Posted on by TracyC

Felicity’s Surprise

American Girls

FelicityChristmas

Felicity’s Surprise by Valerie Tripp, 1991.

FelicityChristmasBenProtestThis is part of the Felicity, An American Girl series.

Christmas is coming, and Felicity is excited. She and Miss Manderly’s other students, Elizabeth Cole and her older sister, Annabelle, have all been invited to the Christmas party at the Governor’s palace! Miss Manderly is a friend of the dancing master who has been giving the governor’s children dancing lessons, so she was able to get invitations for her students. There will be a special dance lesson for all the children who come. With food, music, and dancing at the party, Felicity and Elizabeth are looking forward to dressing up like grown-up ladies going to a ball.

However, Ben, her father’s apprentice is against the idea of Felicity going because the Governor sides with the King and the Loyalists against the Patriots. He can’t understand why Felicity would want to attend a party with people who have treated the colonists so badly and have even boycotted her father’s store because he refuses to sell the taxed tea. However, Felicity’s father understands that the invitation was meant kindly and that it would be a special event for Felicity, so he tells her that she can go if she likes. Christmas should be a time for peace and enjoyment.

FelicityChristmasMotherIllAt Miss Manderly’s the girls start having dancing lessons, and Felicity wishes for a new gown, like the one on the elegant doll at the milliner’s shop. Since Felicity is usually not very interested in clothes, her mother decides to grant her wish.

When Felicity’s mother falls ill, not only do Felicity’s Christmas dreams seem dashed, but she worries about whether her mother will recover from her illness. Everything that Felicity was concerned about before, the dress, the dancing, the party, all suddenly seems unimportant and silly in the face of something more serious. However, miracles come to those who work for them, and Felicity receives some unexpected help from friends.

There is a section in the back with historical information about how Christmas was celebrated in Colonial America.

The book is currently available online through Internet Archive.

Posted on by TracyC

Happy Birthday, Felicity!

American Girls

FelicityBirthday

Happy Birthday, Felicity! by Valerie Tripp, 1992.

FelicityBirthdayGuitarThis is part of the Felicity, An American Girl series.

It’s Felicity’s birthday, and her grandfather has given her a very special present: a guitar that once belonged to her grandmother, who is now dead. Felicity’s grandfather has heard Felicity singing and thinks that she shares her grandmother’s gift for music. He also thinks that Felicity is old enough to take proper care of the instrument, stressing the need for her to be responsible with it. Her mother tells her that she should keep the guitar safely in the parlor since she isn’t quite old enough for proper music lessons, like the ones Miss Manderly is giving Elizabeth’s older sister, Annabelle. Annabelle has been getting on Elizabeth and Felicity’s nerves by bragging about how they are still to young to even hold her guitar, although Annabelle really has no musical talent and struggles in her lessons.

Although Felicity knows that she should leave the guitar at home, she can’t resist taking it to Miss Manderly’s so that Miss Manderly can tune it for her and so that she can show it off to Elizabeth and Annabelle. Miss Manderly does tune the guitar for her and compliments her on owning such a fine instrument.

FelicityBirthdayGunpowderHowever, on the way home, something frightening happens. Felicity sees Elizabeth’s father, a known Loyalist, talking to a British soldier. She ducks into a bush so they won’t see her, and she hears them talking about the governor removing the gunpowder from the Williamsburg arsenal so the colonists can’t use it in the rebellion that has been threatening to come for some time.

Felicity hurries home to tell her family what she has heard, but when her mother and grandfather see that she has taken the guitar out of the house and gotten it wet and dirty while she was hiding, they refuse to listen to her. Her grandfather, also a Loyalist, particularly thinks that she’s making up stories to cover her irresponsibility about the guitar.

But, Felicity knows what she heard, and the situation is serious. What can she do to prove it to everyone?

In the back of the book, there is a section with historical information about how children were raised in Colonial America.  Another good book on the same topic is Going to School in 1776.

The book is currently available online through Internet Archive.

Posted on by TracyC

Felicity Saves the Day

American Girls

FelicitySummer

Felicity Saves the Day by Valerie Tripp, 1992.

This is part of the Felicity, An American Girl series.

FelicitySummerPlantationFelicity’s grandfather is a wealthy man who owns the Kings Cross Plantation.  Every summer, Felicity and her family go to visit him there, and Felicity loves it.  Her grandfather teaches her a lot of things, like which plants can be used for food and medicine, and takes her for horse rides around his estate.

This year, while Felicity’s father and his apprentice Ben are minding the store at home,  Felicity has a special surprise.  As her grandfather inspects a group of horses that a friend wants to sell him, Felicity is stunned to recognize Penny, the horse she freed from an abusive owner in the first book of the series.  Penny is a little thin and dirty but otherwise well, to Felicity’s relief!  Her grandfather purchases Penny for Felicity and promises to keep her safely at his plantation so that Felicity can visit her and ride her regularly.

Felicity is happier than she’s been in a long time and writes an enthusiastic letter home to tell her father and Ben, but soon, she learns that Ben is not at home with her father.  Felicity and her siblings have set up a bird bottle, a special bottle that acts like a bird house for birds to nest in, and she checks it daily to see if there are any birds to show to her little brother.  One day, she finds a message in the bottle from Ben, pleading for help, along with a map to a place in the woods and Ben’s whistle.  When Felicity goes to the spot in the woods and blows the whistle, Ben comes out of hiding.

FelicitySummerBountyHuntersBen tells Felicity that he ran away from his apprenticeship to join the revolutionary army.  He wants badly to fight for the colonies’ freedom from England, but he had a bad fall while traveling and hurt his leg.  Felicity tries to convince Ben to let her get help for him and to return to her father to finish his apprenticeship, but Ben doesn’t want Felicity’s grandfather to find out that he’s there or why he ran away because he knows that he disapproves of the revolutionaries.  Because Ben kept her secret when she used to sneak out to see Penny, Felicity reluctantly agrees to keep Ben’s presence a secret for awhile, sneaking him some food and supplies.  She tells Ben that, while she thinks that standing up for what he believes is good, he’s going about it in the wrong way because breaking his apprenticeship was dishonest.

Then, Felicity learns that her father has placed an advertisement in the newspaper with a reward for anyone who can find Ben, and some rough-looking bounty hunters show up at the plantation to inquire about it.  Felicity knows that she must try to convince Ben to return on his own before he gets hurt worse than he already has!

A large part of the Felicity books is about taking responsibility and whether or not it’s right to break rules in the name of a good cause.  Felicity herself broke the rules to befriend Penny and later free her from a master who would probably have killed her.  This story raises the question of whether Ben’s form of rule-breaking is similar to what Felicity did or not.  Their situations and the reasons for their rule-breaking are different.  In her situation, Felicity had tried to behave as lawfully as she could until it became apparent that the only way to save Penny’s life was through rule-breaking.  In Ben’s situation, although he wants to help what he sees as a good cause, his rule-breaking isn’t strictly necessary, and he never tried to discuss his feelings with Felicity’s father and to work out an arrangement before running away because he thought that he already knew what Mr. Merriman would say.  Felicity points these things out to Ben, along with the fact that Ben is not in any real position to help the cause that he supports because he is injured, wanted, and in hiding.  He started on this venture ill-prepared and inconsiderate of the other people who depend on him back home and his own future, and while his belief in the revolutionary cause is genuine, he is also afraid of admitting his mistakes and needs to be urged to make things right.

In the back of the book, there is a section that talks about what people in Colonial America would do during summertime.  The weather in Virginia is hot and humid during the summer, and not everyone would get a chance to travel to the countryside, like Felicity’s family did.  The book talks about various ways colonists would use to cope with heat (keeping the kitchen with its fire separate from the house, eating in an open breezeway in the house, wearing lighter clothes, boys would go swimming although girls didn’t, etc.).  It also talks about life on Virginia plantations, including slavery.

Posted on by TracyC

Felicity Learns a Lesson

American Girls

FelicityLesson

Felicity Learns a Lesson by Valerie Tripp, 1991.

FelicityLessonGirlsThis is the second book in the Felicity, An American Girl series.

So far, Felicity has mainly been taught at home, learning to read and write and take care of basic household tasks, like cooking and sewing, from her mother.  However, Felicity’s parents have decided that it’s time for her to begin furthering her education.  Felicity fantasizes about studying Greek, Latin, and geography, like boys do in college, but girls of her time do not receive that kind of education.  Some girls take on apprenticeships, learning professions such as seamstress, which Felicity thinks might be exciting, but her father is a wealthy merchant, which means that Felicity will be educated as a gentlewoman, not as a girl preparing herself for a trade.  A gentlewoman’s education involves lessons in penmanship, fine stitchery, dancing, manners, and hostess skills.  Felicity doesn’t find that prospect as exciting.

Felicity starts taking lessons from Miss Manderly, a respected gentlewoman, in manners and the practical arts that girls from well-off families of her era were expected to know. Two other girls, a pair of sisters who have recently arrived from England, are also taking lessons from Miss Manderly, and at first, Felicity worries that they will know more than she does.  However, they are also young and have lessons of their own to learn.  The younger of the sisters, Elizabeth, becomes Felicity’s best friend.  However, Annabelle, the older girl, is disapproving.  She misses her old life in England and doesn’t think that anything in the colonies is good.

FelicityLessonAnnabelleThen, Felicity’s father declares that because of the tax on tea, he will no longer carry it in his shop. It leaves Felicity feeling conflicted about Miss Manderly’s lessons, which include the proper way to serve tea. She has started enjoying the lessons and doesn’t want to lose Elizabeth’s friendship, but she wants to support her father, too. Then, Annabelle criticizes Felicity for what her father said at one of the lessons, prompting Felicity to storm out angrily. She is doubly angry and hurt that Elizabeth didn’t try to defend her, making her doubt Elizabeth’s friendship.

At first, Felicity thinks that there is no way she can return to the lessons, but her mother convinces her that if there’s something that she really cares about (the lessons, Elizabeth’s friendship, supporting her father, etc.) she will find a way to work through the conflict rather than give up on it.  She also points out that some people aren’t as brave as others and find it more difficult to speak their minds and that Felicity should give Elizabeth another chance at friendship.  In the end, Felicity works out a compromise for her lessons using what Miss Manderly has already taught her, and Elizabeth finally finds the courage to tell Annabelle how she really feels about her behavior and the way she treats both herself and Felicity.

Each of the girls in the American Girls stories has her own personality, including strengths and weaknesses. Felicity is a spirited girl, but at first, she has a tendency to be too impatient and impulsive. Part of what she learns is the need take responsibility for her choices and to think things through before she acts.  Elizabeth, who is shy and easily intimidated by her older sister, learns that nothing will improve until she makes her true feelings known and that she has as much right as anyone else to be treated with respect.  Annabelle is a rather self-centered individual and is genuinely surprised when Elizabeth finally stands up to her.  In some ways, Annabelle is unfortunate because she does not find a friend at Miss Manderly’s like her sister does, but readers will recognize that Annabelle’s lack of friends is partly her own fault because she is deliberately antagonistic and does not try to earn Felicity’s friendship.

In the back of the book, there is a section that explains more about how children were educated in the American colonies around the time of the Revolutionary War.  Other good books on this topic are Going to School in 1776 and Colonial Crafts.

This book is currently available online through Internet Archive.

Posted on by TracyC

Meet Felicity

American Girls

MeetFelicity

Meet Felicity by Valerie Tripp, 1991.

MeetFelicityPennyThis is the first book in the Felicity, An American Girl series.

Felicity, or Lissie as her family sometimes call her, is the daughter of a prominent store owner in Williamsburg, Virginia in 1774.  Sometimes, her father allows her to help in the shop, which is something that she enjoys.  However, that has happened less since her father took on a new apprentice named Ben Davidson.  Ben is fairly quiet and shy, and Felicity is only just getting to know him.  She sometimes envies boys for the more exciting opportunities they have while she has to help with more routine chores, like sewing, at home.

One thing that Felicity loves more than anything else is horses.  One day, she goes with Ben while he makes a delivery to Jiggy Nye, the tanner.  Jiggy Nye has a new horse that he says he won at gambling.  However, Jiggy Nye is cruel to any animal he gets, and Felicity fears for the beautiful horse he now has.  When Felicity tries to see the horse, which she calls Penny because of the color of its coat, Jiggy Nye drives her away.

That the horse is a fine animal and that Jiggy Nye is treating it badly are obvious, but at first, there doesn’t seem to be anything that Felicity can do about it.  Then, Jiggy Nye shouts at the horse one day that it’s worthless because he can’t handle it and that he’d give it to anyone who can ride it.  Taking Jiggy Nye at his word, Felicity sets out to tame Penny.

MeetFelicityRidingEvery morning for about a month, Felicity sneaks out of the house early, dressed in a pair of breeches that she borrowed from Ben without his permission.  She goes to visit Penny and gradually gains her trust.  When Penny finally allows her to ride her, Felicity thinks that she has won ownership of her, but Jiggy Nye accuses her of theft and takes back the horse.  He denies that he ever promised to give her to anyone who could ride her, although Felicity’s younger siblings agree that they heard him say so.

Felicity fears more than ever that Jiggy Nye will kill Penny, but now that she no longer has a chance of getting her from Jiggy Nye for herself, can she find another way to give Penny her freedom?

There is a section in the back of the book that describes life in Colonial America, particularly in Williamsburg, Virginia.  It also mentions the Colonial Williamsburg living history museum.  Another book about life in Colonial Williamsburg, with photographs from the living history museum, is Mary Geddy’s Day.

This book is currently available online through Internet Archive.