Customer Reviews

Kaya's Story Collection (The American Girls Collection)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

What a pleasure to read the entire story of Kaya in one hardcover book. ABSOLUTELY worth the money! You should know, however, that the historal sections at the end of each of the original six books are NOT included. There is one large section on the history, but by no means as comprehensive as the six sections found in the entire series. Still worth buying...Now I have all of these new HC books AND the six book series! :-)

It'd be hard for me to overstate how much my daughter (seven) and I have enjoyed reading these six books. We just finished, and we're going to re-read them. My six year year old son, who initially was not interested, became an avid fan through the course of listening to Kaya develop and mature. I think the highest praise I could offer is that the kids would want to go upstairs to read books with out the usual resistance so they could get in more reading time.

This is a great collection of stories bound in a high quality book. My niece loved it as a gift.

This book was in great shape. It looked brand new! I am very pleased and it got here very fast.

I purchased the book for a book club my daughter is in and so far we have only read the 1st chapter. I read it aloud to all my children and my oldest son is more interested in the story than my daughter is. So far this has been a good book. Love the hard cover and the thick pages, really get your monies worth.

It is great to have all of the stories in one book instead of trying to find all 6 in the series.

My 5-year-old daughter is an early reader and it is sometimes challenging to find stories with content for a 5-year-old that can read at the 8/9-year-old level. The Kaya books were the first of the American Girl books that she read and she loved the stories. I read the stories before I give them to her, and from a parental perspective, Kaya does make some bad choices but always with clear consequences and ultimately shows understanding and growth in the end. Reading the Kaya books inspired excited further reading and lots of discussion of that period in American History. I love! this hard back collection although it does not include all of the historical inserts at the end of the individual books (only one smaller historical section at the end of all 5 books). The small American Girl dolls are beautifully made and are a nice "reward" for reading the stories (after my daughter has read and become "friends" with the American Girl, she gets the little doll to play with, a great motivator for continued reading). 5 stars for Kaya.

A summary of other American Girl books that we have read that you might be considering buying:

Josephina is the best of the American Girl books that we have read. Josephina has to overcome the loss of her mother and shows great character, intelligence, and personal growth throughout the 6 books. Some of the other American Girls make bad decisions without consequences, or are sassy or disobedient to their parents, but there is non of that in Josephina (she is kind, a peace maker among her older sisters, a hard worker, intelligent, yet very realistically portrayed in her fears and trials). Highly recommended reading for impressionable young girls. 5+ Stars!

Felicity - Did not like 1st book much at all. Felicity is disobedient and dishonest with almost no consequence for her actions. However, the rest of the books are quite good and give a good picture of the historical period. In the last book Felicity shows better character and it is more clear why the author went in the direction she did with the 1st book (her friend Elizabeth shows even better character and is a good example of how good friends help us grow and give us perspective). Still, it would be best for a parent to discuss Felicity's good and bad behavior with their child. Then go to Williamsburg with your child for a real history lesson! 4 stars.

Kirstin - Liked the historical aspect of the story (images, basic storyline), but Kirstin definitely has some character issues. She is disobedient and headstrong, and clearly makes some very bad choices which have pretty serious consequences (although the book shows the consequences, I do not think Kirsten really is held accountable for her actions -- this child almost gets her brother killed and then burns down her house, both through being headstrong or disobedience to direct instructions by her parents; she also considers running away from her family because she doesn't like school). A good story overall, but you will definitely want to read the book and discuss Kirstin's behavior with your child. 3.5 stars.

We bought Samantha and Kit, from cursory review of library copies they appear to be good stories. I will review them in detail at their page when we have actually read them.

We did not buy Abby right now because it has too much early black English in it, which of course is appropriate for the character and historical setting. However, because my daughter is an early reader (age 5), I do not want to feed her page after page of incorrect grammar when she is still in the formation years herself. We will probably get Abby when she is older. From a cursory reading of the library book, the story appears to be good, although I am a little hesitant about how the author handled the mother leaving an infant so that she could escape slavery with Abby (upon closer reading this could be a problem). Unrated.

We did NOT buy Molly because she appears to be a total brat. I recommend you get the book from the library and page though it before buying this book. It is not at all like the previously reviewed American Girl books, and seems to have little historical perspective (other than perhaps a comment on society in that, with time, some American children are becoming more sassy, bratty, and self absorbed). I did not read the entire book, but the pages I did look at did not impress me favorably (I certainly would not want this girl to be influencing the behavior of my daughter!). I chose not to give this collection to my daughter and I'm a bit disappointed with the American Girl series because they could have done a lot with this period in history. 0 stars.

This book is interesting reading. It was a gift for our granddaughter who just received Kaya. The American Girl stories are a great way for young girls to learn history! To combine the interest in reading with learning is a good combination.