![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osprey_archerNormally I don't like to pick favorites, but sometimes the evidence is simply so overwhelming as to make favorites inevitable. In this case: Felicity is the best American Girl.
Item the first: She steals a horse. And not only does she steal it, but she sneaks out for a month beforehand to train it to be ridden. Dedication!
Item the second: She has one of the most satisfying best friend stories out of the American Girl series. The friends you have when you’re nine are not necessarily people who will be good friends when you’re older, but Elizabeth and Felicity have enough in common that I think they could go the difference. But they also make good foils for each other: Elizabeth shows Felicity how to be more thoughtful, while Felicity helps Elizabeth stand up for herself.
Also, Elizabeth is memorable. The American Girls themselves are always vivid, but the supporting characters are a bit more hit and miss. (Who remembers Molly’s best friends, for instance? There’s a reason Molly’s best friend doll is Emily, their British boarder: she’s much more interesting than Molly’s American friends, whose names I forget.)
The fact that their friendship effectively dramatizes the social tensions of the revolution helps make her memorable, of course. Elizabeth’s family are Loyalists and Felicity’s, Patriots (aside from Felicity’s grandfather), and these differing loyalties insistently try to tug them apart; but their friendship is strong enough to survive.
Item the third: Felicity’s series also has the best future romance candidate.
In fact, I would argue that Felicity’s series is the only one with a good future romance candidate. (Which makes perfect sense. How many people meet their spouse when they’re nine, anyway?) There are crazy people who think Samantha and Eddie Rylant will make a match - as if! But I’ll discuss this more when I come to the Samantha books.
Ben and Felicity, though? They’re both fiery and stubborn, but not so stubborn that they let their ideals cause needless pain to people that they love. And they keep each other’s secrets! The only problem is that they are so perfectly suited, not only in temperament but also on the social scale, that their parents might just marry them off to each other. Which is so undramatic! Clearly I must come up with a good reason for them to part, so they can meet again in 1787 to argue about the Federalist papers during the minuet. If people still minueted in 1787?
Item the fourth: Felicity’s family. It occurs to me that I could just sum this all up as “The Felicity books have the best characters, okay?”
But it would have been easy to make villains of Felicity’s Loyalist grandfather, or Felicity’s mother who is always trying to get her to be more ladylike, and instead the books show that they are doing the best that they know how, even if they may be wrong. Both characters are mentors for Felicity.
The American Girl series generally have wise and thoughtful families (though sometimes outside adults are evil: c.f. Jiggy Nye, the man whose abuse of his horse led Felicity into horse-thievery). Doubtless this is part of why they have a reputation for wholesomeness.
Item the fifth: She’s a redhead. QED.
Item the first: She steals a horse. And not only does she steal it, but she sneaks out for a month beforehand to train it to be ridden. Dedication!
Item the second: She has one of the most satisfying best friend stories out of the American Girl series. The friends you have when you’re nine are not necessarily people who will be good friends when you’re older, but Elizabeth and Felicity have enough in common that I think they could go the difference. But they also make good foils for each other: Elizabeth shows Felicity how to be more thoughtful, while Felicity helps Elizabeth stand up for herself.
Also, Elizabeth is memorable. The American Girls themselves are always vivid, but the supporting characters are a bit more hit and miss. (Who remembers Molly’s best friends, for instance? There’s a reason Molly’s best friend doll is Emily, their British boarder: she’s much more interesting than Molly’s American friends, whose names I forget.)
The fact that their friendship effectively dramatizes the social tensions of the revolution helps make her memorable, of course. Elizabeth’s family are Loyalists and Felicity’s, Patriots (aside from Felicity’s grandfather), and these differing loyalties insistently try to tug them apart; but their friendship is strong enough to survive.
Item the third: Felicity’s series also has the best future romance candidate.
In fact, I would argue that Felicity’s series is the only one with a good future romance candidate. (Which makes perfect sense. How many people meet their spouse when they’re nine, anyway?) There are crazy people who think Samantha and Eddie Rylant will make a match - as if! But I’ll discuss this more when I come to the Samantha books.
Ben and Felicity, though? They’re both fiery and stubborn, but not so stubborn that they let their ideals cause needless pain to people that they love. And they keep each other’s secrets! The only problem is that they are so perfectly suited, not only in temperament but also on the social scale, that their parents might just marry them off to each other. Which is so undramatic! Clearly I must come up with a good reason for them to part, so they can meet again in 1787 to argue about the Federalist papers during the minuet. If people still minueted in 1787?
Item the fourth: Felicity’s family. It occurs to me that I could just sum this all up as “The Felicity books have the best characters, okay?”
But it would have been easy to make villains of Felicity’s Loyalist grandfather, or Felicity’s mother who is always trying to get her to be more ladylike, and instead the books show that they are doing the best that they know how, even if they may be wrong. Both characters are mentors for Felicity.
The American Girl series generally have wise and thoughtful families (though sometimes outside adults are evil: c.f. Jiggy Nye, the man whose abuse of his horse led Felicity into horse-thievery). Doubtless this is part of why they have a reputation for wholesomeness.
Item the fifth: She’s a redhead. QED.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2012-11-24 10:06 pm (UTC)Ah, Felicity! I never really got into the American Girl series as a kid, but I did have one of Felicity's books and seem to remember enjoying it. It might have been due to the fact that I had (still have) a thing for late 18th century to early 19th century American history. Basically anything from the Revolution to the War of 1812.
Your talk of Loyalist-Patriot tensions reminds me of Ann Rinaldi's Time Enough For Drums--you wouldn't happen to be familiar with that one, would you? And going back to 1787, I'm reminded of another book I read as a kid--the title, I believe, was simply 1787, and it was about this 17-ish-year-old boy who was an assistant to James Madison or some such, and it was all about CONSTITUTIONAL DRAMA, which was a neat change of pace from the usual REVOLUTION DRAMA you find in historical fiction focusing on that period (the aforementioned Rinaldi book included).
Also, I feel I should tell you that all your wonderful reviews/posts on children's/YA literature is making me want to reread and review all these books I remember reading as a kid/teen. To see how they hold up and how they may have impacted my development and all that good stuff.
no subject
Date: 2012-11-24 11:31 pm (UTC)Maybe I should ask for Felicity fic with Constitutional drama for Yuletide next year. That might give whoever gets the request vapors, though...
But yeah, the whole Revolutionary period is so interesting. There's some great Hetalia fic about it, IIRC.
Also, I feel I should tell you that all your wonderful reviews/posts on children's/YA literature is making me want to reread and review all these books I remember reading as a kid/teen.
Please do! There are never enough posts about children's books in the world.
no subject
Date: 2012-11-25 02:27 pm (UTC)And I tracked down that other book! It is simply titled 1787, and it's by Joan Anderson, if you're ever curious. There's a little bit of romance in that one, too, from what I remember (in that the main character has something of a girlfriend), but what I most remember is the CONSTITUTIONAL DRAMA, so I'm pretty sure the romance takes a back seat to the main plot.
Please do! There are never enough posts about children's books in the world.
I might just! I've been toying around with the idea of setting up a "review blog" or sorts, specifically for books and movies and whatever other media.
no subject
Date: 2012-11-25 02:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-11-24 11:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-11-24 11:56 pm (UTC)I so should have written this back when I was reading the Federalist Papers for class.
no subject
Date: 2013-01-27 01:40 am (UTC)Ahaha what the literal Dickens. I had forgotten this gem of a name.
no subject
Date: 2013-01-27 02:24 am (UTC)