My daughter is showing interest in the American Girl historical dolls and I decided to read or re-read some of the books to see if they are age-appropriate for her yet. I have to say no for now (almost 5 year old), as the war details and some of the sibling interaction between Molly, Jill and Ricky is too old for her, but the story did hold my attention and I enjoyed the historical details at the back.

I remember reading the Molly and Samantha books as a child, and my perception as an adult is quite different. As a child, Molly's life was exciting. As an adult, I find her whiny and extremely-resistant to change, more like a pre-schooler than a 9 year old.

Brutal honesty: Molly was always my least favorite American Girl. Compared to the earlier girls, her life felt so contemporary, perhaps because I had other books that were published in Molly's time or earlier - early Beverly Cleary, Robert McCloskey. As a kid, she just wasn't as interesting - and (so shallow, I know) she didn't wear long beautiful dresses.

On that point, we meet Molly wishing that for one of those long beautiful dresses - to be Cinderella for Halloween - though I don't love entering her train of thought just as she's trying to work out how to convince her best friends to be Cinderella's ugly stepsisters for Halloween. In general, I'm not sure that Molly's a good friend.

I also don't love that the book turns into a sibling war. We get the "scheming and dreaming" promised by the publisher's blurb, but the sides of Molly we see here aren't her best look.

Ah, nostalgia.

Meet Molly begins with Molly and her friends wanting to have some really great Halloween costumes this year, but she may not get to be Cinderella if they can't make the costumes. Everything is being saved for the war, and Molly and her family are constantly missing their day while he's away in the war right now.

But, Molly, her family and friends all get together to bring a little fun to their life during the Halloween season.

This book wasn't as good as some of the others in this series. I had a really hard time liking Molly. I really felt like she was kind of self-centered, and mean to her brother and friends at times.

However, it did end in a nice way so that was enjoyable and I do look forward to reading more of her story.

I’ve always wanted to read these stories but I never had the chance to and I’m glad I can borrow them from my library now as audiobooks. I think Molly is probably pretty realistic to girls during WWII. I’ve never liked pranks and tricks so that’s the only reason I’m docking a star. Other than that, I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the stories about Molly!

It's so fun to reread these favorite books from my childhood. I love to read about Molly and her friends preparing their Halloween costumes! However, I always hated the storyline of pranks and tricks that Molly and her brother, Ricky, play on each other. Even as a child, I could never understand why people would play pranks at someone else's expense. It's cruel and mean, and I'm always glad when their mother puts a stop to it and punishes them fairly.

The writing is excellent for this age range, and the story is simple but complete. There is definite character development and an interesting narrative arc. I love the little bits of history intertwined with the story, and the pages at the end that tell the reader more about the era.

It's just so sweet and my childhood! It's good they add the history of the story at the end as well! I don't care how old I am I still love these ❤

I read these when I was a child, but thought this would be a good book for a book review for a book to use in a social studies class with young children.