Name: ICHE Homeschool Conference
Start: 2025-06-05T00:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-06-07T23:59:59-05:00
Location: Bourbonnais, IL

Tagged: American Girl, American Girl books

This topic has 7 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 11 years, 6 months ago by Laura.bora.

Viewing 8 posts - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)

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November 1, 2013 at 11:36 pm
QueenMama
Member
I apologize if this has been asked before; I tried searching and couldn’t find anything.
I have a 5 1/2 year old advanced reader, and it’s challenging to find appropriate books for her. I would guess she reads at about a 4th grade level, but can sometimes go a little higher. Of course, many of the books written for that age level have themes that I’m not prepared for her to be thinking about just yet.
I’m wondering if anyone can give advice about the American Girl books. Are there particular girls whose stories would work well for a kindergartener, in terms of the maturity level needed to handle them? Is it possible to read the books without getting into the commercial stuff? We can’t afford to buy a doll!
November 2, 2013 at 12:07 am
Wings2fly
Participant
http://simplycharlottemason.com/scmforum/topic/what-do-yall-think-about-the-american-girl-books
and
http://simplycharlottemason.com/scmforum/topic/american-girl-books-2
Click on the tag above that I added for more.
I am letting my kids read them. ds9 reads the mysteries, wishing they were American Boy. dd6 likes it all, but we have an 18″ doll from Target and she is fine with that. We love the nonfiction companion books, The World of…
We like the movies and watch Molly, but we don’t read Molly or Julie yet due to attitudes and issues.
November 2, 2013 at 2:23 am
hmsklnflybaby
Member
I found a wonderful series, writen by a Christian author that are true stories of girls from her American Heritage and have Christian principles througout. We live in a big city and our Library did not have them, and when I asked them to buy the books they did and I was thrilled! You can get lapbooks for them on Currclick. The books are the Eleanor series and you can find them here http://eleanorclark.com/eleanor-series/books/
We love these – there are some possibly intense subjects for some, but they are part of our heritage. They are an easy read and I enjoy them, so a pre-read is easy to do.

November 4, 2013 at 4:24 am
QueenMama
Member
Thanks, I will check out those links!
November 10, 2013 at 11:22 pm
QueenMama
Member
So I tried reading through the first books of the series they had available at my library last week, and I could not bring myself to get any of them. Each one had something I felt my daughter wasn’t ready for:
Kristen — her friend dies of cholera — my daughter can handle some death, but the death of a child might be too much for her
Addy — overseer makes her eat worms
Kaya — all the children have to lie down and be whipped, including illustration of it
Mary-Grace — just seemed a little advanced somehow, couldn’t pin it down exactly
Can anyone specifically recommend one of the others that might work? I would have to request it to be sent from another library to preview, so if I can rule any more out that would be good.
November 10, 2013 at 11:27 pm
Wings2fly
Participant
I think for that age, you should look at the “short stories”. We have some of Samantha and Felicity. My dd6 reads these mostly.
November 11, 2013 at 12:00 am
Wings2fly
Participant
Here is a link to one we have: http://www.amazon.com/Felicitys-Short-Story-Collection-American/dp/1593691203/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1384127647&sr=8-1&keywords=american+girl+short+story+collection
We started with 4 movies on family movie nights:
http://www.amazon.com/4-Film-Favorites-American-Girl/dp/B00B1LM730/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1384127738&sr=8-1&keywords=american+girl+movies

Please note that in Felicity, she outright disobeys her father, He told her to not go see the horse again, but she does. She sneaks off at night. I talked to my dd how that was wrong, but there are other good things in the movie. My favorite movie is Kit. dd likes the Samantha movie best, which does have child labor for immigrants, which was legal back then.
November 11, 2013 at 12:39 am
Laura.bora
Participant
I can remember being a little girl, my Mom told me lights out, but I snuck in one more chapter of Kirsten – the chapter where her friend dies. I sobbed and sobbed and sobbed and wound up spending the night in my parents bed because I was so devistated over that chapter. So good call!