Dmmetler Posted October 11, 2010 Share Posted October 11, 2010 DD and I have reservations at the American Girl Bistro tomorrow, and I'm kind of hoping it will spark interest in American History. Are any of the books/characters a better place to start? DD is almost 6 and a very, very fluent reader, but can't handle anything too emotionally intense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unsinkable Posted October 11, 2010 Share Posted October 11, 2010 DD and I have reservations at the American Girl Bistro tomorrow, and I'm kind of hoping it will spark interest in American History. Are any of the books/characters a better place to start? DD is almost 6 and a very, very fluent reader, but can't handle anything too emotionally intense. I am partial to the Molly books. But it has been years since I read them so I can't remember the emotional intensity. Molly's dad is a surgeon away at the war so there is that. He comes home in the series IIRC. IMO, it might spark an interest b/c it is relatively close in history...but then again, so many WWII topics are much too intense for a 6 year old. Kirsten isn't centered around a war but I think her friend dies. I could be wrong. Have fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nakia Posted October 11, 2010 Share Posted October 11, 2010 I think Felicity would be great, and she is being retired this year so it would be a good time to get her. Felicity's is a sweet story about friendship. It takes place during the Revolution, and the two girls' families are on opposing sides. I think of the books/movies we have read/seen, it is the least intense. ETA: We have not read the Kaya or Addy books, so I can't comment on those. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yellowperch Posted October 11, 2010 Share Posted October 11, 2010 I second the Felicity vote. Who doesn't love the American Revolution? And I agree that her stories are serious and dramatic but a bit less intense than some of the others we've read. And it is the last chance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DianeW88 Posted October 11, 2010 Share Posted October 11, 2010 Let's see....In Felicity's books, her beloved grandfather dies, which made me cry, and there is mistreatment of a horse. In Kirsten's books, her best friend dies of cholera. In Addy's books, she and her mother run away to escape their plantation and she has to leave the rest of her family behind...heartwrenching. She is also forced to eat a tobacco worm by the plantation owner and someone is beaten...can't remember if Addy was ever struck. Not sure about Kaya's books, we didn't get all the way through them, but she is spanked by her father in the first one, I believe. Josephina's mother is dead in her books. In Samantha's books, we see the problems of children being forced to work in factories at a young age and her best friend is taken away and almost forced to go west on the Orphan Train. Kit's books deal with the Great Depression and all that goes with it. Kit's father loses his job, they take in boarders, she sees her father getting lunch in a soup kitchen, and she has a nasty old uncle, straight out of a Dickens' novel. In Molly's books, her dad is a surgeon in England in WWII and she experiences the uncertainty of not knowing what's happening to him. It's a little tender when they read his letters and occasionally there are moments of missing him, but overall her books would probably be the safest as far as serious drama goes. I can't speak for Rebecca's books...my dd grew up and we didn't read them. Diane W. married for 22 years homeschooling 3 kiddos for 16 years Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nakia Posted October 11, 2010 Share Posted October 11, 2010 Let's see....In Felicity's books, her beloved grandfather dies, which made me cry, and there is mistreatment of a horse. Diane W. married for 22 years homeschooling 3 kiddos for 16 years Oh, I forgot that her grandfather dies. That is very sad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluemongoose Posted October 11, 2010 Share Posted October 11, 2010 We are finishing the curriculum Portraits of American Girlhood this year which uses the Felicity, Addy, Kirsten, Josefina, Samantha, Kit and Molly books. We are reading through the Kit books right now and will be finishing with Molly next month. I asked my 5yo which she liked the best, she said Felicity. The Grandfather part didnt seem as sad to her as it did to me, but the dad losing his job and the hardship in the Kit books has bothered her a lot. The same thing with the Addy books, it bothered her that the family was all torn apart. I cannot vouch for Molly yet, as we get to that next week. She has read half of the Julie and Kaya books independently, and we have not read any of the others...Rebecca etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MomOfOneFunOne Posted October 11, 2010 Share Posted October 11, 2010 From a practical standpoint, Kaya's hair is a nightmare to take care of. It's textured hair. Based on our Kaya experience (and we did indeed try to take care of it), I recommend against getting any doll with textured hair unless you have some kind of skill set I don't. The other dolls my girl has are easy, I mean easy-peasy, compared to her. My memory of Addy is just awful. They didn't just leave the rest of the family behind. Dad and brother escaped to the war, I think, and Addy and her mother escaped leaving the baby behind enslaved. This was really sad for my girl but for me, well, I'm tearing up even as I type and we read those years ago. Oh shoot, now I'm crying. I'm telling you, that was just awful. Kirsten, whose best friend dies, was really, really hard on my girl, too. I just asked my daughter. Her recommendation is Samantha. There is a lot of hardship for her friends but of all of them, she feels that this is the best for a sensitive soul. From a practical standpoint, her hair is easy to take care of. Oh, my daughter just mentioned that Samantha is discontinued but I bet you could get one on ebay or advertised for a used one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brigitte Posted October 11, 2010 Share Posted October 11, 2010 Let's see....In Felicity's books, her beloved grandfather dies, which made me cry, and there is mistreatment of a horse. In Kirsten's books, her best friend dies of cholera. In Addy's books, she and her mother run away to escape their plantation and she has to leave the rest of her family behind...heartwrenching. She is also forced to eat a tobacco worm by the plantation owner and someone is beaten...can't remember if Addy was ever struck. Not sure about Kaya's books, we didn't get all the way through them, but she is spanked by her father in the first one, I believe. Josephina's mother is dead in her books. In Samantha's books, we see the problems of children being forced to work in factories at a young age and her best friend is taken away and almost forced to go west on the Orphan Train. Kit's books deal with the Great Depression and all that goes with it. Kit's father loses his job, they take in boarders, she sees her father getting lunch in a soup kitchen, and she has a nasty old uncle, straight out of a Dickens' novel. In Molly's books, her dad is a surgeon in England in WWII and she experiences the uncertainty of not knowing what's happening to him. It's a little tender when they read his letters and occasionally there are moments of missing him, but overall her books would probably be the safest as far as serious drama goes. I can't speak for Rebecca's books...my dd grew up and we didn't read them. Diane W. married for 22 years homeschooling 3 kiddos for 16 years ...which is probably why the recommended age for American Girl dolls is 8...T Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kalphs Posted October 11, 2010 Share Posted October 11, 2010 Dd read Rebecca's books last year. She absolutely adores the story! The author, Jaqueline Dunbar Green, who happens to be Jewish by the way, did a tremendous amount of research before writing the storyline. Her research paid off because the stories are well written. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the4Rs Posted October 11, 2010 Share Posted October 11, 2010 My daughter isn't easily upset about stuff she reads. She read about Pompeii and the Titanic and she is only 6 so I am not worried about any of these issues but if your daughter is easily unsettled I would be hesistant to start her so soon on the historical ones....maybe the newest girl....Julie?? Or the doll of the year?? I don't know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kalphs Posted October 11, 2010 Share Posted October 11, 2010 Julie 1974 was Dd's second American Girl book. Dd thought it was "cool" to travel back to the time when Mom was growing up. Interestingly enough I was the same age Julie is when her story takes place in 1974. For me it was like traveling back in time with Dr. Who aboard the Tardis. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtollie Posted October 11, 2010 Share Posted October 11, 2010 I definitely recommend Felicity. My daughter has loved her stories and movie and got very interested in Colonial History as a result. The grandfather dying wasn't a big deal to my daughter (5 at the time) but it is scarier in the movie. And as a previous post said, she is being retired, so if you want a new doll, get her now! Samantha is also a favorite around here. Also, IMHO, it's good to have in mind what she wants before going in the store. I don't know which one you're going to, but for my girl, it was quite overwhelming. The chance to pick out something became stressful instead of fun (too many choices). The next time we went back we had an idea or two or three things she wanted and we chose from them at the store. Have fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jujsky Posted October 11, 2010 Share Posted October 11, 2010 I think it depends on which doll your daughter would find most interesting. If you want to expose her to all of them, I agree that Felicity would be the best place to start since they're retiring her and you might decide you want to get her the doll. Like others said, the grandfather dies and that's sad, but I had a much stronger reaction to it than my DD did. We read the Rebecca stories last year and there wasn't anything super heart-wrenching in those. Rebecca is hurt while protesting unfair factory conditions and one of her cousins hurt his leg coming over from Russia and is almost refused admittance into the country, but that's about the worst of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dangermom Posted October 11, 2010 Share Posted October 11, 2010 I'd go with Felicity. Kaya's stories are very good. She loses her foster sister (who is captured by another tribe) and spends most of the series trying to get her back, but that is resolved by the end. The doll is beautiful but I wouldn't want to try to care for that hair! Rebecca's stories are neat, but I am bugged by the storyline in which she acts in a movie (extra or bit part?) without telling her parents, who are opposed to the idea. Apparently she tells them a couple of books later, but in the ones I read she was just deceiving them. Otherwise they were very good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Sherry Posted October 12, 2010 Share Posted October 12, 2010 Let's see....In Felicity's books, her beloved grandfather dies, which made me cry, and there is mistreatment of a horse. In Kirsten's books, her best friend dies of cholera. In Addy's books, she and her mother run away to escape their plantation and she has to leave the rest of her family behind...heartwrenching. She is also forced to eat a tobacco worm by the plantation owner and someone is beaten...can't remember if Addy was ever struck. Not sure about Kaya's books, we didn't get all the way through them, but she is spanked by her father in the first one, I believe. Josephina's mother is dead in her books. In Samantha's books, we see the problems of children being forced to work in factories at a young age and her best friend is taken away and almost forced to go west on the Orphan Train. Kit's books deal with the Great Depression and all that goes with it. Kit's father loses his job, they take in boarders, she sees her father getting lunch in a soup kitchen, and she has a nasty old uncle, straight out of a Dickens' novel. In Molly's books, her dad is a surgeon in England in WWII and she experiences the uncertainty of not knowing what's happening to him. It's a little tender when they read his letters and occasionally there are moments of missing him, but overall her books would probably be the safest as far as serious drama goes. I can't speak for Rebecca's books...my dd grew up and we didn't read them. Diane W. married for 22 years homeschooling 3 kiddos for 16 years From what I remember of my youngest dd reading these books, who is now 15, I second thinking the Molly books are pretty safe. My daughter did get upset by the Addy books because there was a part about Addy's father being beaten as a slave. After that she didn't want to read the Addy books any longer. But she enjoyed the Molly books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Sherry Posted October 12, 2010 Share Posted October 12, 2010 I think it depends on which doll your daughter would find most interesting. If you want to expose her to all of them, I agree that Felicity would be the best place to start since they're retiring her and you might decide you want to get her the doll. Like others said, the grandfather dies and that's sad, but I had a much stronger reaction to it than my DD did. We read the Rebecca stories last year and there wasn't anything super heart-wrenching in those. Rebecca is hurt while protesting unfair factory conditions and one of her cousins hurt his leg coming over from Russia and is almost refused admittance into the country, but that's about the worst of it. Since it is being retired, I imagine that it may be a problem to buy items for that doll in the future, unless you can find items for her on places like ebay. Maybe I am wrong. Do they continue to sell items for the dolls for awhile even if the doll has been retired ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldskool Posted October 12, 2010 Share Posted October 12, 2010 We started with Josephina. We don't own her, but loved the books. Samantha is another good choice for books. Honestly, they are all good stories and my girls play with their dolls every day. Have fun at the bistro! Lesley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jilly Posted October 12, 2010 Share Posted October 12, 2010 I definitely recommend Felicity. My daughter has loved her stories and movie and got very interested in Colonial History as a result. :iagree:Felicity was my daughter's first doll, and it spurred on her interest in colonial history. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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