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Meet Caroline
Dec. 1st, 2012 09:45 amIt is Saturday! And you know what that means: time for another essay about an American Girl heroine! This time, Caroline, the newest member of the American Girl coterie.
Lake Ontario, 1812. A British ship stops Caroline Abbott and her father while they sail their new sloop. Though the Abbotts didn’t know it, the United States and Britain are at war; and the British sailors requisition the sloop and take Caroline’s father, a master shipbuilder, captive.
And we’re off! The War of 1812 is terribly exciting and disgracefully neglected, and both for the same reason: it’s the last war where a foreign nation posed a serious threat to US sovereignty. The British actually burned down Washington DC. Apparently the embarrassment of having our capital sacked makes it a war better forgotten.
Caroline lives far away from DC, but her home on the border with Canada makes for plenty of excitement on its own. Because Caroline’s father is captive, her mother and grandmother take a more active role than they otherwise might. Her mother runs the family shipyard; her grandmother, who lived through the Revolutionary War, runs the house despite her advancing arthritis. “Don’t complain,” she always advises Caroline. “Find a way to change the situation!”
And Caroline does. When the British attack Caroline’s hometown - twice! - Caroline aids in the fight. She has her own little sea battle! She sinks her beloved skiff, the Sparrow, to block a small warship that is chasing a bateau carrying supplies to the American shipyards. (Why are there not more “girl with boat” stories? They’re at least as exciting as “girl with horse!”)
Sacrifice in the service of country is a theme throughout Caroline’s series - a theme shared only by the Molly books, I believe, and even there it’s much more muted. There’s an eerie scene where Caroline and her mother wander through the family’s beloved shipyard, where we have spent so much time over the preceding four books that it feels like Caroline’s second home, preparing to set the place on fire if the British conquer the town.
The series lacks what one might call the ficability of Felicity’s story: none of Caroline’s friendships caught my fancy quite like Felicity’s. (It helps of course that Felicity’s story has lain in the leafmold of my mind a lot longer.) But Caroline is a very taking character: eminently worth an afternoon’s time.
Lake Ontario, 1812. A British ship stops Caroline Abbott and her father while they sail their new sloop. Though the Abbotts didn’t know it, the United States and Britain are at war; and the British sailors requisition the sloop and take Caroline’s father, a master shipbuilder, captive.
And we’re off! The War of 1812 is terribly exciting and disgracefully neglected, and both for the same reason: it’s the last war where a foreign nation posed a serious threat to US sovereignty. The British actually burned down Washington DC. Apparently the embarrassment of having our capital sacked makes it a war better forgotten.
Caroline lives far away from DC, but her home on the border with Canada makes for plenty of excitement on its own. Because Caroline’s father is captive, her mother and grandmother take a more active role than they otherwise might. Her mother runs the family shipyard; her grandmother, who lived through the Revolutionary War, runs the house despite her advancing arthritis. “Don’t complain,” she always advises Caroline. “Find a way to change the situation!”
And Caroline does. When the British attack Caroline’s hometown - twice! - Caroline aids in the fight. She has her own little sea battle! She sinks her beloved skiff, the Sparrow, to block a small warship that is chasing a bateau carrying supplies to the American shipyards. (Why are there not more “girl with boat” stories? They’re at least as exciting as “girl with horse!”)
Sacrifice in the service of country is a theme throughout Caroline’s series - a theme shared only by the Molly books, I believe, and even there it’s much more muted. There’s an eerie scene where Caroline and her mother wander through the family’s beloved shipyard, where we have spent so much time over the preceding four books that it feels like Caroline’s second home, preparing to set the place on fire if the British conquer the town.
The series lacks what one might call the ficability of Felicity’s story: none of Caroline’s friendships caught my fancy quite like Felicity’s. (It helps of course that Felicity’s story has lain in the leafmold of my mind a lot longer.) But Caroline is a very taking character: eminently worth an afternoon’s time.
