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Felicity's Surprise: A Christmas Story (American Girl: Felicity #3) by Valerie Tripp

 

Summary (from the publisher): Felicity is invited to a dancing lesson at the elegant Governor's Palace, the most wonderful honor she can imagine. Mother promises to make a beautiful new gown for her, just like the one shown on the fashion doll at the milliner's shop. As the splendid event draws near, Mother becomes dreadfully ill. Felicity spends all her days caring for her, sadly accepting that there will be no new gown and no chance to go to the Palace. No chance, that is, until a glorious surprise reminds her that Christmastide is a time when hopes and dreams do come true.

Review: Felicity is absolutely delighted when she receives an invitation to a dancing lesson at the Governor's palace. She is even more excited when her mother splurges on beautiful blue fabric to make her a new gown to wear. However, her girlish dreams are splintered when her mother grows dangerously ill. Suddenly, everything that Felicity thought was truly important loses significance as Felicity prays for her mother to recover. 

Leave it to the American Girl books to really up the ante on the real-life situations for young girls! I am honestly surprised Felicity's mother doesn't succumb to her illness in this book. It was somewhat sad to see such a young girl feel guilty for previously being excited about going to a special dance lesson. Of course, on the other hand, this book teaches an invaluable lesson about what is truly important and how family and those we love are more important than any material items. 

It was fun re-reading this as an adult with my own daughters. I always loved the beautiful blue gown that Felicity also loves in this book and the way she gets the matching fashion doll wearing the tiny replica gown. I had the American Girl matching blue dress for my own doll growing up and remember being particularly delighted that it had two stomachers that matched the gown that could be switched out. 

As always, I love that these books include the "peek into the past" section after the conclusion of the novel. These books are such a great jumping off point to learn about different periods in history. My girls loved learning more about Christmas traditions in Williamsburg in the late 1770s, as well as habits and clothing from the time period from the descriptions and real photos in this last section. 

Stars: 4

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