Caroline, the books
Sep. 27th, 2012 11:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
impy Let's talk about books, shall we? I blew the last of my fun money (without realizing it, mwerp) on Caroline's (the new AG, remember?), book set. Since the money was already gone, I dove right in and only kicked myself a few times over the error. I'd been a little cautious since the last new Historicals' had some awful artwork (I still feel horrible saying this since art is subjective and the artist's other work seems to be nice but whatever was done to the pieces used for the book series is just criminal) and I have no desire to have the doll... but everyone kept going on and on and ON about how good this series was.
And I do love a good American Girl book. Then Amazon had it on sale for a little over $20 and my Amazon Prime trial is still good so...
Holy cow, that's a lot of pink. A LOT of pink.
I'd divide this into good/bad/best but then I'd just go off on tangents. So we'll start with the artwork since that was what really sunk the NOLA books. (People bitch about the artwork to the point that I don't think they read the stories which were pretty good, though they did suffer from the whole "two girls, one story!" premise.)
The art is beautiful. There isn't a page that makes you recoil in horror and quite a few are poster-ready pretty. I was good and didn't flip forward to see all the pictures beforehand, so I was pleasantly surprised by quite a few of them.
The only downside is that the characters are all entirely too pretty. We're talking Hollywood pretty. It's a little unrealistic to say the least. Particularly jarring for the Meet the Characters section where it honestly looks like the opening credits of a movie. (See?) It's distracting to an adult but probably wouldn't register with a younger child.
I'll have to see if Cecile & Marie Grace still hold the title for least number of illustrations, but I do wish there'd been a few more in Caroline's books.
AG also learned their lesson and included pictures of Caroline's cousin Lydia and her friend Rhonda (whose name is also distracting) so that you could make your own from one of the many dolls AG produces.
Now let's move onto the Lucky #13 curse. Caroline is the 13th Historical character and as such, some of her story feels rehashed from other characters. She and Felicity are both straining against the expectations for girls/women in their time, though Caroline isn't quite as prone to shooting off at the mouth like Felicity. She does get into her fair share of trouble that could be avoided if she'd just think things through, so she's got a dash of Kirsten thrown in there.
Oddly enough there's a fair bit of Molly to be found in Caroline, which I find interesting given how many adult fans of AG wrinkle their noses at Molly's stories. They're both missing their father during wartime, unsure if they'll ever see him again but blindly hoping that they will. While Father's away, their mothers step up to the plate and take over the workload (in Caroline's mother's case, she takes over the shipyard), leaving other women to help raise our heroines. While Felicity bonded with her grandfather, and Molly reluctantly bonded with Mrs. Gilford, Caroline leans on her grandmother, who is probably the most interesting character in the books. And, SPOILER ALERT, she lives.
There's a boarding family so we have shades of Kit as well, just to round things off.
Unlike a lot of the other AG series, Caroline does not suffer a great permanent loss. Kaya lost Swan Circling, Felicity's grandfather dies, Josefina's mother has died shortly before the books begin so her loss is felt throughout the series, Kirsten's books should come with a body count, Cecile's maid (and friend) dies, Marie Grace has lost half her family before the series starts and by the way there's a freakin' epidemic going on during those books, Addy loses her Auntie Lula and Uncle Soloman, Samantha is an orphan, and Nellie loses her parents during the course of the series.
Despite my fears that Grandmother's days might be numbered, everyone Caroline knows and loves makes it through the series alive. Her cousin Oliver is still at war, as is Rhonda's father, but both are still very much alive.
That said, the books are fun reads. They're exciting enough that your interest rarely wanes but not so outlandish that you roll your eyes heavenward at every other moment (I'm looking at you, Rebecca!) and I probably learned more about the War of 1812 in these six books than I did in school. Which is just sad.
I like Caroline. I like her friends. I wish they still did the short stories because the mysteries are fabulous (they are) but they also tend to take place as the girls have aged a little bit and I'd like more glimpses at Caroline's life during the core stories.
Also, they've earned the reputation that the women in these books are strong role models. Earned that reputation. Mama doesn't think twice about making the hard decisions or threatening to shoot someone. Grandmother knows just where to hide things so invading armies will never find them.
As usual there is a problem with reading these books; I now want just about everything. :P (Okay, fine, just the stuff I wanted before. I think that holiday dress can stay far away, thankyoukindly.) That coat? Sam covets. The blue dress? Yes, yes please. The coral one? My toys have needs, people. NEEDS.
Oh, and the series as a whole is a bit weird in that the final book seems a bit tacked on. We've got WAR for 5 books and then... Caroline goes off to farm. o_O It's a good book, it really is, but it's just kind of random.
I find it weird that people in the AG fandom are worried that, after reading the first Caroline book, that she might be a bit back-sassy. (She's not. If anything she's one of the only characters I can think of in the company's history who learns pretty in book one that you can think things are unfair, but you'd be better off not whinging about it.) Hey, overprotective mama-bear; I'm going to direct you to Felicity's books. Samantha's books (please be paying attention to Cornelia while there), Kit's, Molly's, and so on. If you're so afraid your kid is going to be corrupted by a book series like this, I'd be worried your parenting skills are nonexistent. :P (Yeah. I said it.)
Anyway, if you do pick them up, do yourself a favor and do not read the back cover for any of the books. Spoilers like WHOA, man.
Ooh, Cass says my order will be in tomorrow. :D *dances* Halloween glee will be upon us all!
And I do love a good American Girl book. Then Amazon had it on sale for a little over $20 and my Amazon Prime trial is still good so...
Holy cow, that's a lot of pink. A LOT of pink.
I'd divide this into good/bad/best but then I'd just go off on tangents. So we'll start with the artwork since that was what really sunk the NOLA books. (People bitch about the artwork to the point that I don't think they read the stories which were pretty good, though they did suffer from the whole "two girls, one story!" premise.)
The art is beautiful. There isn't a page that makes you recoil in horror and quite a few are poster-ready pretty. I was good and didn't flip forward to see all the pictures beforehand, so I was pleasantly surprised by quite a few of them.
The only downside is that the characters are all entirely too pretty. We're talking Hollywood pretty. It's a little unrealistic to say the least. Particularly jarring for the Meet the Characters section where it honestly looks like the opening credits of a movie. (See?) It's distracting to an adult but probably wouldn't register with a younger child.
I'll have to see if Cecile & Marie Grace still hold the title for least number of illustrations, but I do wish there'd been a few more in Caroline's books.
AG also learned their lesson and included pictures of Caroline's cousin Lydia and her friend Rhonda (whose name is also distracting) so that you could make your own from one of the many dolls AG produces.
Now let's move onto the Lucky #13 curse. Caroline is the 13th Historical character and as such, some of her story feels rehashed from other characters. She and Felicity are both straining against the expectations for girls/women in their time, though Caroline isn't quite as prone to shooting off at the mouth like Felicity. She does get into her fair share of trouble that could be avoided if she'd just think things through, so she's got a dash of Kirsten thrown in there.
Oddly enough there's a fair bit of Molly to be found in Caroline, which I find interesting given how many adult fans of AG wrinkle their noses at Molly's stories. They're both missing their father during wartime, unsure if they'll ever see him again but blindly hoping that they will. While Father's away, their mothers step up to the plate and take over the workload (in Caroline's mother's case, she takes over the shipyard), leaving other women to help raise our heroines. While Felicity bonded with her grandfather, and Molly reluctantly bonded with Mrs. Gilford, Caroline leans on her grandmother, who is probably the most interesting character in the books. And, SPOILER ALERT, she lives.
There's a boarding family so we have shades of Kit as well, just to round things off.
Unlike a lot of the other AG series, Caroline does not suffer a great permanent loss. Kaya lost Swan Circling, Felicity's grandfather dies, Josefina's mother has died shortly before the books begin so her loss is felt throughout the series, Kirsten's books should come with a body count, Cecile's maid (and friend) dies, Marie Grace has lost half her family before the series starts and by the way there's a freakin' epidemic going on during those books, Addy loses her Auntie Lula and Uncle Soloman, Samantha is an orphan, and Nellie loses her parents during the course of the series.
Despite my fears that Grandmother's days might be numbered, everyone Caroline knows and loves makes it through the series alive. Her cousin Oliver is still at war, as is Rhonda's father, but both are still very much alive.
That said, the books are fun reads. They're exciting enough that your interest rarely wanes but not so outlandish that you roll your eyes heavenward at every other moment (I'm looking at you, Rebecca!) and I probably learned more about the War of 1812 in these six books than I did in school. Which is just sad.
I like Caroline. I like her friends. I wish they still did the short stories because the mysteries are fabulous (they are) but they also tend to take place as the girls have aged a little bit and I'd like more glimpses at Caroline's life during the core stories.
Also, they've earned the reputation that the women in these books are strong role models. Earned that reputation. Mama doesn't think twice about making the hard decisions or threatening to shoot someone. Grandmother knows just where to hide things so invading armies will never find them.
As usual there is a problem with reading these books; I now want just about everything. :P (Okay, fine, just the stuff I wanted before. I think that holiday dress can stay far away, thankyoukindly.) That coat? Sam covets. The blue dress? Yes, yes please. The coral one? My toys have needs, people. NEEDS.
Oh, and the series as a whole is a bit weird in that the final book seems a bit tacked on. We've got WAR for 5 books and then... Caroline goes off to farm. o_O It's a good book, it really is, but it's just kind of random.
I find it weird that people in the AG fandom are worried that, after reading the first Caroline book, that she might be a bit back-sassy. (She's not. If anything she's one of the only characters I can think of in the company's history who learns pretty in book one that you can think things are unfair, but you'd be better off not whinging about it.) Hey, overprotective mama-bear; I'm going to direct you to Felicity's books. Samantha's books (please be paying attention to Cornelia while there), Kit's, Molly's, and so on. If you're so afraid your kid is going to be corrupted by a book series like this, I'd be worried your parenting skills are nonexistent. :P (Yeah. I said it.)
Anyway, if you do pick them up, do yourself a favor and do not read the back cover for any of the books. Spoilers like WHOA, man.
Ooh, Cass says my order will be in tomorrow. :D *dances* Halloween glee will be upon us all!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2012-10-01 06:00 am (UTC)I was just browsing Amazon to see if they had any used Samantha dolls, because I think she's really the one I want most, but the only one I found was $400 and I don't have that kind of money.
However, in the "suggested purchases" list I found THIS: Bat Girl! and I immediately thought of you because you have some AG dolls and you love Halloween. :D There's only 10 left in stock at this moment though....
(no subject)
Date: 2012-10-01 08:58 am (UTC)I think your best bet will be eBay or maybe Craigslist (I don't tend to do anything via CL but I know others have super awesome luck with it) for Samantha. Since she's the 'face' of the company, or was for decades, she's also the most easily found. I'm poking around ebay and there are quite a few Sams in various degrees of loved-ness.