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Addy's Summer Place (American Girl: Short Stories #29) by Connie Rose Porter

 

Summary (from the publisher): At Cape Island, New Jersey, Addy eats at an ice cream parlor and feels very grown-up. But when a white girl is unfriendly with her, Addy wonders whether she is really ready to be a young lady.

Review: In this Addy short story, Addy gets to leave the city of Philadelphia for the first time since arriving after fleeing slavery. Thanks to the new railroad, Addy and her mother and sister are able to travel to Cape Island, New Jersey to visit her father, who is working there for the summer. It's nice to see Addy get to visit the ocean, explore the woods for the first time since slavery, and just enjoy a vacation and break from her normal life. Like all of the American Girl books, this also includes a valuable lesson when Addy encounters a very hostile little white girl, but later discovers there is more to her story than meets the eye. 

I loved everything about this story except the ending, which felt very abrupt! It felt as if they ran out of room to fully conclude the story. I wish it could have been edited to be a bit more complete. I will also say that this story chronologically follows the conclusion of the last of the six full length books and it would be disappointing to read this one first because of spoilers. 

I did really appreciate the looking back at the past section of this book, which explains the history of travel out of Philadelphia to Cape Island, which began exactly when Addy first travels there. Likewise, it was so well historically placed that her father was there for the summer building a hotel, because that it exactly the type of work that would very much have been taking place at the time, as the place became a booming summer destination. It was fun to see how the story was based on real history and was well researched. 

3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

Stars: 3.5

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