Customer Reviews

Samantha's Boxed Set (The American Girls Collection/Boxed Set)

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

One of my favorite American Girls books, Samantha captures the story of victorian america. Although I missed the tv making of the book, I find the Samantha book a near classic for Christmas. The victorian times is among one of my favorites so this series by the American Girls became my favorite. This series is very innocent and sweet about the daily life of a normal victorian girl, but it touches on the authenticity of the victorian era just as the Emily Cobbs series in the Gifted Girls books, but without the mystery and adventure. Samantha is a little young for my 13 year old sister because of its simplicity in story, but alright for younger readers up to 10.

Samantha is a Victorian girl. She is an orphan who's Grandmother takes her in. Eventually, she moves to New York, where her Aunt and Uncle adopt her. While she is with her Grandmother, she makes new friends, plays tricks on the spoiled neighbor, and goes on lots of exciting adventures. I read the first book in her series last year. I completely fell in love with character! I decided to save my money and buy the Samantha doll from pleasant company. Over all, The Samantha books were great, and I reccomend them to readers ages 8 to 12.

The Pleasant Company is quite a company! It's wonderful how they wrote the books during important epoches in American history, but they aren't boring books at all. They are part of the books that made up part of my childhood.

The six books all follow a girl named Samantha Parkington, who is an orphan and is living during the final years of the Victorian times. Loads of new inventions are everywhere. Samantha likes some of the modern things, but her Grandmother sure doesn't. She wants Samantha to become a young lady and follow old ideas.

I picked up and read all the books yesterday and loved them, just as I did when I first got them when I was seven. But I noticed something about them I was probably too naive to notice: Samantha seems all so different in every book. Samantha is the only American Girl whose six boooks are written by different authors. The first two were written by Susan S. Adler. (Why did she stop at the first two? She didn't die. In the copyright it has her birth year, but no death year. Oh, well). The third one was written by Maxine Rose Schur. (She wrote only one. No birthyear or death year is listed in copyrights). The last three are written by Valeire Tripp. (No surprise there. She wrote most of the American girl series anyway. Besides, we know she's fine). The personality of Samantha changed because of all those authors. Susan Adler made Samantha a bit dreamy and imaginative. Maxine Rose Schur made her a bit ... not spit-fire-ish, but...well, Samantha wasn't as creative as Susan Adler made her. Then Valeire Tripp made Samantha like Susan Adler first wrote her, minus the dreaminess and her streak of tomboyishness. I guess it's like some grown-up effect that happened or something. I would shave off a star if I could for all those personality changes.

I really love these books though. I would recomend it to any girl who is old enough to read. It might be hard for girls who are starting off reading, unless they are avid readers, since I read them about half a year or so after I first began to read and it took me about a couple of days to read it and understand it.

After almost 13 years, I still own my Samantha doll, along with all of her books, her bed, trunk, lots of clothes, and who knows what else. There were only three of the girls available to read about when I first was introduced to Plesant Company, and now there's 7 or 8!! Amazing!

If I remember correctly, these books about Samantha were the first of the ones I picked up off the library bookshelf and read. Kirsten (whom I look like and share a birth date with!) came next, and finally Molly. When asked which doll I would like the most though, the Victorian beauty was the girl of my choice. She had so much spunk! And was smart, had friends, and was brave as anything. Not to mention she had the prettiest dresses!

The books I loved though. I read them over and over and over again throughout the years, and even when I packed to move 2 years ago, I skimmed through them again. The history pages in the back of the books I loved just as much as the story though! How NEAT that everything I had just read about was stuff they actually did 100 years ago!

These books are treasures for ANY young girl--the rest of other girls stories as well. The American Girls will live in my heart for the rest of my life.

My daughter is nine years old and has been enjoying all the American Girl books since she was seven. We have purchased several sets from Amazon and only one set has had an issue (got two of one book). The books are great for girls that age and are not only fun for them to read but educational as well. I would reccomend them to anyone with a girl age 7-10.

"An American Girl"
"Samantha"

This is a series!!! I have had these books for about 5 years! I love them!! I have read them over and over again!!!
It was cool because the first time I read them what ever happened in the book happened to me! It was kind of weird!! But fun!!
I also loved it because my name is Samantha and I felt like I was in the book! It was the most fun I have ever had reading a book!
I would recommend these books to EVERYONE! Because they are so cool and they seem really real! You don't have to read the Samantha ones you can read all different kinds of girls like Melissa and there is just a whole bunch of stories!
Thanks for reading my review!


Reviewed by
Sammi Carter

I have all the books I'v read all of them three times.Samantha is so nice to ALL her friends.I really like "Happy Birthday Samantha!"It's sooooooo funny!

The most charming book so far in the American Girls series. Samantha's life in turn-of-the-last-century New York presents in my view the series' most well-rounded picture into society at that time, with its incorporation of orphans and the working class in among its economically-privileged main characters. The writing here was the best of any American Girl novel and the dialogue seemed knitted to its era and not anachronistically modernized in the slightest. Yes, I know the improbable ending is the fabric of fairy tales but it still makes for a happy conclusion to a nice visit back a hundred years ago in time.

I liked Meet Samantha. Samantha is a kind and brave nine-year-old girl growing up in 1904. She makes friends with Nellie, the servant girl who comes to work next door. When Jessie, the seamstress at Samantha's house, suddenly leaves, no one will tell Samantha why. She and Nellie plan a secret midnight adventure to find out why Jessie left.

My 7 year old received the Samantha Book Set this Christmas 2011 and I have been reading them to her every night before bed! We are hooked! My daughter is asking questions and learning so much about empathy, kindness, friendship and history! Wow! I never knew that the American Girl books were this good! We are enjoying them so much! We rented Felicity: An American Girl Adventure DVD and she also learned so much! She loves the American Girl series and now we can't wait to continue into other series! I totally recommend bonding with your child while reading these books!