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Kirsten Saves the Day: A Summer Story (American Girl: Kirsten #5) by Janet Beeler Shaw

 

Summary (from the publisher): Ten-year-old Kirsten is proud and excited when she finds a bee tree full of honey, one of the natural treasures of her Minnesota frontier world, but she exposes herself to great danger by trying to harvest the honey by herself.

Review: In this fifth book in the series, it is summertime and Kirsten is excited to discover a bee tree filled with honey one day when she is out fishing with her younger brother, Peter. Despite the obvious bear tracks and the inherent risks of dealing with bees, Kirsten is determined to salvage the honey herself in order to surprise her parents with the honey, which she knows can be sold in town so they can buy items they desperately need. 

Kirsten acts the most reckless in this book compared to all the others and puts herself, her brother, and their dog at risk. While I think it helps illustrate a valuable lesson to young readers about using good judgement and also how everyone makes mistakes, it seems somewhat unbelievable that a ten-year-old girl during that time period would have behaved in such a way. Children in that time would absolutely have known the risks of both bees and mother bears. She would have known that the proper gear would be needed to collect the honey. And as an older sister, I have a hard time believing she would have persuaded her younger brother to ignore all the obvious risks. However, I know this is fiction and meant more to illustrate a quandary Kirsten finds herself in more than a realistic response. 

I did like the emphasis this story makes on each family member pulling their weight during this time period. The only reason Kirsten finds the bee tree at all is because she and her brother are sent out to fish for food to feed the whole family for dinner. Kirsten would have been well aware of the value of honey both to their own meals but also as a resource to sell in town in exchange for other goods. Kirsten is eager to help her family and her intentions were good. A great book that I enjoyed the opportunity to re-read with my daughters. 

Stars: 4

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