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A review by llama_lord
Meet Felicity: An American Girl by Valerie Tripp
5.0
Felicity was my favorite American Girl character as a kid even though I was well beyond the recommended age range for these books when I read them. I think they're meant for 8-10 year olds and I was probably 12-14 when I read them, but they were pure escapist fiction for me and I really connected with Felicity's character. I loved her bravery, brashness, and "spunkiness", to use American Girl's favorite description for her. I felt that out of all of the AG series I read (which were Kaya, Felicity, and Josefina), Felicity's had the best combination of compelling main character and compelling time period. Basically, I love this series and character and highly recommend it to anyone wanting to introduce historical fiction to their child.
Like a lot of other reviewers here, I am revisiting this series because I started listening to the American Girls podcast (a podcast which I am so far lukewarm on, btw). The gist of this story is that Felicity falls in love with Penny, a beautiful horse who is owned by a cruel man named Jiggy Nye. After being forbidden to visit Penny several times by both Jiggy Nye and her parents, Felicity starts visiting Penny in secret by sneaking out at night and ultimately befriends her. In the end, Felicity tames Penny but Jiggy Nye will not give Penny up, so Felicity sneaks back onto his property one last time and jumps Penny over the pasture fence and sets her free into the woods.
I did not remember the specifics of these books so reading them now as an adult, I was a bit surprised by Felicity's behavior. Specifically, her bringing her two young siblings to Jiggy Nye's property when she knows she isn't welcome there and he is a threat to her. Also I found it kind of humorous that Felicity literally never even considers obeying her parents when they forbid her from visiting Penny. As a former Horse Girl™, I can say with confidence that nothing Felicity does to help Penny is unusual or outrageous by Horse Girl Literature standards, especially because the narrative makes it clear that without Felicity's intervention Penny will be killed by Jiggy Nye. However, I thought it was a little bit odd that Felicity's father basically endorses her behavior at the end of the story by telling her that she did the right thing "trying to earn something she loved", and that in fact it would have only been wrong of her not to try. But her parents have been telling her the entire story to leave Penny alone, so in this scene her father is essentially telling her that obeying them would have been the morally wrong thing to do in this situation.
Of course I never picked up on any of that as a kid, so aside from all of that I really enjoyed the story. I especially liked the ending because I did not remember that Felicity ends this story by setting Penny free. I thought that that was an interesting and important sacrifice for Felicity to make; knowing that she might never see Penny again but at least Penny would be safe from Jiggy Nye's abuse. And again I just really like Felicity's setting and cast of characters, I think they all come together to make a interesting world and compelling series of books. I'm so excited to continue with her series.
However, before ending this review I want to touch on the unfortunate way this book deals with slavery. The Merrimans own a slave, Marcus, who is featured on the "Felicity's Friends & Family" page in the beginning of the book. Marcus is only described as a "helper" to the Merrimans, although the historical section in the back makes it clear that Africans brought to the colonies lived in slavery. I think there was a sad irony in the fact that this story revolves around Penny's integral need for freedom and the cruelty of her living under Jiggy Nye's abuse, when meanwhile Felicity is living in a world surrounded by slaves and does not extend this empathetic way of thinking to their lives as well. Does Marcus (and by extension the millions of other enslaved people in Colonial America) not also have a integral right to live freely and be safe from abuse? I understand this is a reflection of the time this story was written; it seems in 1991 unless the plot in a children's story was specifically about slavery they saw no need to address it. It goes to show how much has changed in our way of thinking since the early 90s, because I think if this book was written today the topic of slavery would be more intentionally addressed, but it is truly a shame that slavery is so swept under the rug in Felicity's world.
Like a lot of other reviewers here, I am revisiting this series because I started listening to the American Girls podcast (a podcast which I am so far lukewarm on, btw). The gist of this story is that Felicity falls in love with Penny, a beautiful horse who is owned by a cruel man named Jiggy Nye. After being forbidden to visit Penny several times by both Jiggy Nye and her parents, Felicity starts visiting Penny in secret by sneaking out at night and ultimately befriends her. In the end, Felicity tames Penny but Jiggy Nye will not give Penny up, so Felicity sneaks back onto his property one last time and jumps Penny over the pasture fence and sets her free into the woods.
I did not remember the specifics of these books so reading them now as an adult, I was a bit surprised by Felicity's behavior. Specifically, her bringing her two young siblings to Jiggy Nye's property when she knows she isn't welcome there and he is a threat to her. Also I found it kind of humorous that Felicity literally never even considers obeying her parents when they forbid her from visiting Penny. As a former Horse Girl™, I can say with confidence that nothing Felicity does to help Penny is unusual or outrageous by Horse Girl Literature standards, especially because the narrative makes it clear that without Felicity's intervention Penny will be killed by Jiggy Nye. However, I thought it was a little bit odd that Felicity's father basically endorses her behavior at the end of the story by telling her that she did the right thing "trying to earn something she loved", and that in fact it would have only been wrong of her not to try. But her parents have been telling her the entire story to leave Penny alone, so in this scene her father is essentially telling her that obeying them would have been the morally wrong thing to do in this situation.
Of course I never picked up on any of that as a kid, so aside from all of that I really enjoyed the story. I especially liked the ending because I did not remember that Felicity ends this story by setting Penny free. I thought that that was an interesting and important sacrifice for Felicity to make; knowing that she might never see Penny again but at least Penny would be safe from Jiggy Nye's abuse. And again I just really like Felicity's setting and cast of characters, I think they all come together to make a interesting world and compelling series of books. I'm so excited to continue with her series.
However, before ending this review I want to touch on the unfortunate way this book deals with slavery. The Merrimans own a slave, Marcus, who is featured on the "Felicity's Friends & Family" page in the beginning of the book. Marcus is only described as a "helper" to the Merrimans, although the historical section in the back makes it clear that Africans brought to the colonies lived in slavery. I think there was a sad irony in the fact that this story revolves around Penny's integral need for freedom and the cruelty of her living under Jiggy Nye's abuse, when meanwhile Felicity is living in a world surrounded by slaves and does not extend this empathetic way of thinking to their lives as well. Does Marcus (and by extension the millions of other enslaved people in Colonial America) not also have a integral right to live freely and be safe from abuse? I understand this is a reflection of the time this story was written; it seems in 1991 unless the plot in a children's story was specifically about slavery they saw no need to address it. It goes to show how much has changed in our way of thinking since the early 90s, because I think if this book was written today the topic of slavery would be more intentionally addressed, but it is truly a shame that slavery is so swept under the rug in Felicity's world.