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lkthomas07's review against another edition
4.0
It was so fun reading this to my 9 year old! She was so concerned with all of Molly’s hijinks! Still exciting for the kids - and I cried at the end...
dianametzger's review against another edition
4.0
Read to Isabel: My 7 year old daughter adores this one and it made her gasp and laugh and get nervous and showed how much she’s attached to the character of Molly. My only complaint is that it’s wildly superficial about equating glasses and braids to immaturity and that Molly would rather have poor vision then wear her glasses in the show. It’s also really sycophantic about Molly being SO talented and the only thing holding her back is her looks. It was just a weird turn for the book to take.
amybbooks's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed Molly’s series, and I think it did a great job of capturing what life at home was like for families during WWII. This is one of my favorites from the series because I did really like the lesson that Molly learned in this story about accepting herself. I wish that we would have seen the reunion of Molly’s whole family with her father, and I also think the story would have been even better if the family, and maybe a few of their friends could have done a smaller scale version of their show for Molly’s dad. That would have been a sweeter ending, I think.
finalefile's review against another edition
5.0
I think this is the best book of the series. It has a happy, tearjerker ending that makes me feel all happy and warm inside. And who can forget Molly's hair misadventures with the permanent wave and pin curls? It also has a great epilogue that describes the economic and societal outcomes of WWII in a way that children can easily understand.
hannahrose_99's review against another edition
5.0
this is the molly book i remember the most and probably is my favorite! it’s the reason my mom always put my hair in pin curls as a kid!
elizabethtye's review against another edition
5.0
5/5 stars. Perfect ending to the series. Love having these for my daughter.
impybelle's review against another edition
4.0
The end of the book will probably always make me cry, at least a little.
thewordwitch's review
4.0
As someone who identified strongly as a Molly as a child (and still does as an adult), I have had to take a good hard look at myself in this really uncomfortable way. Did I have an existential crisis? No. Is that because I just had one a few months ago during the pandemic? Probably. There's been moments in this series where I've read this and been like, "Oh god..am I really like that?" (Ex. Betraying a friend by dumping her worst fear on her - literally (Molly Saves the Day) ) Or other times where Molly has been kind of a brat (Happy Birthday Molly!) when she concocted an elaborate revenge scheme on a British girl who had been relocated to their home. (Also, total side not on that one - why not make her Jewish? Then they could touch upon all the horrors of the Holocaust which was barely noted in the Peek into the Past in Book 6. Book 6!)
Anyway, onto this book. Perms had had a presence in my childhood, as had crimping and other brutal forms of hair torture. So, I had been totally along with the 'Molly Gets a Perm' ride. I remember being ready to be horrified by the poofy results, but instead her older sister had come to save Molly from a poor life choice. This was relatable content for me, since I took have an older sister who has certainly saved me from other poor life choices.
As an adult reading this, it was hard to deal with the idea that a girl with straight brown hair and glasses couldn't be viewed as pretty enough, and that so much of this book focused on Molly's looks. She's 10. It's gross how as a society in general we've always placed a certain inherent value on a woman's looks, and seeing that in a book for young children is not something that I came here for. I remember distinctly not wanting to wear my glasses when I was around this age, and could it be Val Tripp's fault that I went blindly about life mistaking strangers for friends and friends for strangers? Maybe.
I do think there is a saving grace at the end of this book, where the fact that Molly looks the same as she always did has meaning to her father. As a parent, it's probably a gift to have someone who hasn't changed so drastically you worry you won't fit in anymore after being gone for so long. Has Molly grown? Debatable - the examples Jill gave were kind of trash. She cited Molly's 'generosity' towards Emily as a sign of growth when we all know Molly had been fully ready to banish her from it and had been pretty nasty to her when Jill wasn't around. If she has, it's not enough for her Dad to have missed major points in her life. She is still kind of a kid, and she's still stubbornly sticking to her guns.
(As a reviewer, I try to keep in mind that this book is written for little girls, and not me, but whatever. Once a Molly, always a Molly, so this is all about me no matter the age. Kidding - or am I?)
Anyway, onto this book. Perms had had a presence in my childhood, as had crimping and other brutal forms of hair torture. So, I had been totally along with the 'Molly Gets a Perm' ride. I remember being ready to be horrified by the poofy results, but instead her older sister had come to save Molly from a poor life choice. This was relatable content for me, since I took have an older sister who has certainly saved me from other poor life choices.
As an adult reading this, it was hard to deal with the idea that a girl with straight brown hair and glasses couldn't be viewed as pretty enough, and that so much of this book focused on Molly's looks. She's 10. It's gross how as a society in general we've always placed a certain inherent value on a woman's looks, and seeing that in a book for young children is not something that I came here for. I remember distinctly not wanting to wear my glasses when I was around this age, and could it be Val Tripp's fault that I went blindly about life mistaking strangers for friends and friends for strangers? Maybe.
I do think there is a saving grace at the end of this book, where the fact that Molly looks the same as she always did has meaning to her father. As a parent, it's probably a gift to have someone who hasn't changed so drastically you worry you won't fit in anymore after being gone for so long. Has Molly grown? Debatable - the examples Jill gave were kind of trash. She cited Molly's 'generosity' towards Emily as a sign of growth when we all know Molly had been fully ready to banish her from it and had been pretty nasty to her when Jill wasn't around. If she has, it's not enough for her Dad to have missed major points in her life. She is still kind of a kid, and she's still stubbornly sticking to her guns.
(As a reviewer, I try to keep in mind that this book is written for little girls, and not me, but whatever. Once a Molly, always a Molly, so this is all about me no matter the age. Kidding - or am I?)