American Girls

Addy Saves the Day by Connie Porter, 1994.

Now that the Civil War is over, families are looking forward to the soldiers returning home and reuniting with loved ones.  Some families have been split forever because loved ones died in the war.  Addy‘s family still doesn’t know what happened to her brother Sam or her little sister Esther.  She and her parents have been making inquiries at various aid societies that have been helping people who were sick, injured, or displaced by the war, but so far, they haven’t received any word about Sam or Esther.  To help raise more money for their search, they’ve started growing vegetables in a community garden that they can sell.

The Walkers aren’t the only family in this position, and their church has decided to hold a public fair to raise money for victims of the war and families in need.  Addy and Sarah are looking forward to taking part in the fair, but they are annoyed because they’ll have to work with bossy Harriet, a snobby girl from their school.  Harriet’s family is wealthier than most black families, and Harriet loves to brag about the things they have that others don’t.  Although many families, like Addy’s, are worried about not knowing where their relatives are or whether they are alive or dead, Harriet brags about knowing exactly which army unit her uncle is in and what a distinguished career he has had.  Harriet is eager to take part in the fair and tell the other children what to do, but her family doesn’t need any charity themselves.

Harriet tries to tell the children’s group at the church what they should do for their act at the fair, and it mainly involves her being the star of the show.  However, the group decides to take Addy’s suggestion instead.  They are going to make puppets out of old thread spools and put on a puppet show.  They can also sell some of the puppets they make.  Addy is proud that her idea was the one that the group chose because she thinks of it as a victory over snobby Harriet, but her parents remind her that the fair isn’t supposed to be a contest.

The purpose of the fair is to raise money to help people, and no one is supposed to compete with anyone.  If the act for the fair is going to be a success, Addy and Harriet will have to find a way of working together to make it happen.  When Harriet picks a fight with Addy while the children are making their puppets, the minister’s wife tells them that she’s going to make them work with each other at the puppet show, forcing them to sort out their differences.

It isn’t until Harriet receives some bad news that she comes to understand the pain that other families, like Addy’s, have been feeling, and Addy comes to see that, in the end, Harriet is just an ordinary person, a little girl with feelings that can be hurt.  With a new understanding of each other, the girls find the motivation that they need to work together and make the fair a success.  Then, when someone tries to steal their group’s hard-earned money, the two of them find a way to stop the thief and get the money back!

This is the book where Addy’s brother rejoins the family.  When he was freed from slavery, he joined the Union army and lost his arm to a battle wound.  He shows up at the fair and recognizes the jokes and riddles Addy tells at the puppet show as ones that he used to tell her.

In the back of the book, there is a section with historical information about the changes taking place in American society around the time of the Civil War with increased immigration and urbanization.  It describes public parks and monuments built after the war.  Since this book took place in summer, it also talks about what people would do in order to cool off from the summer heat.  Wealthier people would travel to resorts, but poorer people would make do with enjoying the relatively cool public parks, swimming (less so for women and girls than men and boys), and taking part in outdoor activities.  In all cases, the various summer activities were still segregated by race with separate areas in public parks and sports teams for black people.