American Girl books

[kidswife]

In reading the TWTM, SWB advises against reading "cartoon" books or books like "Sweet Valley High" because of the easy language, shallow plots, etc. I wondered if the American Girl series of books falls into this line. Because the authors focus in on a bit of American history, I thought it would be okay, because some history is learned at the same time. However, in reading just a few pages, the words are very conversational... nothing challenging.

 

Any thoughts?

 

Thanks!

 

-Theresa

[LAmom]

:bigear:

 

No advice here, just want to see what others say. My dd6 loves these books!

[Swirl]

Interesting that you would ask this now, as I too have the same question and would like to see other's responses. I've been reading a book on classical style homeschooling by the Bluedorn's. I found a list online of books, that in their opinion, are poor literary quality and/or not suitable for children. The American Girl Series is on that list. (Although I see some people on Amazon.com have that same opinion of their book. :D)

[Chris in VA]

I try to avoid books that are not well-written, but I have let dd read the Magic Treehouse series, Nancy Drew, and some of the American Girl books. There's a world of difference between these and Sweet Valley High (well, at least a continent of difference! lol).

 

I don't think they are particularly fascinating, use excellent vocab, have great plots/characters, or contain many of the other hallmarks of great lit, but...they are harmless, imo, as supplemental, occasional reading. ITA with Jessie Wise that a steady diet of low vocab, insipid plot and shallow characters, and simple sentence structure (really, really simple) will kill one's appetite for more challenging books. But a little, here and there? I don't have a problem with that.

 

Dd has some of the Royal Diaries, some MT, some AG, and then lots of deeper, more classic books, like Secret Garden and Heidi. Her favorite author is Cornelia Funke, a person whose books certainly qualify as complex, rich, and well-written. I did notice she was turning away a bit from harder books during her ps time in 3rd grade, but she's back now.

[Closeacademy]

After having two children who struggled to learn to read and it was really a painful process where I questioned things constantly. And dreading that my children would grow to hate reading. I let my dds read what they want. My oldest reads graphic novels and such. And yesterday, she told the doctor that her favorite subject in school is Reading.

 

Let them read whatever they want if you want them to have a love of reading.:001_smile:

[K&Rs Mom]

I think the AG books are fun & harmless. My girls like them, but have noticed that all the stories are pretty much the same. They do retain a lot of the history info. I'd much rather have them read the AG series, even though it's very simplistic, than something like Junie B Jones with bad grammar and bad attitudes. I think there's room in their literary diet for easier books, but draw the line when it's teaching them bad habits (grammar or otherwise).

[Guest TheBugsMom]

Though the AG books are not well written and follow a format style writing, I personally see no problem reading them if they are not the only thing being read. I let dd read a variety of books from baby to advanced, silly to serious, and easy to hard themes.

[Arch at Home]

AG along with Scholastic's My America and Dear America series have given my children the touchstones they need to allow them to make connections and make history really interesting for them. I am certain that we would have struggled with SOTW 4 if it hadn't been for Addy, Samantha, Rebecca, Molly, Kit, and Julie.

[cathmom]

My dds love these books! they have inspired their love of history (or maybe they loved history first and these just fit in). Each book has historical info at the end that is really worthwhile. The Kirsten series inspired one of them to learn Swedish and we are now taking a class together and have learned so much about Sweden. Listening to the Josefina stories on tape gave one of my dds a great accent in Spanish. That narrator was perfect - no accent in English, pronounced the Spanish words perfectly!

 

So, we love them here. Obviously, you wouldn't want them to be the only thing your dc read, but they are great.

[Guest Hayley_Croft]

I think that the American Girl books are a great way to get your daughters (and sons-they have some very strong male characters as well) to love history.  I agree that some of the earlier books were really simple and followed a similar format for each character, but the newer books are raising the bar.  We just finished reading the Caroline books and I was on the edge of my seat a few times.  My daughter is 6 and she was begging me to keep reading to her.  I think that if the books inspire that kind of love for reading and read alouds, then I don't have a problem with it.  We also use a wonderful curriculum called Girls of American History (girlsofamericanhistory.com) along with the AG books as a history curriculum.  The curriculum has suggestions for field trips, crafts, recipes, drawing and art projects, and a lot of other things.  We have done Kaya, Felicity, and just started Josephina this week and I am learning as much as my daughter.  I would highly recommend anyone who is interested in using AG, to get these studies to go along with the books.  

[Susie in MS]

We have used the Felicity books along with Portraits of American Girlhood (AG study), and my dd and I have truly enjoyed them. So much can be learned from them because they are not written over a child's head. We also use the Welcome to (__AG_name___'s) World books alone with them. We plan on using them all the way through Samantha.