Valerie Tripp

An enjoyable start to this series about an all-girl squad who like to solve scientific mysteries. All five girls have unique personalities and quirks, and there are cute black and white illustrations sprinkled throughout that satisfyingly matches the description of each girl.

I thought the mystery was well-crafted, I liked that the solution was one where it could be believable that the adults on the case may have overlooked it and its always great to see girls portrayed as working together show more rather than at each other’s throats. I don’t love that the girls refuse to take credit for their endeavors but I guess the secretiveness does have a superhero flair to it.

Main character Izzy has some anxiety issues so you feel for her when she seems to be ostracized and you cheer for her when she persists and triumphs over her fears. I particularly loved her in the moment when she chooses to reach out to someone even though she’s felt slighted by that person, it spoke volumes about who she is, a character I’ll be happy to get know better as the series progresses, and hopefully we get to see her play hockey at some point.

I received this book through a giveaway. show less

"I will," said Ben. "But I will not change my mind."

"No," said Felicity, "but maybe you will have a change of heart."

A change of scenery is nice, but maybe put that scenery into context when you set your story on a plantation for a series that is supposed to be educational for children? This isn't a thing I go around complaining about--it is just glaring here. It's not only a disservice to people whose ancestors were enslaved, but it's also offensive to the reader's intelligence. This book show more may as well be called Felicity's Fun Plantation Summer with Grandpa and a Stolen Horse

I'm sorry to say it, but in rereading these books (only Felicity so far), they seem like a failure. What else is a historical novel that fails to put the important historical aspects into context? Maybe slavery isn't part of the story, but I assume a girl like Felicity would have some opinions on it. This could have been as simple as having a 2-minute conversation with her parents or grandpa about slavery, or even having the character simply ruminating on it. Go read the Clotee diary from the Dear America series instead of this for a children's novel set on a plantation. There is a runaway advert for a white boy instead of a slave of all things in a book set on a plantation. The historical information at the end of the book does nothing to make up for how thoroughly the story ignores slavery.

Yet this series is also coming off a bit weak in even representing the American Revolution. Don't get me wrong, they are entertaining enough to continue as a fun history/nostalgia thing between heavier reads and along with the American Girls podcast, but there are better historical children's novels, at least better than the Felicity books. show less

I particularly enjoyed the setting in this book, and while I would have absolutely hated a game like the one they play at camp (I hated a lot of things about camp, really, but most of that is because of my social issues that were developing at the time), it was fun to read about the strategy, wins, and losses. I will tell you right now, though, (possible spoiler) that if anyone dumped a jar of spiders on my head (or even just 1 spider, anywhere on me), I would never talk to them again. I show more would definitely not be bringing them an ice cream cone later that day.

I thought these books might be silly or feel too light, since these books were written to go along with actual dolls, thus they could have been very quick and simple. However, they don't smack of a marketing ploy; the author did a great job with them, and they're really just like any other book series written for kids this age. Also, the "Looking Back" section at the end of each book is really interesting! I love that it gives a little history of the time period, generally relating to the story, with pictures and even examples of ads/posters/propaganda from that time period. The focus is on children and even women, which is something that you really aren't going to see a lot of places. I think these books could be a great resource for teaching kids age 7 about the time period, how kids lived in those days, and the hardships they had to deal with. If I'd gotten to these books when my daughter was younger, I would have had her read them and then discussed them with her afterward. show less

This one seems to make a big shift in paying more attention to the local history. Felicity even gets to play a direct role.

The story is that Felicity's grandfather (a loyalist) comes for a visit, and now everyone has to worry that Ben (the apprentice, mind you) won't keep his damn mouth shut about politics. Other than that, Felicity is envious of Annabelle's guitar. This threw me off for a second and I had to look it up to see that there was indeed an "English guitar" at the time. I'm show more curious how popular it was for women to play the guitar, because in books from near this time (such as those written by Jane Austen), I just remember pianos (pianoforte), harp, singing, etc.

There is a lot of stuff in this book that is thrown in but not given attention. For example, the cute lamb? Barely gets a mention. Maybe they were just putting those things in so they could sell them as doll accessories.

The main event centers on the seizure of the colonists' gunpowder, which happened in Williamsburg at the time this book is set (the old-school cover says 1774 for all the books even though they stretch over 2 years). Felicity also first comes to realize the seriousness of the conflict and that the militia isn't just practicing for fun.

A freed black makes an appearance a couple of times. He's a teenager and drummer for the militia. While that's all well and good, I wonder if the apparent slaves of the Merriman family are ever even going to be acknowledged as slaves. show less