Ohio12 Posted March 11, 2008 Share Posted March 11, 2008 What would WTM or SWB think about the American girl books? In my mind the pros are: dd loves them and they do teach history. However, I do not think they are THAT well written and they don't go along chronologically with the history I am teaching. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riverfront Headmistress Posted March 11, 2008 Share Posted March 11, 2008 I won't answer for her, but in my house, my girls really enjoy the AG books. Sometimes in life, we read or watch something for pure pleasure - it doesn't all have to be in the name of high-classical education. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nutmeg Posted March 11, 2008 Share Posted March 11, 2008 Sometimes in life, we read or watch something for pure pleasure - it doesn't all have to be in the name of high-classical education. Exactly. Just let 'em read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katilac Posted March 11, 2008 Share Posted March 11, 2008 I don't think they're 'worth' school time, but I have no problem with my kids reading them on their own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dangermom Posted March 11, 2008 Share Posted March 11, 2008 Agree. My girls love AG books, and I think they're pretty good light reading--better than lots of books out there. But then I let my girls read Nancy Drew and Pony Pals, which I'm sure many of you think are twaddle. I think there's a definite value in light series reading, myself. And I'm all for kids choosing their own books to read for fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ABQmom Posted March 11, 2008 Share Posted March 11, 2008 They are not probably high quality literature, but my dd's have learned a lot about history through reading them. More importantly, because they have read them, they are more interested in knowing facts about that time period because they have a hook to hang that information on. They have made my job a little easier during history class. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harriet Vane Posted March 11, 2008 Share Posted March 11, 2008 I allow my dd to read them because they are basically harmless. However, the history they teach is weak at best. I don't consider these books any more a teaching tool than any other historical fiction. Honestly, when I compare these books to any work by the Thoenes, I find that the depth the Thoenes offer in the context of story is solid. Also the heroines are very much modern-day girls (anyone ever notice they are all described as "spunky?") with modern-day plots dropped into a historical setting. The stories are really, really NOT reflective of the times at all. I do set some limits on what my dd reads based on moral content (immoral content is either forbidden or specifically processed in discussion with me) and based on how scary it is. (Dd is very susceptible to letting scary things take over her vivid imagination.) Other than that, dd is free to read twaddle if she wants, though I do try to suggest and inspire her to higher and better literature. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emmy Posted March 11, 2008 Share Posted March 11, 2008 Am I the only one sitting here chuckling over the thread title? I have visions of a sea of WTM inspired homeschoolers sporting little bracelets with the letters "WWSWBD" on them......:p Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragons in the flower bed Posted March 11, 2008 Share Posted March 11, 2008 Am I the only one sitting here chuckling over the thread title? I have visions of a sea of WTM inspired homeschoolers sporting little bracelets with the letters "WWSWBD" on them......:p Nope, me too. At first I thought maybe this thread was to be a sarcastic spin on recent threads about who belongs on these boards. I loved the American Girl books when I was a kid, back when there were only three. In fact, I'd credit them with laying the foundation for my love of history. It was with Samantha that my nine-year-old self realized history was populated with actual people, experiencing real emotions just like I have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArwenA Posted March 11, 2008 Share Posted March 11, 2008 They are loved here too. This week dd7 is reading Meet Felicity as part of studying the American Revolution. We have "better" books for read alouds but she loves AG books and is working really hard on her reading so I'm fine with that. I'd have a problem if we were only reading AG books but we aren't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faithr Posted March 11, 2008 Share Posted March 11, 2008 These books were wonderful for my oldest dd. She loved them all but she got really into Felicity and we wound up going to Williamsburg and doing the Felicity tour which was very educational. Then when she got into the Addy books she wound up going on a Slavery/Civil War streak where she read all about Harriet Tubman, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Little Women, Abraham Lincoln. This happened again when she go into Kit and Molly; she spent months reading about the Depression, the Roosevelts, lots of kids historical fiction on WWII. This was all on her own. She basically unschooled herself in American history using these books as a jumping off point. So we really appreciate American Girls books around here. We also went through a long period of buying the dolls and accessories. It was wonderful. You never had to wonder what to get my daughter for Christmas or birthdays for about 6 years there! You just got something to go with Felicity, Kit or Josephina! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pata Posted March 11, 2008 Share Posted March 11, 2008 Am I the only one sitting here chuckling over the thread title? I have visions of a sea of WTM inspired homeschoolers sporting little bracelets with the letters "WWSWBD" on them......:p I thought the same thing! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aubrey Posted March 11, 2008 Share Posted March 11, 2008 Did anybody notice the daughter in question is 5? I haven't read any of the AG books yet, but I've been excited to get to them. (based on a lot of assumptions, apparently!:o) But I'd thought they were for *much* older girls. Hmm...I'm imagining the child reading the books themselves, though. Does that make a difference? Anxious to hear back. Have a dd who will be 5 next mo!:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faithr Posted March 11, 2008 Share Posted March 11, 2008 I started reading the Felicity books aloud to my dd when she was 5 or 6. She was a late reader (didn't click until she was 8). Once she was reading, she re-read them all and then started reading the new series as they came out. She's now 17, so this was a few years ago! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TwinMominTX Posted March 11, 2008 Share Posted March 11, 2008 who cares what Susan Wise Bauer would do. SWB doesn't know your child and doesn't know about your specific homeschool goals or family ideals. If you would like your dd to read the American Girl books, have her read them. You are ultimately responsible for her education. I think we would be hard pressed to find anyone (even on this board) who follows TWTM exactly and my guess is even SWB doesn't follow it exactly as written. If the books align with *your* educational goals great. If not, that's ok too. Sorry if this sounds harsh and maybe the post is tongue in cheek and I am missing something? TK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mo2 Posted March 11, 2008 Share Posted March 11, 2008 Maybe they don't count as history, but I would say they can definitely count for free-reading time. I read lots of books myself that I wouldn't classify as "educational," but I still read them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ohio12 Posted March 11, 2008 Author Share Posted March 11, 2008 I am the original poster with the 5 yo daughter. I am reading the books TO her! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ohio12 Posted March 11, 2008 Author Share Posted March 11, 2008 I was asking in a funny way, but as I was reading the books aloud to dd, I felt like they were not very well written, so I wanted to see if anyone else agreed with me. I am also new to the whole chronological thing (although I love it) but wonder whether talking about some American history out of context is too confusing for her. I should have just asked if anyone else thinks they aren't well written! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cynful Posted March 11, 2008 Share Posted March 11, 2008 Not to hijack this thread at all, but I've been considering both the AG books and the Dear America books for mine. Does anyone know how the Dear America books are and if they are similar/better/worse than the AG books? Thanks, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aubrey Posted March 11, 2008 Share Posted March 11, 2008 I was asking in a funny way, but as I was reading the books aloud to dd, I felt like they were not very well written, so I wanted to see if anyone else agreed with me. I am also new to the whole chronological thing (although I love it) but wonder whether talking about some American history out of context is too confusing for her. I should have just asked if anyone else thinks they aren't well written! Are you laughing while you say this (I hope)? I just re-read the thread, worried that perhaps one of us (me?) had been harsh. I didn't see anything, but you know how this format can be.:o I'm glad to know more about the books. I did have my hopes up for a moment that perhaps dd4 would be able to read them herself next yr. What can I say? :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ohio12 Posted March 11, 2008 Author Share Posted March 11, 2008 I wanted information AND to be a little funny. No one was too harsh, but some did not completely understand me. Everything is ok! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted March 11, 2008 Share Posted March 11, 2008 I wanted to love them, I really did. I liked the idea, but was a little leery of the product tie-in aspect, as Eliana stated. I guess I'm in the minority--I think they are poorly written and not worth the time. And I agree with the other poster who said the girls are "modern" in their sensibilities and not historically accurate portraits of childhood at those times. But... I might let dd pick up a few if she wanted. Some sweet ladies at church recently gave dd a gift certificate to buy an American Girl Doll. I felt bad, because it was a waste of $--she doesn't play with it at all. In fact, she said it was creeping her out at night because it's realistic-looking, so she wanted it put in the basement. We even had a dear friend who made about 8 little dresses for her doll (Emily). I just haven't the heart to tell them all it was a mistake. A very, very kind mistake. I can see SWB's argument that allowing dc to read too much in poorly written series can dull their appetites for better books. I can see that in my own dd. She is hooked on Nancy Drew at the moment. I'm going to let her continue to read them, but I am now requiring more meaty reading. She also reads lots of classics, but I am noticing a little more resistance to new books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faithr Posted March 11, 2008 Share Posted March 11, 2008 My dd did not care for the Dear America series. She has a reading disability so the fact that they were written in cursive or in dialect with misspellings really made it hard for her. She liked the Royal Diary series better, which isn't American history but world history. However, a lot of her friends liked Dear America. They are an easy read. You could check them out of the library and see. As for history, they are light but as I said before they opened up my daughter's world into history and made her love it. Since reading came hard for her, I loved that she loved these books and got so much out of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MelissaMinNC Posted March 11, 2008 Share Posted March 11, 2008 I was asking in a funny way, but as I was reading the books aloud to dd, I felt like they were not very well written, so I wanted to see if anyone else agreed with me. I am also new to the whole chronological thing (although I love it) but wonder whether talking about some American history out of context is too confusing for her. I should have just asked if anyone else thinks they aren't well written! Okay, my .02. I read several of these to my dd when she was 5 and will read more if she gets interested again. I did not think they were that badly written - not great, but not complete twaddle, imo. As far as having history out of context, I don't think this is an issue at all at this age. From what I can tell, kids this age have very little perception of time periods. Anicent Greece was "a long time ago" and so was the Revolutionary War, and so was Christmas '07. I would just not worry about this at all at this point - if she asks questions, you can give her a simple explanation "Oh, no, there were no mummies in Felicity's day. If Felicity were a real person, she would have lived a long time ago, but the mummies were even a long time before that, and in a different part of the world." And leave it at that, until she asks the next question. It'll all start to make more sense by the time you reach the end of the first history cycle. (Or at least that's what I'm assuming, as I haven't got there yet myself.) :) Melissa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MelissaMinNC Posted March 11, 2008 Share Posted March 11, 2008 I loved the American Girl books when I was a kid, back when there were only three. In fact, I'd credit them with laying the foundation for my love of history. It was with Samantha that my nine-year-old self realized history was populated with actual people, experiencing real emotions just like I have. Aaaaaaccccckkkkk! :eek: I feel SO old! I'm sure these books were not out when I was a kid; I really thought they were fairly recent. :D Melissa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daisy Posted March 11, 2008 Share Posted March 11, 2008 My DD loved the AG books. They didn't bother me. Sure you can find better books. I was just happy to see her enjoying what she was reading and it turned her on to history. I don't see it as any worse or better than letting your child read Dr. Seuss or Geronimo Stilton or my reading an occasional best selling piece of fluff. LOL, it is just for fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aubrey Posted March 11, 2008 Share Posted March 11, 2008 I wanted information AND to be a little funny. No one was too harsh, but some did not completely understand me. Everything is ok! Whew!:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alice Posted March 11, 2008 Share Posted March 11, 2008 Aaaaaaccccckkkkk! :eek: I feel SO old! I'm sure these books were not out when I was a kid; I really thought they were fairly recent. :D Melissa If you want to feel really old...try the new American Girl historical novel...Julie from 1974! http://www.americangirl.com/agcn/julie/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angela in ohio Posted March 11, 2008 Share Posted March 11, 2008 I don't like AG because I think they take modern girl attitudes and modern thoughts and project them backwards. I do not want my dds to think that they are in any way historical, so we skip them. I also avoid poor sentence structure, bland vocabulary, etc., so they would be out anyway. Now I would read a dozen of them before I would read a Dear America book. My s-i-l kept offering them to dds (she is a public school teacher, and they are THE rage,) so I read one. Ack! There are so, so, so, so many beautifully written books for girls the same age, I can't see why anyone would need to settle for either series. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daisy Posted March 11, 2008 Share Posted March 11, 2008 I agree AG wins hands down over the Dear America books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie Laurie Posted March 11, 2008 Share Posted March 11, 2008 I haven't read any American Girl books yet, but I did grab a couple of Dear America from a scholastic warehouse sale because they were super cheap and I wanted to preview them for dd. They are horrible. Awful writing and not historically accurate in the least. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faithr Posted March 11, 2008 Share Posted March 11, 2008 Well, just because one reads AG books doesn't mean that one doesn't read a lot other books too. In fact we have read many of the books on Eliana's list in addition to and not instead of. One of my favorites is Milly-Molly-Mandy. I discovered those a couple years ago when my now 6 yo was 4. I read them aloud to her and soon the whole family, teenagers and husband included, would sit and listen. It became a family read aloud. They are really delightful. I had never thought about the tie in thing and I think I might be a tie-in kind of person, without ever realizing it! I look around my home and I see the Milly-Molly-Mandy doll (came with one of the books, don't you know!), and both Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy dolls(we went through a summer where that's all my dd wanted to hear). And of course we have Madeleine. And Little House paper dolls, and Alice in Wonderland paper dolls and Curious George paper dolls. Oh and cute little Peter Rabbit stuff (we went to an exhibit on Beatrix Potter years back and I couldn't resist!) Oh well, I'm probably hopeless! And in spite of the fact that my now 17 yo dd read all the AG books numerous times, she's decided on her own to read all the Jane Austen novels. (She still struggles with LDs) So far she's read Pride and Prejudice and is now almost finished reading Sense and Sensibility (she tells me she'll write a paper on it). So I don't think AG books ruined her completely. . . . . (I probaby shouldn't even mention how I used to let my now 12 yo read Bionicles and how that led him into mythology that lead him into Greek history and he is even now reading a book about Xenophon because he finds it interesting. . . . .) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suzanne in ABQ Posted March 11, 2008 Share Posted March 11, 2008 Some of them are listed in the SOTW Activity Guide as Additional Literature. I guess that means SWB doesn't give them a "thumbs down." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lux Et Veritas Academy Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 Who cares what SWB would do... I read everyone of them with my daughter and loved each of them! It was a great experience together!:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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