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littleseal's review
Probably my least favorite of the My Journey With... series so far (I haven't read all of them at the time of this review) but it wasn't bad. I think because I didn't care for Molly's original camp story, I just felt it was more of the same (but I do like this book better than the camp story from the original series).
Content Warnings
Moderate: Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, War, and Abandonment
Minor: Death and Death of parent
emilymyhren's review against another edition
adventurous
reflective
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.5
panda_incognito's review against another edition
4.0
When American Girl started releasing choose your own adventure books about journeys with their characters, I was like, "That's really corny and contrived, and I'm not interested."
When American Girl released such a book about Molly, I was like, "OH YES."
This is the first new Molly book that American Girl has released in almost a decade. The company retired Molly years ago, and when they revamped their line, releasing the books in a different format and without their illustrations, Molly was not included. The original Molly books at the library where I work are getting old and worn, and since I refuse to contemplate a future in which kids don't read about this character, I'm thrilled that the company has now re-released her books and published this new one.
Best of all, this choose your own adventure novel is written by the original Molly author. It's entertaining and fun, and since I wanted to experience all of the stories, I read the book cover to cover. My middle school years reading fantasy novels have left me well-equipped for holding multiple storylines in my head at once, so I was able to follow each different narrative thread, and they all had interesting attributes. I enjoyed how consistent this new book was with the former series, and since I had always wanted more detail about Molly's camp experiences, this was great.
Molly's fear of putting her head in the water gets further treatment in this book, and I love that, because I was afraid of swimming as a kid. When I first read the series, I couldn't get over the fact that Molly had glasses AND regarded swimming with terror, because it was hard to find representation in fiction for either of those things, much less both of them together. I related to Molly so much, and she has a very special place in my heart. The swimming part of this story was well-handled, convincing, and sympathetic, taking water fears seriously while also showing that it's possible to overcome them. I love Molly, and I'm so glad that now, as an adult, I have gotten to read a new book about her.
When American Girl released such a book about Molly, I was like, "OH YES."
This is the first new Molly book that American Girl has released in almost a decade. The company retired Molly years ago, and when they revamped their line, releasing the books in a different format and without their illustrations, Molly was not included. The original Molly books at the library where I work are getting old and worn, and since I refuse to contemplate a future in which kids don't read about this character, I'm thrilled that the company has now re-released her books and published this new one.
Best of all, this choose your own adventure novel is written by the original Molly author. It's entertaining and fun, and since I wanted to experience all of the stories, I read the book cover to cover. My middle school years reading fantasy novels have left me well-equipped for holding multiple storylines in my head at once, so I was able to follow each different narrative thread, and they all had interesting attributes. I enjoyed how consistent this new book was with the former series, and since I had always wanted more detail about Molly's camp experiences, this was great.
Molly's fear of putting her head in the water gets further treatment in this book, and I love that, because I was afraid of swimming as a kid. When I first read the series, I couldn't get over the fact that Molly had glasses AND regarded swimming with terror, because it was hard to find representation in fiction for either of those things, much less both of them together. I related to Molly so much, and she has a very special place in my heart. The swimming part of this story was well-handled, convincing, and sympathetic, taking water fears seriously while also showing that it's possible to overcome them. I love Molly, and I'm so glad that now, as an adult, I have gotten to read a new book about her.
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