Meet Kit: An American Girl 1934 (The American Girls Collection, Book 1)
Grade 2-4-Set in Cincinnati, OH, during the Great Depression, these books introduce fourth-grade Kit. In Meet Kit, her father must close his car dealership and join the large number of unemployed. In an effort to make ends meet, her mother takes in boarders; Mrs. Howard and her son Stirling settle into Kit's newly redecorated bedroom, while the girl makes the best of her new space in the attic. In Kit Learns a Lesson, her older brother gets a job rather than attend college, and Kit helps her mother clean. Additional boarders have moved in and there is more work than ever. When a classmate's taunts lead to an altercation, Stirling, Kit, and her best friend are punished. They must deliver food collected by the students to the local soup kitchen, and Kit is shocked to see her father on line for lunch. Still, this is a somewhat idealized portrayal of the Depression. Full-page color illustrations and spot art appear throughout. Photos, reproductions, and explanations of the period follow in each of these transitional chapter books.Debbie Feulner, Northwest Middle School, Greensboro, NCCopyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.