Happy Birthday, Molly: A Springtime Story by Tripp, Valerie; Gaadt, David (Illustrator); Gaadt, David - 1989

New York: American Girl. Fine 1989. Softcover. Marfree, acidfree fresh recent illus prtg; not marked-in, clearance or discard. Usually mails within 12 hours. ; American Girls Collection Series: Molly; 8.6 x 6.3 x 0.2 inches; 64 pages; From School Library Jour: photogs. Reprods. Grade 1-5 Yes, the American Girls series is written to formula, and yes, it is heavily promoted commercialy to sell dolls and related accessories. But the dolls are well crafted and so are the stories. Each book ends with several pages of illustrated factual ``Looking Backward'' information. The writing style is lively, the characters believable although not deeply delineated, and the action in the short chapters is enough to hold the attention of young readers. The birth of Kirsten's baby sister and the making of a friendship quilt along with her tenth birthday party at a barn-raising are the major events of Kirsten's story, set in Minnesota in 1854. The discussion of the dangers of tornadoes and the high mortality of infants in those days add serious notes to the generally happy tale. Samantha's fancy tenth birthday party in 1904 is followed by a trip to New York City and a wild chase after a mischievous puppy, ending at a suffragette meeting. Molly changes her romantic view of wartime England and faces reality when an evacuated British girl her age comes to share her home and birthday. In all the volumes the easy-to-read type and the realistic color illustrations, both full-page and vignette, add to the attractiveness of these unintimidating volumes. Sylvia S. Marantz, Wellington School, Columbus, Ohio Copyright 1988 Reed. An informative, heart warming read, Octo 25, 1999 Review: #With the possible acception of Molly's Suppries, this was my favorit book in the Molly Micantier sieries. Molly and her friends don't realy understand the true gravity of the war. Oh, they know that Fathers and husbands are away on distant battle feilds, that mothers are working in Home-Front Red Cross orgonizations and that certin foods are rationed. They feel the war, but they don't understand the true eviles of the fighting- the innocent European familys starving, and rushing under bomb shelters in there living rooms at the sound of a warning sigren, the soldgers storming a far away beach on D-Day. THese are the things they see on News Reels and in Life Magizien. They even make a game out of it all, by bulding a pretend bomb shelter in Molly's basment! When Emily, a British girl comes to stay with the Micintiers, she shows Molly what the war is realy like. She tells here about distruction left buy bombs in England, about being traped for days in subway cars, and about Bomb shelters that, arn't just a game. Emily brings with her plenty of forgien British terms and ideas- some of wich step on Molly's toes. In the end, thogh, the girls learn to put aside there difrances and dissageements, and enjoy there birthdays as inter-national friends. I thought this book was wonderful. If you are interested in WW2, or if you just enjoy a good read, I recomend this book. .