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Samantha Saves the Day: A Summer Story (American Girl: Samantha #5) by Valerie Tripp

 

Summary (from the publisher): While spending the summer at Grandmary's home on Goose Lake, Samantha and the twins Agnes and Agatha decide to visit the island where Samantha's parents were drowned during a storm.

Review: This is my favorite book in the Samantha series! Finally, some real adventure and high stakes! While spending the summer at Grandmary's home on Goose Lake, Samantha and her friends Agnes and Agatha decide to visit the island where Samantha's parents drowned some years before. However, they are put at risk when a storm blows up, and they end up stranded on the island. 

 The plot of this was far more thrilling than any other Samantha book in the series. It was fun to see Samantha with a lot more freedom and outdoor time in this summer series, since her typical life at home is restrained and very restricted in many ways. I also loved learning a little more about her parents. This fills in a lot of gaps information in what her parents were like, how they died, and hints at the devastation Grandmary and Gard felt when they both died so tragically. 

Samantha's books are really different in that Samantha's family is extremely wealthy. It's wild that they have this private island retreat where they can spend the whole summer. And it's not just one cabin! It's multiple! And they are able to invite guests to spend weeks at a time with them. My daughters were impressed that Samantha stays in a private one room cabin with Agnes and Agatha for the duration of the summer. But it is interesting to get some insight into how the upper class lived. Of particular interest to me reading this as a mom is seeing the freedom that children had. Samantha and her friends are allowed to swim and boat entirely unattended at just ten years old, as long as they're back in time for dinner. This of course would never fly today!

Stars: 4.5

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