Posted on by TracyC

Happy Birthday, Kirsten

Kirsten, An American Girl

Happy Birthday, Kirsten by Janet Beeler Shaw, 1987.

It’s spring, and Kirsten’s family is planning to build a new barn on the farm that they share with Uncle Olav and his family, and her mother is expecting a new baby.

One day, while they are outside, working, dark clouds come, the wind picks up, and Aunt Inger thinks it might be a tornado. She urges everyone to get into the root cellar for safety. Miss Winston, the school teacher who is staying with Uncle Olav and Aunt Inger, joins them in the cellar. She brings her quilt with her for comfort and because it reminds her of home, so she wouldn’t want to lose it to a tornado.

She tells Kirsten and her cousins that her mother and other women and girls in her family made the quilt for her as a present when she left Maine. The scraps of cloth in the quilt came from clothes members of her family used to wear and things she used to wear when she was younger. Everyone who worked on the quilt signed it, making it a “friendship quilt.” Kirsten and her cousins ask Miss Winston if she could teach them to make a quilt like this one, and she agrees. She says that she will give them some muslin for the backing, but they’ll have to supply the scraps of cloth for the designs themselves. Because it takes a lot of work to make a big quilt, she suggests that they each make a square. Quilts are an unusual concept to the Swedish family because people in Sweden during their time usually use woven blankets. Kirsten’s mother also reminds her that she will need her help to sew more clothes for the new baby. Kirsten’s cousins, Anna and Lisbeth, suggest that they do their quilt sewing during recess at school, and Miss Winston agrees.

At school, the girls trade cloth scraps with each other and invite other girls to join them in quilting. One of the other girls, Mary Stewart, has done quilting before, so she helps the others. While the girls sew, they talk, and Kirsten talks about the baby that her mother is expecting. Mary says that the little girl her family calls her little sister is actually her cousin. She was born as one of a set of twins to Mary’s aunt, but the other twin died at birth, and their mother died shortly after, so Mary’s mother took the baby to raise with her family. Stories like that worry Kirsten because she worries that something might happen to her mother or the new baby.

Mary also brings up the topic of whether or not Miss Winston will move on. She’s been going to Powderkeg School for four years, and every year, the previous teacher moves on, and they get a new one. Although Kirsten initially had trouble with Miss Winston, she has become fond of her, and she wouldn’t like to see her go. With all the other changes happening in Kirsten’s life, she doesn’t want any other major changes now. Kirsten suggests to the other girls that they turn their quilting project into another friendship quilt for Miss Winston, signing it like her family members signed their quilt. The other girls debate about whether they could manage to finish a quilt like that by the end of the summer term. Lisbeth thinks they could, but Mary doesn’t want to rush the project because the best part of making a quilt is sewing it with your friends.

The talk then turns to Kirsten’s birthday. She will be turning ten years old soon. She didn’t celebrate her last birthday because that was during their voyage to America. Mary says that ten is a more important birthday anyway, although Kirsten isn’t sure if her family will do anything for her birthday this year, either. Everyone’s attention is taken up with preparations for the new baby.

When Kirsten’s mother tells her that the new baby is about to be born, she also tells her that she remembers the day Kirsten was born, too. She says that she will never forget that day because she had been hoping for a daughter, and she knows that Kirsten’s birthday is coming in two more weeks. Kirsten is happy that her mother remembers, and she hurries to get her aunt to help with the birth of the baby.

Fortunately, Kirsten’s new sister is born safely, although Kirsten has to take some time away from school to help her mother with the new baby and household chores. However, her mother tells her that her friends from school will be coming to the raising of the new barn, which is the day before Kirsten’s birthday, and she will allow Kirsten to have her birthday free to have fun with her friends.

At the barn raising, Kirsten and her friends have a chance to work on their quilt again. Kirsten is behind on making her quilt square, but her friends have arranged a special surprise for Kirsten’s birthday.

There is a section in the back of the book about babies and young children on the frontier during the mid-1800s. Children were born at home then, with the help of family members and midwives because there were few doctors and hospitals on the frontier. With limited access to medicine and without some of the modern medicines we have today, childbirth and early childhood were often risky. It was sadly common for families to lose a child or two before they were five years old. Because accidents as well as illness posed a threat to young children, parents were often strict with discipline so their children would listen to them and follow their instructions to avoid disaster.

This part of the book also talks about the phases of a child’s life on the frontier. Older children wore clothes that looked like smaller versions of their parents clothes, and they would often do the same kinds of chores that their parents did on their farms. Most children expected to become farmers or farm wives, like their parents. They were raised doing farm work, and they didn’t expect to do anything else when they were older.

Although their lives were filled with chores, there were still some opportunities for fun. Sometimes, neighbors would turn chores into social occasions, called “bees.” These work parties could center around any kind of chore that the community needed to do and could do together, like raising a barn or making quilts, like the characters in the story. Along with accomplishing their task, it was a chance for friends and neighbors to get together and talk and have a little fun.

The book is available to borrow and read for free online through Internet Archive (multiple copies).

My Reaction

I don’t think I read this particular book in the Kirsten series when I was young. I wasn’t as fond of the Kirsten books as I was other series in the American Girls franchise because there are some really sad parts in the series. However, I really enjoyed this particular book. Kirsten is worried at first about the welfare of her mother and her family’s new baby because she knows that life on the frontier can be dangerous, and sometimes mothers die in childbirth, and babies don’t always survive. Fortunately, everything turns out well for Kirsten’s mother and new little sister.

This is a happy spring story with a focus on new life and friendship. Even the smallest kitten in the new litter seems like it’s going to be fine. I liked it because, while life on the frontier could be very hard, it’s nice to see that not everything turned out as a tragedy. The book ends with the barn raising and birthday celebration for Kirsten.

Posted on by TracyC

Ramona Forever

Ramona Forever by Beverly Cleary, 1984.

Ramona is in third grade now, and there are new changes coming in her life. At the beginning of the book, she and her sister Beezus still go to Howie’s house every day after school so Howie’s grandmother can look after them because both of their parents work, although lately Beezus has been finding other places to go after school, like her friend’s house and the library. That’s how Ramona knows from Howie that his rich Uncle Hobart, who has a job in the oil industry, will be coming to visit soon from Saudi Arabia. Ramona mentions it one night at dinner when her Aunt Beatrice is visiting. Aunt Beatrice says that she remembers Hobart from when they were kids and went to the same school, but she hasn’t seen him in years.

When Uncle Hobart comes, he brings a couple of small camel saddles for Howie and Willa Jean to play with. He also gives Howie a unicycle and Willa Jean a small accordion. When he meets Ramona, he embarrasses her by calling her Howie’s girlfriend and singing a verse from an old song about a woman named Ramona (links repaired Nov. 2023), and Ramona takes an instant dislike to him. She flat out tells him that she doesn’t like adults who tease (Neither do I, and I’m in my 40’s.), and he promises to reform, although Ramona thinks that he’s still joking around and isn’t satisfied.

Uncle Hobart takes Howie outside to learn to ride the unicycle, and Willa Jean and Ramona try the accordion. When neither of them can figure out how to use it, little Willa Jean gets frustrated and sits on it, breaking it. Howie’s grandmother, Mrs. Kemp, gets angry at the girls, and Ramona thinks that the accordion was a dumb present to give to a little girl who wouldn’t be able to use it properly for years. Mrs. Kemp tries to shame Ramona to Uncle Hobart, blaming her for the incident. (As if Ramona was the babysitter instead of Mrs. Kemp, who incidentally, is being paid by Ramona’s parents to watch her as well as watching her own grandchildren. Ramona didn’t think of this, but I certainly did.) Ramona never really liked being watched by Mrs. Kemp, but the blaming and shaming makes her realize that Mrs. Kemp actually doesn’t like her and wants to make her feel bad, which is a disturbing feeling from someone who is supposed to be taking care of her. Ramona decides right then that Mrs. Kemp will never look after her again.

When the family talks about the situation at dinner that night, Beezus supports Ramona’s assertion that Mrs. Kemp doesn’t like them, saying that’s the reason why she’s been trying to find other places to go after school. Ramona’s mother asks her if she ever thought that maybe Mrs. Kemp would rather not be a babysitter at all, for either her grandchildren or Ramona, but women of her generation were only brought up to take care of their homes and children, and that’s all she knows how to do, whether she likes it or not.

Personally, I think this is true, but also irrelevant. Mrs. Kemp has a job to do, one that she’s being paid for, and if she’s taking the money, she also needs to take responsibility. Mrs. Kemp blames Ramona for not watching Willa Jean when that was her job, not Ramona’s, and Mrs. Kemp also has a responsibility to Ramona herself because that’s what she’s being paid for. Ramona is Mrs. Kemp’s babysitting charge. She’s a child, the child of paying customers who are specifically paying Mrs. Kemp for childcare. Ramona is not Mrs. Kemp’s personal servant or the babysitter for her granddaughter. Ramona is especially not Mrs. Kemp’s personal therapist or caregiver, who needs to help her manage her emotions or life decisions. Ramona is a child who is only with Mrs. Kemp for the purpose of being cared for by her, so let’s keep it straight who has a responsibility to whom in this situation. Besides not liking adults who tease like bratty children, I also don’t like adults who try to make kids be responsible for things that they should be responsible for themselves. Seeing Mrs. Kemp accepting money in exchange for irresponsibility and a bad attitude about her own general life choices that she takes out on her childcare charges is that much worse. Mrs. Quimby’s insights, while probably true, are also completely unhelpful to the situation. Mrs. Kemp is what she is, and what she is does not make her a good caregiver. Ramona and Beezus are correct to call her on it. Mrs. Quimby is concerned about hurting Mrs. Kemp’s feelings, but I think that should be the least of her concerns in this situation since Mrs. Kemp doesn’t seem to care about the children’s feelings and she’s in a position of trust over them. She is demonstrably not doing the very thing she is supposed to do, which care for the children she is paid to provide with childcare. You have one job, Mrs. Kemp, just one job! Mrs. Kemp is an adult, more than old enough to know better about how to behave and take responsibility for herself and the young children in her care, and she should choose to act like it or be prepared to face the consequences, not continue to get paid and thanked for work she’s not even willing to do, making her young charges miserable every single day. She’s taking advantage of the Quimbys’ desperation for child care, and that’s not right. I wished Mrs. Quimby would step up and support her daughters’ efforts to stand up for their well-being instead of enabling Mrs. Kemp’s bad behavior and making excuses for it, as if it were somehow Ramona’s fault that Mrs. Kemp doesn’t like being a babysitter and that eight-year-old Ramona actually has the power to solve Mrs. Kemp’s life problems. I can only suppose that the reason why Mrs. Quimby doesn’t is that she just doesn’t know where else to find someone willing to watch the girls after school.

Mr. Quimby asks Ramona what she thinks she should do about the situation, and Ramona hates being asked that because she wanted help from the grown-ups, not the responsibility of figuring out the problem with her adult caregiver by herself. Again, I really have to side with Ramona here. It’s not her job to be the adult in this situation, and the older I get, the less patience I have for irresponsible adults. I hated them when I was a kid Ramona’s age (and I ran into plenty of them, too), and I don’t feel any better about them 30 years later. If you want the authority of saying that you’re an adult, you have to take the responsibilities that come with that authority, taking the adult actions and making the adult decisions, not expecting the kids to do your job for you. That’s my attitude. I honestly don’t know what response Mr. Quimby was even looking for from Ramona, either. What can Ramona do if Mrs. Kemp is unhappy about her life choices and doesn’t treat her well because she doesn’t want to be her babysitter? Get some books on psychology from the library and turn into a therapist or career counselor at the age of eight to help Mrs. Kemp work through her emotional issues? Invent a magic potion that will age her to 58 so she can be Mrs. Kemp’s new best friend and they can go out for champagne brunches together instead of Mrs. Kemp babysitting her? What solution are you imagining here, Mr. Quimby? Ramona is an eight-year-old, and what what she thought she should do about this bad situation was talk to her parents, who hired Mrs. Kemp to take care of her in the first place, and get their help. How was she supposed to know that you didn’t want to help her, either? If I were one of the parents in this situation, I’d say that I understood the problem and that I’d think over some other after school possibilities for the girls, maybe look into some temporary care for the girls, possibly in the form of some kind of after school lessons in art or music or sports, paid for with the money that I would have given Mrs. Kemp for babysitting, especially since I already know that the Quimbys are already considering some coming changes for their family that will change their childcare situation. Of course, all of this is setting the stage for what happens next in the story.

Ramona asks if she can just stay home alone after school because some kids do, but her parents don’t like that idea. Beezus says that she could stay with Ramona because she’s in middle school and old enough to babysit. Ramona worries a little that Beezus will be bossy and that they’ll fight with no adults around, but Mr. and Mrs. Quimby agree to let the girls try it for a week while Uncle Hobart is visiting so Mrs. Kemp can spend more time with her son. If the arrangement works and the girls behave themselves, they can keep doing it after Uncle Hobart leaves.

Ramona asks Beezus why she’s so willing to look after her after school, and Beezus explains that things haven’t been to pleasant at her friends’ houses lately. Mary Jane needs to spend a lot of time practicing her piano lessons, and she got into a fight with Pamela because Pamela was acting like a snob and giving her a hard time about her dad’s work situation. Mr. Quimby has had a series of different jobs, and now, he is working only part time and going back to college to train to become an art teacher. Pamela has been bragging to Beezus that her father has a real job and that Mr. Quimby should “stop fooling around and really go to work.” (This is one of those snide kids’ comments that you can tell really came from Pamela’s parents and that she’s just repeating what they say to sound big. Pamela’s parents have probably been bad-mouthing the Quimbys behind their backs to talk themselves up because their employment has been more stable and some people need to look down on someone in order to feel good about themselves. I’ve seen that type before, too. By this point in the story, I had the feeling that the Quimbys seem to know a lot of people who are real jerks in one way or another, and I think it’s time that they made some new friends.) Beezus can’t take it anymore, so she’s stopped speaking to Pamela, which is about all you can do in a situation like that.

Beezus worries about their family’s future because she’s heard that schools are laying off teachers, and she fears that her father might not find a job when he’s done with his degree. She also think that their mother is probably pregnant because of the way that Aunt Bea keeps asking her how she’s feeling and a few months ago, she seemed to be suffering from morning sickness. If that’s true, she probably won’t be able to work much longer because she’ll have to take time off to have the baby and look after it. It make things difficult when the family is already concerned about money, although Beezus says that she wouldn’t mind helping to look after a baby because she likes babies. Ramona worries about the new baby and why their parents would want another child when they already have her and her sister, and she doesn’t like that the adults seem to be keeping important secrets.

The girls try to be extra good and responsible when they’re home alone together so they’ll be allowed to continue staying home alone, but they get into a fight one day when Howie comes over and offers to let Ramona ride his bike because he’s going to practice riding his unicycle. Beezus is afraid that Ramona will get hurt riding the bike and she’ll be considered responsible, but Ramona wants to go ahead and do it anyway because she’s been waiting for Howie to agree to loan her his bike. Ramona likes riding the bike, but she does fall off and scrape her elbow. Beezus refuses to help Ramona clean up afterward because Ramona insulted her before she went bike riding, and Ramona is angry with Beezus. In spite of that, the girls decide not to tell their parents about what happened because they don’t want to go back to Mrs. Kemp and their father specifically tells them not do anything to worry their mother, another sign that she’s probably expecting a baby.

Then, one day after school, the girls discover that their cat, Picky-picky has died, probably of old age. At first, they don’t know what to do, but remembering that they’re not supposed to upset their mother, they decide to bury the cat themselves. The girls are upset, but they manage to bury the cat, and they also make up with each other after their earlier fight. When their parents come home and find out about the cat, they feel badly that the girls had to handle the situation on their own. Mrs. Quimby says that, after they handled this difficult situation, she knows that they can be trusted on their own and that there’s no need for them to go back to Mrs. Kemp.

The girls’ mother finally admits that she’s going to have a baby, and the family begins talking about the new changes that they’ll have to make when the baby comes. The girls wonder who will have to share a room with the new baby, and they come up with ideas for names. Ramona worries about being a middle child now and not the youngest, but her mother reassures her that she still loves her. The Quimbys also consider that they may have to move in order for Mr. Quimby to find a teaching job, although Beezus and Ramona don’t like the idea of moving.

However, there are still more changes to come. Aunt Bea and Uncle Hobart announce that they are getting married! Ramona still doesn’t like Uncle Hobart and doesn’t really want him for an uncle, and after they’re married, they’re planning to move to Alaska because Uncle Hobart will be working in the oil industry there.

Changes aren’t always easy, but the girls enjoy taking part in their aunt’s wedding, and at the end of the book, their mother has the new baby, who turns out to be a girl. They call her Roberta, for a twist on her father’s name. Ramona begins to feel happy and comfortable with the changes in her life because she realizes that she’s growing up.

The book is available to borrow and read for free online through Internet Archive (multiple copies).

Posted on by TracyC

More Perfect Than the Moon

More Perfect Than the Moon by Patricia MacLachlan, 2004.

This is the first book in the Sarah, Plain and Tall Series that is narrated by Cassie, the younger daughter in the family. 

By this time, Cassie is about eight years old, and her grandfather, who rejoined the family in the previous book, has been living with them for a few years.  Caleb has also found a girlfriend (Violet, Maggie and Matthew’s daughter).  When Cassie writes entries in the family’s journal (started by Anna in the first book), they are partly fantasy, like when she thinks that Caleb and his girlfriend will someday marry and go to live in Borneo, where they will eat wild fruit.  When Caleb tells her that the things she’s writing aren’t the truth, she says, “It is my truth.”  (Oh, criminy!  I hate it when people say that.  Well, she doesn’t really mean it in the sense that I’m sick of hearing it.  I like games of pretend, but only those where the people playing them realize that it’s both a game and pretend.)  Fortunately, it’s just that Cassie is an imaginative child, and most of what she imagines is wishful thinking about things she would like to see happen.  With Cassie, the journal becomes not just a documentary of family events but of her feelings about them and what she imagines.

As Cassie grows more observant because of her writing, she notices that her mother’s behavior is changing.  Sarah is sleeping a little more, and she doesn’t always want to eat. Cassie worries that she’s sick.  Then, one day, Sarah faints.  Jacob takes Sarah to the doctor, and in the journal, Cassie writes about how her mother is well and will bring home a perfect present for her, “More Perfect than the moon,” in the hopes that it will come true.

When Sarah comes home and Cassie tells her what she wrote, Sarah says that it is true because she is pregnant.  Her perfect present will be a new baby.  Cassie doesn’t think that a baby sounds like a perfect gift.  She doesn’t want the baby because she doesn’t want things to change.  She is determined not to love the new baby.  Anna (who is now engaged to her boyfriend, Justin) tells Cassie that she didn’t love her at first, either, but she came to love her.  When Cassie asks Anna what made her love her as a baby, she says that she couldn’t help it and that she’ll understand when the new baby arrives.  All the same, Cassie can’t help but wish her mother would give birth to a cute little lamb instead.

Then, Cassie hears Sarah telling her friend, Maggie, that she thinks she’s too old to have a baby.  Cassie knows that Anna and Caleb’s mother died giving birth to Caleb, and she worries that the same thing could happen to her mother.  She thinks that the “terrible baby” is putting her mother’s life in danger.  Sarah tells her that’s not really the case, that she just thinks that it will be difficult to run after a young child again.  Still, Cassie worries and tries to keep an eye on her mother.  Sarah tells her that it isn’t necessary and that she will let her know when she needs her, like when the baby is going to be born.

As everyone guessed, Cassie’s feelings about the baby change once he arrives and she sees him for the first time.  At one point, Cassie admits to Sarah that some of the things she writes in her journal are nasty, but Sarah understands and says that one of the reasons to keep a journal is “To put down feelings. That way they don’t clutter up your head.”  Sarah knows that Cassie has a lot of worries about the new baby and the changes that will come in their family, and she knows that the journal is a way for Cassie to sort out her feelings. Once Cassie gets her worries and bad feelings out of the way, she is better able to move on to better things. Journals can be therapeutic.

The book is available to borrow and read for free online through Internet Archive (multiple copies).