Need opinions on American Girls books for a 5/1/2 yr. old?

[AnnieW625]

My Christmas dilemma for DD1 from her great grandma has been solved!:) Costco is carrying the Limited Edition Mini Dolls with the books for $34.99. Not sure what warehouses have which books, but mine (Lakewood, CA) has the following:

Kirsten
Felicity
Cecille
Marie Grace
Rebecca
Kit
Julie (not sure if this would be a good one due to the character being a child of divorced parents, and I don't really want to delve into that topic with DD just yet)

My first instinct is Kirsten even though they don't make her any more, but her story is still pretty kid friendly IIRC from when my sister read them as a kid in the mid 90s. I will most likely get one set from Great Grandma, and one set from us.

[AnnieW625]

shameless bump

[Melaine]

I was surprised when I realized that Kirsten's best friend dies in book 1. I didn't really remember that from my childhood. That said I read it with the girls plus Surprises for Kirsten and they seemed ok with it.

I think Samantha is pretty upbeat, IIRC. We've read the Christmas one only so far and it was great for them.

[buddyleebaby]

My girls enjoyed Molly's series the most thus far.
Molly's not on your list, though.

From your list, we have only read Kirsten and Felicity. They did not like the very first in the Felicity series. She sneaks out of her house for weeks to tame an abused horse, and at the end sets it free. My girls were worried about how the horse would take care of itself.

[kijip]

Of those, I like Kit best.

Molly is my all time fave though!

[egoldber]

Personally, I think the books are best for older children. They have somewhat mature themes:

Kit's father loses his job during the Depression.
Addy's father is sold away from her family.
Samantha's friend Nellie's parents die and she is in an orphanage.

etc.

They all deal with sad and tragic situations and my older DD was very affected by these stories when she read them.

So I would wait.

[NCGrandma]

OK, I'm confused -- on the Barnes and Noble website, they are selling the '2011 update' AG mini dolls with books for $19.75 (reg price $21.95). These include the new dolls like Marie-Grace. On the AG website, the 'special edition' minis with books are also $22.

What makes the 'Limited Edition' worth $35 at Costco or $45 on Amazon? And why can't I find them on the AG website? (I searched for Limited Edition and just got the special edition ones.)

[AnnieW625]

The Costco ones come with all of the books! The mini dolls on the AG website come with the abridged version, and it is only a single book. Thank you for the opinions.

Our Costco didn't have Molly. It might have had Samantha though. She might identify with Kit even though the topic of the depression is tough, but her great grandma who the books are from was a child during the depression too so something that could be somewhat relatable. Also with Kirsten the frontier life might be good and I recall at 6 being read Little House on The Prairie and that definitely wasn't sugar coated about American life on the Frontier.

[lizzywednesday]

...Also with Kirsten the frontier life might be good and I recall at 6 being read Little House on The Prairie and that definitely wasn't sugar coated about American life on the Frontier.

Kirsten is both an immigration story (her family moves from Sweden to Minnesota) and a "frontier" story. I love my Kirsten. (I have both Kirsten and Molly.)

I do want to repeat the caution that Kirsten's best friend, Marta, contracts cholera and dies while their families are on a riverboat on their way to their final destination in Minnesota. I was 9 when I read this book and it made me very sad, mostly because it took me off guard in an otherwise hopeful story.

I haven't read the last 2 books, so I don't know what happens in those, but that's probably the biggest thing that sticks out for me in the first 4.