Book-It 'o14! Book #22
Aug. 13th, 2014 06:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alivemagdoleneThe Fifty Books Challenge, year five! (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013) This was a library request.
Title: Changes For Kit by Valerie Tripp with illustrations by Walter Rane
Details: Copyright 2001, Pleasant Company Productions
Synopsis (By Way of Back Cover): "Cranky Uncle Hendrick and his horrid dog Inky have come to stay with the Kittredge family. Kit gets stuck running errands and writing letters for Uncle Hendrick almost every day. Soon his fiery letters to the editor and stinging words for Kit have her losing hope for better times. Then a visit to a soup kitchen inspires Kit to do something to help children who are homeless because of the Depression. But what? It is Uncle Hendrick who unknowingly gives Kit a great idea-- and proves the importance of hope."
Why I Wanted to Read It: Remember my remembrances of the American Girl franchise? And my review of the first book in this series? And then the second? The third? The fourth? Fifth? Okay, then.
How I Liked It: In this final book in the six-book-series, Kit achieves the pinnacle of her American Girl-dom and fulfills her destiny, with the seeds planted in the previous book.
One-note Uncle Hendrick is back and if you're expecting to find the de-Scrooging moment or at least a reason for his nastiness, you'll be disappointed.
After being forced to take down and deliver Uncle Hendrick's many Fox News-worthy (had Fox News existed, of course) letters to the editor, Kit pens a letter of her own and includes photographs of soup kitchens filled with entire families, including hobo children. Her letter turns out to be such a hit, the editor of the paper gives her special attention. Uncle Hendrick is outraged, but the closest we get to any kind of humanity is when Kit politely informs him that it was his letters that gave her the idea, and he is struck speechless and a "strange expression crossed his face. It seemed to be a mixture of annoyance and something that could have been respect. It lasted only a moment." (pg 53)
Kit's series ends on a high note (how could it not?) with her greeting the rest of the Depression (and presumably the war that followed) with a sense of hope and purpose.
The illustrations go from stage-y to downright campy, almost channeling Norman Rockwell.
The "Peek into the Past"/"Looking Back" section takes us from the rest of the Depression into World War II and to its end.
Notable: The "Peek into the Past"/"Looking Back" has a few photos of people of color, s small concession given the length of history it spans as well as the fact it covers the work of Eleanor Roosevelt.
Title: Changes For Kit by Valerie Tripp with illustrations by Walter Rane
Details: Copyright 2001, Pleasant Company Productions
Synopsis (By Way of Back Cover): "Cranky Uncle Hendrick and his horrid dog Inky have come to stay with the Kittredge family. Kit gets stuck running errands and writing letters for Uncle Hendrick almost every day. Soon his fiery letters to the editor and stinging words for Kit have her losing hope for better times. Then a visit to a soup kitchen inspires Kit to do something to help children who are homeless because of the Depression. But what? It is Uncle Hendrick who unknowingly gives Kit a great idea-- and proves the importance of hope."
Why I Wanted to Read It: Remember my remembrances of the American Girl franchise? And my review of the first book in this series? And then the second? The third? The fourth? Fifth? Okay, then.
How I Liked It: In this final book in the six-book-series, Kit achieves the pinnacle of her American Girl-dom and fulfills her destiny, with the seeds planted in the previous book.
One-note Uncle Hendrick is back and if you're expecting to find the de-Scrooging moment or at least a reason for his nastiness, you'll be disappointed.
After being forced to take down and deliver Uncle Hendrick's many Fox News-worthy (had Fox News existed, of course) letters to the editor, Kit pens a letter of her own and includes photographs of soup kitchens filled with entire families, including hobo children. Her letter turns out to be such a hit, the editor of the paper gives her special attention. Uncle Hendrick is outraged, but the closest we get to any kind of humanity is when Kit politely informs him that it was his letters that gave her the idea, and he is struck speechless and a "strange expression crossed his face. It seemed to be a mixture of annoyance and something that could have been respect. It lasted only a moment." (pg 53)
Kit's series ends on a high note (how could it not?) with her greeting the rest of the Depression (and presumably the war that followed) with a sense of hope and purpose.
The illustrations go from stage-y to downright campy, almost channeling Norman Rockwell.
The "Peek into the Past"/"Looking Back" section takes us from the rest of the Depression into World War II and to its end.
Notable: The "Peek into the Past"/"Looking Back" has a few photos of people of color, s small concession given the length of history it spans as well as the fact it covers the work of Eleanor Roosevelt.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2014-08-14 02:17 pm (UTC)*snort*
I like Kit's story as recounted by you, because it teaches kids to not put up with bullshit and how you can make yourself heard, which isn't often something people get around to teaching their kids.
no subject
Date: 2014-08-14 09:49 pm (UTC)POINT THE SECOND, I actually side-eyed so much of the "oppositional" writing in these books, including the little shit kid whose father says soup kitchens just make people "dependent on government" and these were written thirteen/fourteen years ago. I mean, I know these were actual sentiments of the time and that the Right loves to relive its bullshit (not that the Left doesn't, but the Right's the angle big on throwing back).
I was really pleased to see this quality still alive in these books, since I remembered at least Samantha's and Kirsten's story having Doing the Right Thing elements to them.