Series: American Girl
Author: Valerie Tripp
Author: Valerie Tripp
Release Date: August 28, 2014
Pages: 208
Age Range: 8+
Goodreads Rating: 4.12/5 Stars
D's Rating: 5/5 Stars
Summary from Goodreads: What if you suddenly found yourself in Kit's world during the Great Depression? How would your life be changed, and what ways might you help your family and others who are less fortunate?
Join Kit on exciting adventures where the two of you can find ways to help the needy, have a hobo adventure, and maybe even hop a train! Your journey back in time can take whatever twists and turns you choose, as you select from a variety of exciting options in this multiple-ending story.
American Girl is revamping its historical books a bit, giving them a new look and combining them somewhat (the six main books for each doll are being combined into two slightly larger books). They have also created a new set of books to go with the classic historicals. These books take a modern girl and have her go back in time to visit the historical characters. There will be one "My Journey With" book to go with each historical doll character. The books are formatted like the classic Choose Your Own Adventure books - the reader gets to choose what path the modern day character will take and there are multiple stories and endings based on those choices.
My 10-year-old daughter absolutely LOVES Choose Your Own Adventure books, so this was ideal for her. She will read and re-read a book like this many times over. Kit was already one of her favorite American Girl characters, so she was very excited to read something new about her! I thought that this book was very well done. It doesn't give quite as much historical background as the "regular" Kit books, but it's a great way to get kids thinking about how the lives of these characters differ from our own. I think these books are a fantastic addition to the line. And the modern tie-in might bring in kids who would otherwise be resistant to reading a purely historical story. It might even convince them to read the rest of the series! (As a homeschooling mom, I love these books for the historical settings, and I would encourage all little girls to read them.)
Below you'll find my 10-year-old daughter's take on Full Speed Ahead: My Journey with Kit ...
This book is filled with excitement. You'll find yourself in a Choose Your Own Adventure book where you'll learn a lot about The Great Depression. This book will make you think of how it would be to live back then. But there's a lot of fun in it too because you could be a hobo, or get thrown off a freight train, or maybe even thrown in jail. Then when you get home maybe you'll find that you learned a lesson about homeless people or not to be selfish.
I really liked the parts of the book where you go home with a new attitude and get something good out of it.
I really liked the parts of the book where you go home with a new attitude and get something good out of it.
More "My Journey With" Books:
