My grandma is a librarian for a first Baptist church in a small town in Texas. In my 31 years, I would always come visit her and my grandpa. I’d help in the library and check out movies and books. I just came back for 3 days to say goodbye to my home away from home. My grandma is leaving this one constant in my life and I’m glad but also sad. So many memories in this small town and this was a book I had to check out of her library for one last time. I even saw on the old library card that I checked out this book for the first and one of many times in 1990s. I’m glad this was one of the last reads here and will forever hold a special place in my heart.

Reliving my childhood :,)

Our book club was challenged to read books from our middle grade years. I remember obsessively reading The American Girl stories, especially Molly, Samantha, Felicity, Kirstin, and Addy. I am going to revisit my favorites, Molly and Samantha. Side note, it takes no time at all to read them as an adult. I love Molly's spirit. The antics with her brother were humorous. I also remember loving the full page illustrations and wondering how they chose which scenes to depict.

Meet Molly is the first novel of the six Molly McIntire series books from American Girl. Molly is 9 year old and living on the American home front during World War II. Her father, Dr. McIntire, had joined the Army when war was declared and is stationed in England, where he is caring for wounded soldiers. Molly's mother is doing her bit working for the Red Cross. Molly has a sister Jill, 14, a brother Ricky, 12, and a brother Brad, 5. Molly's two best friends are Linda and Susan.

It is 1944 and the war is still raging in Europe and the Pacific. The country is feeling the effects of rationing and shortages, so people really have to be clever and economical about coming up with Halloween costumes and treats. As the story opens, Molly has been sitting at the dinner table for over 2 hours with a plate of cold turnips in front of her. Molly, a rather headstrong girl, had refused to eat the turnips and Mrs. Gilford, just as headstrong, refused to excuse her until they were gone. Molly spent her table time dreaming of the beautiful Cinderella costume she was planning to wear for Halloween, IF her mother would buy the yards of fancy material needed and IF she agrees to sew it for Molly. This dream, however, quickly hits reality the next day when her best friends are less then enthusiastic about being the ugly stepsisters to Molly's Cinderella.


The newest Meet Molly
But Mrs. McIntire saves the day when she suggests the girls go as Hawaiian hula dancers and shows them how to make a costume using crepe paper, paint and strips of newspaper. All three girls are very happy with this costume, and go off trick or treating after school, and collecting lots of goodies by the end of the day. The only problem is Ricky, who has planned his revenge on the girls for having teased him about his crush on Jill's friend Dolores earlier. And after he ruins their costumes and their treats when he douses them with water, the girls decide to declare war on Ricky and to get their revenge on him.

There are, of course, lessons to learn in Meet Molly about fighting, peace and sharing - good lessons in general but here also very apropos of the time.

In this nicely done chapter book, Valerie Tripp has managed to get much of life on the home front onto Molly's Halloween story. There is Mrs. Gilford's Victory Garden that didn't do as well as hoped because of the excessively hot summer; Mom's job that takes her away from home so much of the time; missing Dad and wondering whether he is alright and of course, wanting things to be the way they used to be. And at the end of the novel, there is short "A Peek into the Past" which covers the cause of the war and tells something about how life really was for kids like Molly on 1944 home front.

Molly was my favorite American Girl growing up. I can still tear up thinking about her father walking through the door.