Kirsten's Surprise: A Christmas Story (American Girl: Kirsten #3) by Janet Beeler Shaw
Summary (from the publisher): The Larson family celebrates their first Christmas in America, & Kirsten wants to keep some of their old Swedish traditions alive in the new country. She secretly plans a Saint Lucia celebration for her family. For her own Christmas she hopes for just one special treasure. But everything depends on a trip to town that Kirsten has been pestering Papa about for weeks. At last they go, and the journey turns into a brush with disaster. When Papa & Kirsten finally get back home, you'll understand why the candles in the little cabin glow with a special Christmas love.
Review: Kirsten Larsen and her family are preparing for their first Christmas in America. While Kirsten is ready to embrace new memories in her new home, she still wants to bring some of her family traditions from Sweden to her new home. With the help of her cousins Anna and Lisbeth, she secretly plans a Saint Lucia celebration for her family. But to make it happen, she needs her outfit from her family trunk that they had to store in town when they first moved. Kirsten has been hoping her father would go pick them up for weeks but when he finally has time to go, they run into a terrible snowstorm on the way home.
Another wonderful installment in this series. As a girl, I loved learning about early American holidays through this book but also learn about the Swedish tradition of Saint Lucia Day celebrations. This book also has plenty of tension as she plans her secret celebration and also as Kirsten and Papa struggle to return home after journeying to pick up their trunks. As a girl, I remember being particularly struck at the idea of being without most of my belongings for so long and especially at being parted from her beloved doll for months!
This is a greatly beloved series for me. I think the novel strikes a great balance of introducing historical concepts and real life worries and concerns but keeping them on a child's level of understanding and concern. As an adult, I wonder why Kirsten has two brothers who rarely appear in any scenes in a meaningful way and wish they could be integrated more. But overall, a really wonderful book that I have enjoyed reading over again twenty years later with my daughters.
Stars: 4
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