I've been listening to the American Girls podcast, where two women revisit these books, and in listening I realized I remembered basically nothing about them, so I requested a bunch from the library.

I thought I must have been an exceptionally oblivious child (I know I was) because the podcast talked about how Felicity's family were slave owners and I didn't remember that. But it was so elided in this book I don't think I would have caught it even as an adult. Marcus, the enslaved person in question, is mentioned in passing twice, once as someone who helps Felicity's father in the store, and once saying he cares for their horses. It's only in the Look into the Past section in the end that mentions he's an enslaved person.

Besides for that, I thought the whole Penny plot kind of dumb. Felicity seemed to be the sort of horse girl I was in the mid to late 90s, which is to say someone who likes books about horses but has never actually spent time with them or knows how to interact with them. I would expect an actual colonial girl to have a lot more actual knowledge and experience with horses, the way an actual modern girl would be familiar with cars even though 10 year olds can't drive. Sort of on the same note, no matter how badly the tannery smells or how "city" she is, an actual colonial girl would also be much more used to the process of raising animals for slaughter. But I guess in that sense, Felicity is written more to be relatable for a modern audience than to be historically accurate.