What do y'all think about the American Girl books?

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  • June 30, 2012 at 9:58 am
    MamaSnow
    Participant

    What do y’all think about the American Girl books? Twaddly? Not Twaddly? Content wise? (I’ve read another Christian review that indicated that while that particular family allowed their daughter to read them, they did so with the caveat that it is important to not just hand them to your kids to read, but to be sure to discuss them as there are some attitudes, etc, that may be objectionable for Christian families.) If you don’t like them, are you aware of other books on a simlar (2nd-3rd/easy chapter book) reading level with similar type of historical content that may have more literary or character value? I am looking for books for my dd to use for independant reading next year that will correlate with our history studies…we will be covering the first 2/3 of Module 5 – basically the colonial and Revolutionary War periods in the US (+ World Events at the same time.)

    Thanks for any ideas!

    Jen

    June 30, 2012 at 11:02 am
    nebby
    Participant

    We let my dd read them. I don’t think they are great but they are not horrible. I put them in the same category as the Magic Treehouse books. I guess I woudl say in an ideal world we would not read them but the world is not ideal and sometimes what gets your kid reading is okay.I would be careful with the ones set in more mdoern times as they tend to deal with more modern issues.

    Nebby

    http://www.lettersfromnebby.wordpress.com

    June 30, 2012 at 11:56 am
    pslively
    Participant

    Nebby said exactly what I was going to say, so there’s two opinions for you.  I would preview the ones set in modern times if you plan to let her read those – not because there’s anything terrible in there, but just because they deal with stuff that some of our kids don’t even know about. (divorce, bullying)  I consider these books to be kind of like junk food.  I let my kids have a little of it now and then.  

    Judging by your time period, I guess you would be reading Felicity and Kirsten.  My girls read those books when we did that time period and I don’t think it did them any harm.  

    One really good book about that time period is The Courage of Sarah Noble.  There’s another one about a girl whose family gets a visit from George Washington after the Rev. War is over.  Anyone know the book I’m talking about?  My 2nd grader really enjoyed that one.  Some others we did were  The Matchlock Gun, Diane Stanley’s biography books, The Cabin Faced West.  That’s all that is coming to mind right now.  It’s been a while since we read them, so I hope I’m giving you the right time period.  🙂  You might want to double check me.

     

     

    June 30, 2012 at 1:22 pm
    Tia
    Participant

    We allow our oldest two girls to read them. (6 and 8) They aren’t high lit, but I think what they learn in content makes up for it. I’m constantly surprised at what they retain from those books. This being said, our kids read ALOT, so these are sort of “filler” books. We have plenty of great literature they read but, to be honest, I have a hard time keeping up with them. So we allow some books I wouldn’t allow if they weren’t reading a lot of good stuff as well.

    We had a great discussion about WW2 the other day spurred by one of these books. We talked about Israel, the atomic bomb debate, etc. It was a great introduction to the evils of the world dealt with in the confines of their safe home.

    I want to add that my middle daughter did call her sister a pest and had heard that term from an Am Girl book. I used it as an opportunity to explain we don’t always repeat what we read and not all book characters are to be emulated. ( Just like people in real life.)

    We are very conservative in exposing our girls to things and find the good in these books to outweigh the bad. So far.

    June 30, 2012 at 3:20 pm
    MamaSnow
    Participant

    Thanks all. You’ve pretty much confirmed what I was already thinking, just thought I’d ask before I add them to the list. =)

    Here is the link to the reviews that got me thinking, in case anyone else is interested. http://www.redeemedreader.com/tag/american-girls/ She brings up some good ideas for discussion points too.

    Yes, I have The Courage of Sarah Noble on the list too, and some of the others you mentioned pslively. Anyone else has ideas of good historical literature for this period written on a 2nd/3rd grade level, I’d love to hear about them. =)

    Thanks!

    Jen

    June 30, 2012 at 4:23 pm
    Tia
    Participant

    Jean Fritz has several. And the On My Own History series has some good titles. Buttons for General Washingtonl and An American Army of Two come to mind. These may be under her reading level, but they are good books.

    July 1, 2012 at 9:32 pm
    morgrace
    Participant

    I posted about the company’s orgins on another thread here, and why I think it can be hard to tell if they are twaddle or not. Just in case you are interested in another opinion! (And I haven’t read the newer books. I read Kirsten, Samantha, Molly, Addy, and Felicity as a girl.) 

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