, but he isn’t perfect. Papa doesn’t know what to do with emotions. He just tells his daughter not to cry right after she learns her best friend died.
I don’t think Papa Larson means to emotionally neglect his children, I think that he wants everyone to “have heart” that he can’t handle heartbreak. I think that’s why he wants Kirsten to stop crying when Marya dies, and why he is so insistent that Kirsten leave her doll, Sari, in the trunk. It’s not that he doesn’t care, it’s that he doesn’t have the emotional maturity to handle negative or conflicting emotions.
Next up: Meet Molly
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