Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Meet Kit: An American Girl, 1934
Illustrator: Walter Rane
Historical Fiction Series
For ages 7 to 12
Pleasant Company Publications, 2000 ISBN: 978-1584850168
Kit wishes that she had something interesting to write about in the little newspaper that she is putting together for her father. The news she has to share with him is not, she thinks, all that interesting; Kit wants real "news" stories. It isn’t long before Kit gets her wish and things in her household not only change, but they also become a cause for great anxiety and concern.
It begins with Mrs. Howard and her son Stirling moving into Kit’s house. Kit learns that Mrs. Howard’s family has been terribly affected by the Depression. Their income, and now their home, is being taken away from them and they have no where to go. Suddenly the Depression is no longer just something one reads about in the newspaper everyday, it has moved into Kit’s life on a personal level. This only becomes worse when Kit finds out that her father has to sell his car dealership because no one is buying cars anymore. Kit wonders how her family is going to survive. Are they going to end up on the street like the Howards? Are they going to lose their beloved home?
Valerie Tripp takes us into the home of this Cincinnati family and shows us how the Depression affected all sorts of people. It was a time full of uncertainty, for one’s livelihood and home could suddenly disappear. The author helps her readers understand the economic principals which helped bring about the Depression and she brings the stories of that time to life, showing us how hard it must have been to live in the United States in the 1930’s.
This is the first in a series of books about Kit.
