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piburnjones 's review for:
Addy Learns a Lesson: A School Story
by Connie Rose Porter
Oh, sweet Addy. This girl knows how to apologize properly when she realizes she's hurt a friend. Proud of you for that, Addy.
Other thoughts from re-reading as an adult:
Harriet's mean girl tricks are a completely new concept to Addy, which led me to wonder: Exactly how many children were there on that plantation? Meet Addy says that the children were tasked with worming the tobacco plants, and also that there were 22 people enslaved there before Sam and Poppa are sold. We know six of them (Addy, Sam, Momma, Poppa, Auntie Lulu and Uncle Solomon - presumably Master Stevens is not counting a baby that can't work?). So of the other 16, there are probably only a few other children.
Given that, it makes sense that we don't hear about friendships in Meet Addy. Compare that to Meet Kirsten, where the bond with Marta is strong but Lars and Peter are kind of an afterthought. With Addy, it's all about Sam and Esther - as it needs to be, to really understand how hard it is for her to be parted from them.
I'm also impressed by how smart Addy is. It's not clear exactly how much time passes, but she clearly goes from learning the alphabet to winning that spelling match - with tricky words like "scissors"! - really fast. Granted, it sounds like she has nothing to do after school but sit in the garret and study, but clearly she makes the most of that time.
I love that the Addy books specify the parents' first names. Until American Girl podcast pointed it out, I hadn't noticed that Felicity's mother and Kirsten's mother never get named (though their fathers do, sigh). But chapter one of Meet Addy, right off the bat you get Ben and Ruth, and in this book, Sarah's mother gets a first name, too. That's awesome.
Other thoughts from re-reading as an adult:
Harriet's mean girl tricks are a completely new concept to Addy, which led me to wonder: Exactly how many children were there on that plantation? Meet Addy says that the children were tasked with worming the tobacco plants, and also that there were 22 people enslaved there before Sam and Poppa are sold. We know six of them (Addy, Sam, Momma, Poppa, Auntie Lulu and Uncle Solomon - presumably Master Stevens is not counting a baby that can't work?). So of the other 16, there are probably only a few other children.
Given that, it makes sense that we don't hear about friendships in Meet Addy. Compare that to Meet Kirsten, where the bond with Marta is strong but Lars and Peter are kind of an afterthought. With Addy, it's all about Sam and Esther - as it needs to be, to really understand how hard it is for her to be parted from them.
I'm also impressed by how smart Addy is. It's not clear exactly how much time passes, but she clearly goes from learning the alphabet to winning that spelling match - with tricky words like "scissors"! - really fast. Granted, it sounds like she has nothing to do after school but sit in the garret and study, but clearly she makes the most of that time.
I love that the Addy books specify the parents' first names. Until American Girl podcast pointed it out, I hadn't noticed that Felicity's mother and Kirsten's mother never get named (though their fathers do, sigh). But chapter one of Meet Addy, right off the bat you get Ben and Ruth, and in this book, Sarah's mother gets a first name, too. That's awesome.