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Happy Birthday, Molly! (American Girl: Molly #4) by Valerie Tripp

 

Summary (from the publisher): Molly is excited to learn that an English girl is coming to stay at the McIntires', and just in time for Molly's birthday! But Emily Bennett turns out to be different from the glamorous girl Molly pictured. Emily is shy, and seems unfriendly. Then Molly discovers that Emily is worried about her father, and the girls become good friends. They even plan to turn Molly's tenth birthday celebration into a real English tea party. But they can't agree about what's important, and it takes a special birthday surprise to help them patch up their hurt feelings.

Review: Molly and her friends are so excited to learn an English girl is coming to stay with the McIntire family. But Emily is very different from what they imagined - she is shy and comes across as unfriendly. But with time, the girls become friends and Molly is excited to share her tenth birthday party celebration with her and have a real English tea party. But planning the tea party leads to the friends clashing. Can they resolve their differences and still enjoy the day?

I thought this was such a great story that speaks to managing expectations, generosity, kindness, how to handle conflict, understanding others' perspectives, and a healthy way to make up after disagreements occur. This was such a great lesson in friendship. I really appreciate the way the fight between Emily and Molly is shown. Neither are perfect, both make mistakes, but they don't give up and repair afterwards. 

As always, this was a fun look back at traditions in the 1940s, including birthday celebrations. I liked that Molly and Emily were both obsessed with the royal princesses, which would have been a big deal at the time. Having Emily as a character also brought the war a little bit more into perspective, as Emily has firsthand experiences with bombing and loss back home. 

Valerie Tripp does such a great job of creating full blown stories in such a short number of pages, focusing them on real issues that children of any time period can still relate to, and also allowing children to learn about history through her fiction. Loving rereading Molly's books as an adult with my own children. 

Stars: 4

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