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A review by frogy927
Felicity Saves the Day: A Summer Story by Valerie Tripp
3.0
I am revisiting these books after listening to the American Girls podcast where two adult women re-read them. I would have said I read all the Felicity books as a kid if you asked, but now that I've "re-read" it, I don't think I actually did.
Is it weird to say that a 60 page book is poorly paced? I noticed it in the first one, but it was even worse here. The first half is an attempt to show historically accurate daily life, largely through the adults making awkward, stilted exposition every time they talk. And then the second half is all the plot, which is totally not believable but is at least fun.
I also felt this book was way worse in terms of handling slavery than the first one. This book made it clear that Felicity's family were slaveowners in the actual content of the book (which the first one didn't), but I felt the handling of it in the Look Into the Past section was really poor, and glossed over the whole thing in a way that does children a huge disservice.
Separate from the book on its own, the podcast is real skeptical of the way the books seem to be setting up Ben/Felicity, but that seemed totally real, believable, and historically accurate to me. Ben is 16 and wants to leave his apprenticeship with Felicity's father to fight in the revolution. At the end of the book, they agree that Ben will stay until he is 18 (a little over a year away), then he can go fight, then when the war is over, he has to return to complete his apprenticeship (another three years). Assuming Ben fights for roughly 3 years, when this is all over, he will be 24 and Felicity will be 18. At the end of his apprenticeship, Ben will either be able to open his own general store or take over the Merriman's store. If Ben and Felicity get married, Felicity will be marrying into a future in the same social status/level as that of her parents. Those ages and futures seem totally believable to me.
Is it weird to say that a 60 page book is poorly paced? I noticed it in the first one, but it was even worse here. The first half is an attempt to show historically accurate daily life, largely through the adults making awkward, stilted exposition every time they talk. And then the second half is all the plot, which is totally not believable but is at least fun.
I also felt this book was way worse in terms of handling slavery than the first one. This book made it clear that Felicity's family were slaveowners in the actual content of the book (which the first one didn't), but I felt the handling of it in the Look Into the Past section was really poor, and glossed over the whole thing in a way that does children a huge disservice.
Separate from the book on its own, the podcast is real skeptical of the way the books seem to be setting up Ben/Felicity, but that seemed totally real, believable, and historically accurate to me. Ben is 16 and wants to leave his apprenticeship with Felicity's father to fight in the revolution. At the end of the book, they agree that Ben will stay until he is 18 (a little over a year away), then he can go fight, then when the war is over, he has to return to complete his apprenticeship (another three years). Assuming Ben fights for roughly 3 years, when this is all over, he will be 24 and Felicity will be 18. At the end of his apprenticeship, Ben will either be able to open his own general store or take over the Merriman's store. If Ben and Felicity get married, Felicity will be marrying into a future in the same social status/level as that of her parents. Those ages and futures seem totally believable to me.