Book-It 'o14! Book #20
The Fifty Books Challenge, year five! ( 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013) This was a library request.
Title: Happy Birthday, Kit! by Valerie Tripp with illustrations by Walter Rane
Details: Copyright 2001, Pleasant Company Productions
Synopsis (By Way of Back Cover): "Keeping up with boarding house chores means there's no time to plan a birthday party for Kit's tenth birthday. Besides, there's no money either, since Dad still doesn't have a job because of the Depression. Kit knows she shouldn't even be thinking about a party, but it's hard not to hope. Then, when Aunt Millie shows up unexpectedly at the Kittredges' front door, Kit finds new reasons to hope. And Aunt Millie is so full of good ideas and surprises that Kit loves having her there-- until, that is, one of Aunt Millie's ideas doesn't sound so good to Kit."
Why I Wanted to Read It: Remember my remembrances of the American Girl franchise? And my review of the first book in this series? And then the second? The third? Okay, then.
How I Liked It: Quite possibly the best of the series, this book manages to pull off a solid win for the merchandise formula, historical education, and the reader. Unlike the previous book where there was a "shoe-horned" quality in some of the writing, this one manages to fairly seamlessly pull off the elements and tie them tightly to the time period. Kit gets a pet since a dog is found homeless with a sign "CAN'T FEED HER ANYMORE!" (presumably due to the Depression). Her aunt (actually her father's adoptive mother) provides a wealth of insight into the scrimping/bare bones mindset, and in doing so throws Kit a "penny pincher" birthday party complete with a pretty new birthday dress (she chafes in the warm weather still wearing her winter clothes since she can't afford new ones) made from an old feed sack.
I admit to a personal bias with this particular book in the series. I was extremely fortunate enough to know several child and teenage witnesses to the Depression, who were willing to share their remembrances and stories of the period. My maternal grandmother, who would've been approximately Kit's age and her crafty older sister threw a "Depression dinner" for me one year, after fielding my many questions and knowing of my interest in the period. My great aunt painstakingly recreated dishes from the period that were delicious but economical (complete with a deliberately mismatched table setting that made my grandmother burst out laughing when she saw it).
Although Kit's aunt is portrayed as elderly in the 1930s, many of the ideas she puts across and the customs she uses to save money are the ones told to me by my own witnesses to the period, which makes the book ring with authenticity. In addition, it offers yet another lesson about the importance of considering another's outlook, and has an ending that's touching without being treacly, a hard balance to strike indeed.
The illustrations seemed to have returned to the sharpness of the second book, with only an occasional "unfinished" quality.
The "Peek into the Past"/"Looking Back" section is straightforward and well-tied with Kit's story, including a bit of history about flour/feed sack dresses as well as other means of "recycling" (although the term wasn't coined then) during the Depression.
Title: Happy Birthday, Kit! by Valerie Tripp with illustrations by Walter Rane
Details: Copyright 2001, Pleasant Company Productions
Synopsis (By Way of Back Cover): "Keeping up with boarding house chores means there's no time to plan a birthday party for Kit's tenth birthday. Besides, there's no money either, since Dad still doesn't have a job because of the Depression. Kit knows she shouldn't even be thinking about a party, but it's hard not to hope. Then, when Aunt Millie shows up unexpectedly at the Kittredges' front door, Kit finds new reasons to hope. And Aunt Millie is so full of good ideas and surprises that Kit loves having her there-- until, that is, one of Aunt Millie's ideas doesn't sound so good to Kit."
Why I Wanted to Read It: Remember my remembrances of the American Girl franchise? And my review of the first book in this series? And then the second? The third? Okay, then.
How I Liked It: Quite possibly the best of the series, this book manages to pull off a solid win for the merchandise formula, historical education, and the reader. Unlike the previous book where there was a "shoe-horned" quality in some of the writing, this one manages to fairly seamlessly pull off the elements and tie them tightly to the time period. Kit gets a pet since a dog is found homeless with a sign "CAN'T FEED HER ANYMORE!" (presumably due to the Depression). Her aunt (actually her father's adoptive mother) provides a wealth of insight into the scrimping/bare bones mindset, and in doing so throws Kit a "penny pincher" birthday party complete with a pretty new birthday dress (she chafes in the warm weather still wearing her winter clothes since she can't afford new ones) made from an old feed sack.
I admit to a personal bias with this particular book in the series. I was extremely fortunate enough to know several child and teenage witnesses to the Depression, who were willing to share their remembrances and stories of the period. My maternal grandmother, who would've been approximately Kit's age and her crafty older sister threw a "Depression dinner" for me one year, after fielding my many questions and knowing of my interest in the period. My great aunt painstakingly recreated dishes from the period that were delicious but economical (complete with a deliberately mismatched table setting that made my grandmother burst out laughing when she saw it).
Although Kit's aunt is portrayed as elderly in the 1930s, many of the ideas she puts across and the customs she uses to save money are the ones told to me by my own witnesses to the period, which makes the book ring with authenticity. In addition, it offers yet another lesson about the importance of considering another's outlook, and has an ending that's touching without being treacly, a hard balance to strike indeed.
The illustrations seemed to have returned to the sharpness of the second book, with only an occasional "unfinished" quality.
The "Peek into the Past"/"Looking Back" section is straightforward and well-tied with Kit's story, including a bit of history about flour/feed sack dresses as well as other means of "recycling" (although the term wasn't coined then) during the Depression.