Horn Book Review
Living cheerfully through the Depression is the theme of these formulaic series entries. Kit runs off to experience hobo life in the rather unrealistic [cf2]Saves.[cf1] She uses her writing skills to bring attention to homeless children in [cf2]Changes.[cf1] In [cf2]Birthday,[cf1] everybody celebrates the old-fashioned way. The idealized paintings add to the glossy look at the era, but the appended historical sections add authenticity. [Review covers these American Girls Collection titles: [cf2]Changes for Kit; Happy Birthday, Kit!; Kit Saves the Day[cf1].] From HORN BOOK Spring 2002, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
Gr. 3-5. Children reading the Depression-era series about Kit from the American Girls collection will welcome books 4 and 5. In Happy Birthday, Kit has mixed feelings when Aunt Millie comes to live with her family. On the one hand, she enjoys Aunt Millie's affectionate, cheerful manner and thrifty ideas. On the other hand, Kit is sometimes embarrassed by her elder's lack of concern for appearances. In Saves the Day, readers get a glimpse of the darker side of Depression life. When a young hobo befriends Kit's family, she forms a romanticized view of life in a hobo camp. Kit revises her opinion when she visits the camp, hops a freight train on a dare, and ends up in jail. Appealing color illustrations help establish the period, which is considered in greater detail in the appended "Looking Back" section of social history. Two entertaining entries in a popular series. Carolyn Phelan